May 25th – The Handle
So…the blade has been hardened and polished up and now we
need to put a handle on this thing.
For this part of the project I will be using a scrap piece
of walnut I have lying around. It
is 20mm thick which is a perfect dimension for this….I can use the band saw to
cut the stock piece in half once it has been rough shaped and it will leave me
with two 5mm identical pieces.
Even 5mm is slightly too thick, but there will be enough material that
will allow me to sand it to shape without having to grind down too much.
So…step 1) We need to draw out a template!
This looks about right….it is slightly larger than the metal
handle, but that is ok…as long as it is not too small!
Next we need to transfer the pattern to the wood, and cut it
out. Once that is done we can
drill the pin holes then cut the stock wood in half on the band saw.
Now we need to assemble it and check our work…
Not a bad fit!
The best way to secure everything is with two part epoxy (sparingly
applied!!!) and a crap load of clamping pressure:
Finally, once everything has set we can head back over to
the belt sander to rough shape it out and grind down the excess on the
pins. Once that is done we switch
to 120 grit sand paper to smooth out the final shape.
The last step is to use 600 grit sand paper and linseed oil
to restore the original color and luster of the walnut….and voila!:
The final part of the knife making process will be to
actually put the sharpened blade on the edge, and then make a leather sheath
for it!
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