About to start my next knife

N

nukehayes

Member
Hey all, I have made two knives so far, using old files from a swap meet, and construction paper mycarta. These have been small neck/pocket knives and I want to make myself a nice 5-6" bladed bushcrafting knife. I am putting together a list of stuff to buy and was wondering if I could get some input from you guys. I will be getting the steel from the njsteelbaron, and I have selected some inexpensive zircote wood from knifekits.com. I am going to try liners as well but I was wondering what adhesive is would be the best to attach the liners and wood to the handle with brass pins and tubing? I would like to consolidate my online orders if possible, in the interest of saving some money. usaknifemakers.com seems to have a good selection of adhesives and liner material is there as well. One last question, are the zircote scales from knifekits.com stabilized or will I have to see to that myself. Thanks for you help, I can't wait to start on this, I spent a long time today drawing out the design and I am super amped about it.
 
Unless they are specified as being stabilized they would not be. Don't worry about it anyway. From what I understand, zircote is a pretty oily wood and is rather stable as it comes. I would use Acraglass bedding compound to mount the scales. What I do is glue the liner to the scales and let the glue drys, then I mount the scale/liner assembly to the tang. Remember to rough up the liner material before gluing. It's a little slow to set but I also use the Acraglass to glue in the pins. You just have to get the pins in place and then set it aside overnight to cure. If you're in a hurry you could use one of the super glues for the pins and tubing. I wouldn't use it for the scales and liners because of the short work time.

Doug
 
I use West Systems 105 resin with 206 hardened, slow to dry - overnight but, it holdS very well. I also glue the liner to the scales then to the blade. Clean all surfaces with alcohol & let dry before gluing.

GB
 
BossDog (aka Midwest Knifemakers Supply button up top on this page) recommended his slow cure Epoxy and I've not been disappointed. I'm betting you could get your pins, tubing, liner material and epoxy from him. Don't know about zircote though, although you said inexpensive which leads me to believe you're not particularly interested in zircote, just the price? I had great success with free scrounged wood, got some beautiful Koa, and have a line on some orangeish leopardwood for free. Be sure and post a WIP for us!
 
Here is the design I drew out yesterday, sorry for the quality, my scanner doesn't want to cooperate with me right now.

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The more I read, Acraglass sounds like a good inventment for me as I can use it on my gun projects as well as future knives. I will be sure to make a WIP post once I get all the material on hand.
 
One thing I have started doing more of, is using bolt-on handle scales. You can still glue up your liners to the scale material the same way, but threading the tang (if over 3/16" ish) or using a barrel nut/spacer to bolt to has been a nice change for me on some knives.

Nice design too. I love a good, flowing recurve.
 
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