Is this hole too close?

[Mark Barone]

Did I make the hole at the end too close to the end of the handle . Will there be enough wood on the scale to shape? I wanted to put a brass tube there for paracord. Now I'm wondering if the end will be too fat

 

[BossDog]

Wood scales will likely chip out. A laminate material like Micarta(tm) or g10 will work.

 

[John Wilson]

Yeah, it's pretty close to the edge. You can leave the scales fairly thick at the end rather than tapering them. That would leave some meat to keep them from splitting. The easiest solution if you haven't hardened the blade yet is to drill another hole. Just let the wood cover the hole you don't use. While you're at it, I'd drill another hole for the front of the scales, too. That pin is going to be super close to the front of the scales. Your pins don't need to be at the extreme ends of your scales. If you are using a good epoxy, you can leave upwards of an inch past your pins without worrying about the scales lifting.

 

[Mark Barone]

Ok thanks it is hardened . I'll have to think about this a bit.

 

[Dennis Morland]

It is not ideal, but, you could use a smaller pin. It looks to be a 1/4 inch pin? Correct? If so, use a 1/8 inch pin but place it as far forward as possible. It would give you a little more room to the rear of the knife edge. You can attempt to dremel out more material from the front of the hole. If it is hardened I would not attempt with a regular drill bit.

As a suggestion only. Prior to heat treat on your next knife. Drill a few more hole in the handle. On this handle it could be a 1/2 inch or so. Maybe a row or two - three to five deep on each side. Stay away from the edges. The reason for my suggestion is it lightens the handle and gives the epoxy better holding between the two scales. I hope that makes some sense to you.

 

[Smallshop]

If you try Dennis' fix make sure the hole is full of epoxy at glue time. Those pins are your shear strength so as long as you have "replaced" the steel with epoxy it will still have strength under a shear impact.

 

[Mark Barone]

The

It is not ideal, but, you could use a smaller pin. It looks to be a 1/4 inch pin? Correct? If so, use a 1/8 inch pin but place it as far forward as possible. It would give you a little more room to the rear of the knife edge. You can attempt to dremel out more material from the front of the hole. If it is hardened I would not attempt with a regular drill bit.

As a suggestion only. Prior to heat treat on your next knife. Drill a few more hole in the handle. On this handle it could be a 1/2 inch or so. Maybe a row or two - three to five deep on each side. Stay away from the edges. The reason for my suggestion is it lightens the handle and gives the epoxy better holding between the two scales. I hope that makes some sense to you.

That's a good idea. I was originally going to put a hollow pin for a lanyard but if I go smaller I may just use the same smaller pin as I will have in the front.
Do scales have to be sanded thinner on smaller knifes?

 

[Gliden07]

What if you opened up the hole more like a slot and made the scales shorter then added another small pin in front of the slot? Hope I'm making myself clear?

 

[BrandantR]

I was thinking the same thing as Gliden07. If you leave the hole where it is and just notch the wood around it, it can actually be an attractive feature. Here's a pic of one I did in a similar fashion. Granted, it's a folder, but you get the idea.

 

[EdCaffreyMS]

I love the line of thinking! As I often tell students..... You didn't make a mistake, you made a opportunity to excel!

 

[Mark Barone]

What if you opened up the hole more like a slot and made the scales shorter then added another small pin in front of the slot? Hope I'm making myself clear?

 

[Mark Barone]

Hmm I'll consider that. Not sure if the hole is too big. It might overpower the handle. I'm not going to abort this one. It does have potential. I'll post a pic when it's done.