Erin Burke
Well-Known Member
Time to put this thing together. If I've done everything else well, this should come together nicely... no fuss. :51:
PHOTO #111
Here the blade is taped and clamped in a position where I can drive/set the guard.
Comments/Things to Notice
PHOTO #112
All the necessary items to mix epoxy.
-Acraglas epoxy resin and hardener.
-plastic cup
-wood stirring stick
-scale
-calculator
The Acraglas instructions outline mixing by volume; however, in small quantities I find it is much easier to mix by weight. Unfortunately, the resin and hardener are not of identical weight/volume. I actually use 0.263 as much hardener as resin (by weight). You'll notice this number written on the hardener label.
This is how I normally mix up Acraglass:
PHOTO #113
Handle/tang cavity is nearly filled with epoxy. I like to let the epoxy settle for a bit (and prod with a stirring stick) to make sure there are no large bubbles. I know that, as soon as I push the tang in there, there is going to be epoxy everywhere.
Epoxy is no fun to have on your hands. I always wear those funky blue nitrile gloves when working with the stuff.
Two by two. Hands of blue... dudes.
PHOTO #114
This is a Rube Goldberg clamping contraption for holding handle in place while epoxy dries.
I have since (on my more recent projects) started experimenting with using rubber bands (lots of them) for this step. It seems promising. Did I mention that I wear nitrile gloves while doing this work because epoxy ends up everywhere. It is good to keep paper towels, q-tips and toothpicks on-hand to facilitate clean-up.
Now we wait a day (or two) for the epoxy to cure.
PHOTO #115
Here I begin with cleaning up the handle profile on the KMG. I'm using an old 36-grit belt on the flat platen.
You'll also note that I've wrapped a protective layer of black electrical tape around the guard and ferrule. I'm also using a wood block to lift the handle off the grinder's tool-rest, as the large guard wouldn't allow it to lay flat by itself.
PHOTO #116
Drilling the pin hole. This is easier to do when the handle is still square on the faces and still shows the traced tang outline. I drill with a #31 and follow up with a 1/8" reamer.
The soft tang drills really easily.
And now we start shaping. The first thing I do (and this is not shown in the photos unfortunately) is use my height guage to re-establish a center-line for the wood block. This can be a bit tricky because (as mentioned earlier) I do not have a flat ricasso to use as a baseline. But what I do know, is the blade is symmetrical to itself, so I have developed a method for finding the centerline of the block based on that. I'll have to remember to get some photos of this in a future WIP.
PHOTO #117
The first thing to notice in the photo below is that I have glued another template to the butt of the knife. It is lined-up using the centerline that I established in the (un-photographed) step above. My first pass at the handle is to take sides of the handle down close to the ferrule using a combination of the flat platen on my KMG and 80-grit paper on the disc grinder. I then take a rough pass at the corners using an 8" wheel (or 1-1/4" small-wheel) on the KMG. It ends up looking something like this when done.
The knife is clamped in my "knife vise" :shush::biggrin: as I proceed with further hand-shaping.
PHOTO #118
Here I am continuing the rough-shaping of the handle by draw-filing with a half-round @@@@@@@ file.
It's important to have good lighting, and to pay attention at all times to what you are doing with file. I do not want to damage my guard or ferrule in a moment of carelessness.
PHOTO #119
Here I've gone from draw-filing to sanding. I'm using one of my aluminum sanding sticks (from earlier) with sandpaper cut-offs from making 9" disks. I'm currently at P120. Note the drops of CA to fill a few small voids.
I'm sanding closer and closer to the lines of my template, as well as my taped ferrule. I want the wood handle to be slightly proud of the ferrule, so I work my sanding down until there is approximately one thickness of black tape... and it is just barely getting scuffed by my sanding. I'm being very careful. By that time, I'll probably be sanding at about 400-grit.
Note: Down below, in the blurry background of this photo, you can see my KBAC-27D VFD that drives my KMG and my 2hp disc grinder. To the left of it is a box with a toggle that switches the output of the VFD between the two machines.
PHOTO #120
CATASTROPHE!!! WHYYYYYYYY?!?!
Stupidity happens... and the consequences are often harsh.
You'll note, back in PHOTO #118, how my "knife vise" really constists of me clamping my "taped" bladed between two blocks of wood (using C-clamps), then clamping this assembly in my big vise. The photo below illustrates what happens when a tiny bit of the blade is peeking out past the wood blocks, and accidentally gets clamped against the gnurled vise jaws. :35: Bravo Monsieur Idiot. :49:
PHOTO #121
What was the fix? Here you go... simple and surprisingly effective.
The blue line shows the fix. Not rocket science, but also tricky to pull off on a polished and mounted knife. Fortunately I'm talented, awesome and humble... :s12137:
PHOTO #122
And here we are at the end.
Final weigh-in: 459g or 1.01lbs
Balance point is 0.44" in front of the seppa.
PHOTO #111
Here the blade is taped and clamped in a position where I can drive/set the guard.
Comments/Things to Notice
- You'll notice that I have cut several shallow grooves along the edge of the tang. This will allow the tang to bed securely in the epoxy. Remember that the temper on the tang was drawn WAY BACK earlier, so it's fairly soft.
- The tang and guard shoulders still need to be cleaned THOROUGHLY. All oils and dirt should be remove so the epoxy can bind. I especially don't want any gunk getting trapped between the tang shoulders and the face of the guard, as this can leave gaps or ugly lines. I do a first pass with a toothbrush, then wipe down with acetone and alcohol.
