Owl and I settled on a frame handled smallish Bowie style knife for our build. The picture is awful, but you get the idea. Neither of us has done a frame handle before, so this should be interesting.
I’m not a forger so stock removal is how this build is going to proceed. I chose AEB-L stainless, mostly because it’s my all around go-to steel. I don’t know that anything else wouldn’t work here but that’s what we chose.
I generally trace my paper drawing onto a little card stock/cereal box cardboard. After that it’s just a matter of hitting the bandsaw.
A bit more progress today. Once you get rolling in something neat like this it’s hard to stop.
The pictures didn’t turn out that great, but I got the frame fit up to the tang, and the guard is next. I honestly have no clue if I’m doing this in the right order, so if anyone has any input, I’m all ears.
Next up was the guard. My least favorite part. I use round stock, because it’s what I had, no other reason. I marked out my center line and put some rough marks about 1/8” apart. Drill those holes all the way through.
Once I get those holes in I flip the guard over and use a 3/16” carbide reamer to open the holes but I only drill part way through, leaving about 1/8” un-reamed.
As always a little filing is required, but pretty quick you start getting a good fit
A little more fitting, pounding, sanding and filing, and voila! Pretty good fit if I do say so myself.
I really thought I had a good plan for fitting the scales to the frame, the knife and the guard. I even practiced on a couple mock ups, but man did I have my hands full. Its
One thing to make scales match up to a guard, but making sure ever single piece is square and flat, is a tough one.
Even then it still didn’t go as planned! Notice the change of scales. But eventually I got what I considered a good fit and got the handle roughed out
Then, THIS!!! In one fail swoop I wrecked the frame,the scales and the guard. All for naught, but I think I have a good idea where I went wrong and I’ll get back at it.
Finished product. A good effort overall and most importantly a learning experience. For those eagle eyes observers out there, yes that is the third set of handle scales.
I am very proud of how it turned out, now to make the sheath.