A quick look at one of my projects...

J. Doyle

J. Doyle

Dealer - Purveyor
Some of you guys have been asking me about my handle assembly. Here's a pretty involved one that I'm currently working on. I've got a couple preliminary pics to give you a rough idea of how it starts. I don't have the time right now to do a full blown WIP but I'll try to post some shots as it progresses and answer any questions I can.

This blade is hardened and tempered, finish ground and ready to start hand sanding. So today, I'll be hand sanding and doing a bunch of filework and clean up. It'll be a day or two before I have any new pics.

The blade is 13" of hand forged W-2. I've cut about 3/4" worth of 10-24 threads on the end of the tang and already made and finished the custom finial nut for it.

Here's how my handle assembly starts:





And here's just a quick sneak peak at some of the fittings:
 
Cool! one question: what thickness/diameter do you grind the tang to for threading? and how to you get a perfect round end?...I guess that was two:)
 
Thanks guys. Yesterday took some time. That's a LOT of real estate to hand sand! ;) Got it sanded and the filework cleaned up. Now it's time to grind the clip, clean that up and the blade is done. And I can start working on the fittings.

Daniel Rohde said:
Cool! one question: what thickness/diameter do you grind the tang to for threading? and how to you get a perfect round end?...I guess that was two:)
Click to expand...

Hi Daniel. The size depends on the size of the threads. This was a 10-24 so I turned it down to .185". For big knives slightly smaller than this one, I use an 8-32 a lot which would be .155". For some of my smaller knives I'd use a 6-32 which would be .140" I think (going off memory as I don't do too many that size.

Getting them round isn't really that bad with a good eye and some practice. I used to scribe lines on the tang and grind to them making a square and then knock the corners off. But now I just go freehand to the flat platen with a 60 grit belt and start in on it. I measure it with a micrometer when I'm close. It's pretty easy to keep it fairly round just turning the knife in my hand. When I'm within a few thousandths, I'll take it to the vise and true it up and do final dimensions with a file. I clamp it in the vise blade point down with the rounded part straight up. I can stand over it and look straight down on it and file it round that way by eye. It's easier than it sounds.

From start to finish if it took me 10 minutes to do, I would be taking my time. I'd say 5 minutes on average.
 
Here's a few from yesterday's progress:

Here's some hand sanding. I built this jig to help the process. It's a modified version of one that I saw Nick Wheeler using in a video. It's a spear point shaped 1" thick block of mahogany about 1 1/2" wide. It has a line of nuts inset into the wood on each side and one line in the middle (which I seldom use). Then I have a strip of thin leather cut to the same shape as the wood for padding. You can lay the leather on the wood, place the blade on it and clamp it by the tang. Then you can adjust the bolts, spaced every 2" or so, up till the leather padding touches the blade giving it support and eliminating flex and bounce during sanding. Flip the blade over and use the other side and other line of bolts on the opposite edge to do the same thing. It works very well.



Of course, I built this jig a couple years ago and made it WAY bigger then I'd ever need................wrong! :D Like every other stage, this knife has maxed out all of my equipment. It barely fit in my quench tank, barely fit on my surface grinder, barely fit on my tool rest to clean up the profile after forging, and barely fits on this sanding jig. :)

Next, I ground the clip, free hand, after heat treating this time. I take my blade up to 800 grit by hand, then grind the clip in. Then it takes just a few minutes to get everything to final polish prior to etching. Evened up the clip, where necessary, with a few draw filing strokes then hand sanded them to match the blade.



And here's a quick look at the filework on the spine:


My buddy/apprentice is coming today so not sure how much more I'll get done today. And I try to spend evenings and weekends with my wife and kids so this might be it for pics until Monday.
 
John,
All of your work is wonderful, but I'm really impressed with your file work. It all comes together pretty nice!
 
John,
Count me in for the WIP or whatever you want to call it.
Funny how we seem to max out all of our tools real fast in knife making!:les: I like that file work, the baby going to be a beauty!
 
John,

I loved seeing your hand sanding jig. It would be helpful for shorter blades also. I am sanding some Russell Green River blades now and I've seen a real need for this type of fixture. Thanks for sharing. I just love seeing the fixtures and methods that knifemakers use!

Bill
 
Thanks for the comments guys. I'll have some pics tomorrow. Today, I did the final hand sanding, cut the shoulders for the guard and etched and polished the blade. That took longer than I thought it would so I didn't get to any of the fittings. Ready to roll on tomorrow though.
 
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