- I use JB Weld for the metal/metal joint between the blade/guard/ferrule. Epoxy will be used for the handle.
PHOTO #112
All the necessary items to mix epoxy.
-Acraglas epoxy resin and hardener.
-plastic cup
-wood stirring stick
-scale
-calculator
The Acraglas instructions outline mixing by volume; however, in small quantities I find it is much easier to mix by weight. Unfortunately, the resin and hardener are not of identical weight/volume. I actually use 0.263 as much hardener as resin (by weight). You'll notice this number written on the hardener label.
This is how I normally mix up Acraglass:
- Set scale to read in grains. This seems to give me the finest resolution.
- Tare the scale with the plastic cup in place. These cups normally weigh in at 24gn.
- Add hardener first. Since there will be less hardener than epoxy, I find it is easier to get the exact correct ratio if I add epoxy to hardener.
- Perform the calcs to figure out what the final weight should be after adding epoxy. If "A" is the weight of the hardener, then the final weight should be 4.802A.
- Add epoxy until the correct weight.
- Mix thoroughly.
PHOTO #113
Handle/tang cavity is nearly filled with epoxy. I like to let the epoxy settle for a bit (and prod with a stirring stick) to make sure there are no large bubbles. I know that, as soon as I push the tang in there, there is going to be epoxy everywhere.
Epoxy is no fun to have on your hands. I always wear those funky blue nitrile gloves when working with the stuff.
Two by two. Hands of blue... dudes.
PHOTO #114
This is a Rube Goldberg clamping contraption for holding handle in place while epoxy dries.
I have since (on my more recent projects) started experimenting with using rubber bands (lots of them) for this step. It seems promising. Did I mention that I wear nitrile gloves while doing this work because epoxy ends up everywhere. It is good to keep paper towels, q-tips and toothpicks on-hand to facilitate clean-up.
Now we wait a day (or two) for the epoxy to cure.
PHOTO #115
Here I begin with cleaning up the handle profile on the KMG. I'm using an old 36-grit belt on the flat platen.
You'll also note that I've wrapped a protective layer of black electrical tape around the guard and ferrule. I'm also using a wood block to lift the handle off the grinder's tool-rest, as the large guard wouldn't allow it to lay flat by itself.
PHOTO #116
Drilling the pin hole. This is easier to do when the handle is still square on the faces and still shows the traced tang outline. I drill with a #31 and follow up with a 1/8" reamer.
The soft tang drills really easily.
And now we start shaping. The first thing I do (and this is not shown in the photos unfortunately) is use my height guage to re-establish a center-line for the wood block. This can be a bit tricky because (as mentioned earlier) I do not have a flat ricasso to use as a baseline. But what I do know, is the blade is symmetrical to itself, so I have developed a method for finding the centerline of the block based on that. I'll have to remember to get some photos of this in a future WIP.
PHOTO #117
The first thing to notice in the photo below is that I have glued another template to the butt of the knife. It is lined-up using the centerline that I established in the (un-photographed) step above. My first pass at the handle is to take sides of the handle down close to the ferrule using a combination of the flat platen on my KMG and 80-grit paper on the disc grinder. I then take a rough pass at the corners using an 8" wheel (or 1-1/4" small-wheel) on the KMG. It ends up looking something like this when done.
The knife is clamped in my "knife vise" :shush::biggrin: as I proceed with further hand-shaping.
PHOTO #118
Here I am continuing the rough-shaping of the handle by draw-filing with a half-round @@@@@@@ file.
It's important to have good lighting, and to pay attention at all times to what you are doing with file. I do not want to damage my guard or ferrule in a moment of carelessness.
PHOTO #119
Here I've gone from draw-filing to sanding. I'm using one of my aluminum sanding sticks (from earlier) with sandpaper cut-offs from making 9" disks. I'm currently at P120. Note the drops of CA to fill a few small voids.
I'm sanding closer and closer to the lines of my template, as well as my taped ferrule. I want the wood handle to be slightly proud of the ferrule, so I work my sanding down until there is approximately one thickness of black tape... and it is just barely getting scuffed by my sanding. I'm being very careful. By that time, I'll probably be sanding at about 400-grit.
Note: Down below, in the blurry background of this photo, you can see my KBAC-27D VFD that drives my KMG and my 2hp disc grinder. To the left of it is a box with a toggle that switches the output of the VFD between the two machines.
PHOTO #120
CATASTROPHE!!! WHYYYYYYYY?!?!
Stupidity happens... and the consequences are often harsh.
You'll note, back in PHOTO #118, how my "knife vise" really constists of me clamping my "taped" bladed between two blocks of wood (using C-clamps), then clamping this assembly in my big vise. The photo below illustrates what happens when a tiny bit of the blade is peeking out past the wood blocks, and accidentally gets clamped against the gnurled vise jaws. :35: Bravo Monsieur Idiot. :49:
PHOTO #121
What was the fix? Here you go... simple and surprisingly effective.
The blue line shows the fix. Not rocket science, but also tricky to pull off on a polished and mounted knife. Fortunately I'm talented, awesome and humble... :s12137:
PHOTO #122
And here we are at the end.
Final weigh-in: 459g or 1.01lbs
Balance point is 0.44" in front of the seppa.
Last edited:
