Making wooden knife handles

WEAR Protections!

Bjorn Svensson is a Norwegian hobby knifemaker who wrote this excellent article for a knifemaking group in Norway. He has kindly allowed us to use it in Australia. If there are any inconsistencies or lack of clarity, this is due to the translation and not the original article. Here is the first half of Bjorn's article, about how he makes the knife handle. The second part with the carved sheath will be a Part II at a later time:. I am going to try showing the steps involved in how I make a knife handle, step by step with some photos and explaining how I do each step. There will be no bolster or front bit, showing here how to make the handle in a single piece mostly with hand tools.

Making wooden knife handles

What is stabilized wood, and how do you do it? It is then heated to a specific temperature until the liquid "polymerizes" or becomes solid. At this point, the wood knife handles are no longer poro us an d become impervious to the shrinking and swelling associated with changes in humidity. This is especially important for kitchen knives in a professional, wet environment. The stabilized wood knife handles won't absorb the sometimes yucky stuff it comes in contact with when working in the kitchen, or field dressing fish or game. It's just good business to stabilize custom knife handles! Here's a short piece about selecting wood for knives. When they return, I can saw that block into four wood knife handle blocks of 1x2x5"—at this point, looking at your blocks, studying the grain, and determining which of those 2" flats you want to be the faces of your handles is essential. Nearly always, the grain on one side will be curlier, burlier, more twisted, or have some attractive color variation than what you see on the adjacent sides. Ensure you saw your block, so the pretty sides are OUT on your knife! Making book matched handle scales for a knife maker involves selecting a piece of wood with interesting grain patterns and color.

Carve and shape the handle with a belt sander. Classes Required: Basic WoodShop.

Learn how to make a knife handle in several simple steps! Making knife handle. A component that is sometimes underestimated, the knife handle is important for the proper functionality of a knife. A quality, properly crafted handle will ensure a comfortable grip — which is crucial for the operability. In this project, we unpack the crafting an assembly handle for a through-tang knife. The handle consists of several pieces of ironwood and mammoth tooth, and is fixed on the tang with a titanium nut, the tang thus functioning as the tie-rod.

A proper knife handle is one that feels snugly and secure to the palm. Ensuring that the knife handle is adequate and safe to use is integral to the success of any knife making newbies. Without good concentration and attention applied to the handle of a blade, it could result in unwanted movement and damage the overall effect of the knife itself. Also, the poor grip can lead to blistering of the hands. There is some beauty to the DIY knife handle. Therefore, unlike more traditional knife handle materials like wood, it will not break, crack, chip, or scratch easily. Then, transfer paper with handle design on the scales, and trace it and mark with the black magic marker, because G will not absorb the ink.

Making wooden knife handles

What is stabilized wood, and how do you do it? It is then heated to a specific temperature until the liquid "polymerizes" or becomes solid. At this point, the wood knife handles are no longer poro us an d become impervious to the shrinking and swelling associated with changes in humidity. This is especially important for kitchen knives in a professional, wet environment. The stabilized wood knife handles won't absorb the sometimes yucky stuff it comes in contact with when working in the kitchen, or field dressing fish or game.

Brown hair blond balayage

Bigger holes. At this point, the wood knife handles are no longer poro us an d become impervious to the shrinking and swelling associated with changes in humidity. Step 1. The bolster part and the butt part are processed with the same cutting and grinding procedures. The flat side of the blade is placed on a flat block so the handle block is not touching the table. In the below photo I am drawing on new refererence lines to help keeping it symmetrcial between the sides. Editor's note: This is a hardening benchplate oil, the product description says it hardens within 3 days. How to. If you cut the pins yourself, there will likely be sharp burs on each end. First operation today is to disassemble that chef knife. Now repeat with your second scale. After that, it's back to the belt sander for some final shaping and removal of "squeeze out," or the excess glue leaked out of the joints due to clamping. Showing the rough shaped handle from the top or spine side.

Whenever you go camping or to an outdoor trip in the forest, to the river you should carry with you the survival kit where the knife is the main tool among the others, and this wooden hand knife is the perfect piece for that purpose.

This makes for a snug hole for the pins, an important step in how to make a knife handle from wo od. The bolster and pommel are as well made of titanium. Bigger holes. Drill hole nearest the blade first, drill hole at opposite end, and then drill center hole last. Hand tools give more control than a belt sander here, on the belt sander it can be easy to lose the back upturned corner of the handle. Hope this helped! Recent Posts. The top of the handle is filed down to the pencil line on both sides, then rounded and blended in. Stack the scales together with the sides you want to be on the outside of the handle facing out. These represent where you can insert your pins and the size of pin you can use. The shop has several colors in stock, but I lean toward black or deep cherry red for nearly all knives. I keep testing with the blade and rasping little by little, taking care to not make the hole wider than it has to be. Many layers of a Damascus blade welded together form multiple bands and mottling patterns that are inviting to the eye and unique in each blade. Also, remember to line up the two scales symmetrically if you want the front of your Handle to match on each side. Working the blade The first step is shortening the tang so it will fit in the handle block.