Fattening up a para cord handle

jmforge

jmforge

Well-Known Member
I’m thinking of doing a jimmy fikes inspired piece. The only other time I tried this I discovered that you need to have the thing a little narrower top to bottom to compensate for the diameter of the para cord. The other thing I’m wondering is how do you fat enough to handle a little bit? I know some people use leather or some kind of composite underneath hemp wrap. Is anyone used anything like that under Paracord? I’m particularly thinking about what you could do understripped Paracord done in a Japanese version. Wondering if you could put down some kind, a thin layer of filler and then do an under wrap of flat and an over wrap of either regular para cord or more stripped stuff? Kind of like a variation on what strider does?
 
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jmforge said:
I’m thinking of doing a jimmy focus inspired piece. The only other time I tried this I discovered that you need to have the thing a little narrower top to bottom to compensate for the diameter of the para cord. The other thing I’m wondering is how do you fat enough to handle a little bit? I know some people use leather or some kind of composite underneath hemp wrap. Is anyone used anything like that under Paracord? I’m particularly thinking about what you could do understripped Paracord done in a Japanese version. Wondering if you could put down some kind, a thin layer of filler and then do an under wrap of flat and an over wrap of either regular para cord or more stripped stuff? Kind of like a variation on what strider does?
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Looking forward to answers on this. I might would mount undersized scales and finish off with the pars cord.
 
I’m thinking of two different styles, the one I’m talking about now would be one where the handle is totally covered with Paracord, stripped or unstripped. The other would be a handle using normal, say wood scales with the center of it wrapped in a Japanese style or just a straight wrap with something like hemp. I’ve seen some guys including Burt Foster and others do that. I would use stripped para cord for that version.
 
I know that Rick Marchand uses leather, but he’s doing a total wrap of the handle with thin hemp cord.
 
I'm curious, too. So I'll be watching the thread. I tried to get some leather to show underneath my last cordwrap - but unsuccessful. It was a thin burgundy peice from a reclaimed messenger bag that was also still mallable. I think it would have looked really nice showing through. If you don't find anything from conventional suppliers, maybe check out second hand stores. Might get some ideas.

Those names piqued interest - very nice work.

James Helm mentioned using neoprene (Carcass Splittler thrrad), but I know you meant something on top of that to show through.
 
soundmind said:
I'm curious, too. So I'll be watching the thread. I tried to get some leather to show underneath my last cordwrap - but unsuccessful. It was a thin burgundy peice from a reclaimed messenger bag that was also still mallable. I think it would have looked really nice showing through. If you don't find anything from conventional suppliers, maybe check out second hand stores. Might get some ideas.

Those names piqued interest - very nice work.

James Helm mentioned using neoprene (Carcass Splittler thrrad), but I know you meant something on top of that to show through.
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I didn’t remember whether James used rubber or Terotough. And you can’t really see it in the knife in the picture because I didn’t do the epoxy thing properly. But I used stripped blue P record as the strider type underwrap. You can see in a little bit if you zoom in.
 
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I was shown this paracord wrap. You remove the white inner cords and as you wrap it, give it a twist on each side. Maybe do a flat wrap of paracord under, then do another layer with different paracord with the guts removed with the twist as the overwrap? A little of the tang shows through, but it's easier than real tsukimaki! Paracord with guts is around 1/8" diameter, so it's good to keep that in mind with handle dimensions! This is the first knife I ever forged and I did it at a class I took with Mace Vitale :)
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I've used regular leather and stingray leather underneath paracord, attached with contact cement. I also did it like Taz showed, by removing the inner cordage and actually ironing the paracord flat- that made it easier to get a crisp twist that was uniform. I also give it a thinned down coating of epoxy to lock it in place. If you intended on being able to remove the paracord for use as cordage, you'd need to come up with another approach.

I'll post some pics if I can find them.
 
I know of a knife maker (just can't remember his name) that does a awesome swell in the center of a para cord knife. Without being able to take apart I believe it was a Skelton knife or at least had two large holes horizontally in the middle of the handle area. I think he started the wrap with those two holes then took the paracord up to the neck of the knife, one cord per side then proceeded to do the wrap towards the end and with one final hole he let the paracord finish there with a braided tag end. By doing this as he ran the wrap down the handle it went right over the paracord swell in the center. Hope this makes some sense to someone.
 
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These are with stingray. Veg tanned leather would work the same. You could probably contour for a palm swell with layers of leather too if desired.

The real trick is how to terminate the wrap. For these, I left the large hole exposed for the final part. The epoxy helps here too. I'm sure there are multiple solutions available on Youtube as well.
 
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Heikki said:
I've used regular leather and stingray leather underneath paracord, attached with contact cement. I also did it like Taz showed, by removing the inner cordage and actually ironing the paracord flat- that made it easier to get a crisp twist that was uniform. I also give it a thinned down coating of epoxy to lock it in place. If you intended on being able to remove the paracord for use as cordage, you'd need to come up with another approach.

I'll post some pics if I can find them.
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I hear people talking about send down a Apoxsee. Typically I have used the basic West system 100 and 200 series products. How do you thin that?
 
Heikki said:
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These are with stingray. Veg tanned leather would work the same. You could probably contour for a palm swell with layers of leather too if desired.

The real trick is how to terminate the wrap. For these, I left the large hole exposed for the final part. The epoxy helps here too. I'm sure there are multiple solutions available on Youtube as well.
Click to expand...
On the nights that I posted, I did a flat under wrap of stripped blue para cord and then did the other wrap with just regular black. It was still fairly thin, like maybe a half inch thick? I want something may be a little bigger than that for a knife it’s going to have a 10 or 12 inch blade. The other thing I’m looking for is to illuminate that flat top and sharp corners when you transition from the edges to the flat of the tang that’s why I was may be thinking about using leather or something firmer than that, and not only rounding off the spine and around the handle a little bit, but also kind of beveling the edges of whatever you’re putting on the handle. The middle can be flat because you’re going to get some extra thickness from crossing over your exterior wrap especially if it’s un stripped Paracord. As for the termination, I have to figure that out especially if I’m gonna do something like you see you guys like Burt, foster or Shiva Ki do where they only wrap part of a wood handle in the Japanese style.
 
Acetone I believe thins epoxy? You can also warm it slightly as well, but it will set up faster the warmer it is. Try marine guard 8000, its pretty thin when mixed.
 
Taz575 said:
Acetone I believe thins epoxy? You can also warm it slightly as well, but it will set up faster the warmer it is. Try marine guard 8000, its pretty thin when mixed.
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Are use west, and add colloidal silica when using it as an adhesive. That knife in the picture I just used it without the silica and it was still pretty thick. I also didn’t know that you were supposed to blot it after it’s soaked in, so you didn’t have a lot of epoxy lying on top of the wrap.
 
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Too much acetone can effect the curing, so use as little as you need to. Or use a heat gun to get it more runny. Wrap the handle, put the epoxy onto the wrap and then heat gun it on low and it should thin out and soak in. Or soak the paracord in epoxy, heat the epoxy and then wrap, bit it will be messy!
 
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