Hilting/scaling knife blades

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shocker
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Hilting/scaling knife blades

Post by shocker »

We have talked about making blades recently, how about hilting/scaling those blades ? That is, putting a handle on them. Is anyone doing that kind of thing at the mo ? Jamesy , Forgey, Im looking at you ! "Spit that chewing gum out boy!" "You better have brought enough for everyone!" and other school-teacher-y comments :D
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Jamesey1981
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Re: Hilting/scaling knife blades

Post by Jamesey1981 »

I'm not currently doing it, but I have bookmarked that link in the other post of yours to the finished blade blank, I'll order one as soon as they have the carbon steel ones back in stock. :)

Have a wood reclamation place near me, I'll go and have a rummage and see what I can find for the handle, I have an antler or two knocking about, but I'm thinking some interesting reclaimed wood would be nice.
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shocker
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Re: Hilting/scaling knife blades

Post by shocker »

Good man ! Thought you would be onto that one ! ;)

I will do some piccies when I decide how I am going to go about this blade. I want to get this one at least mostly finished before I start on a file knife. TBH I spend more time and hand/head wringing over hilting than I do making blades. And I do not want another half finished project - La Shox is not impressed at all the works in progress. :oops: :cry:

Really, I need to silver solder the bandsaw blade or (god forbid) buy a new one... "what?" they cry, "shox spend actual, real money on something ?" "hell will freeze.." etc etc
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shocker
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Re: Hilting/scaling knife blades

Post by shocker »

As a prelude, heres a similar blade to the one I have, I found a closer one:

http://www.thebushcraftstore.co.uk/cond ... 7068-p.asp

pretty much the same, close enough. What Im thinking is to use a scale of bone or wood either side and mount them by running an M6 brass or stainless screw through (the holes are 6mm) with a "nut" interference fitted into the scale, using something like this ;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Knurl-Insert- ... VEaacGO3yw

or this...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rivet-Nut-304 ... 2046120352

thus bolting the scales onto the blade, maybe with some epoxy glue for good luck. And then cutting a half inch length from the 1.5" brass barstock to make either a flare or crossbar. I could either silver solder/braze or drill two M3 or 4 holes through the brass and blade,like this one -

http://www.thebushcraftstore.co.uk/mora ... 3306-p.asp

and this, a bit -

http://www.thebushcraftstore.co.uk/mora ... 3309-p.asp

but tap a thread into the brass. Then flash a bit of solder down the threads, or a bit of threadlock. Or a weld if I use steel. Or something.

Anyway, thats what I was thinking. This time. I will just go away quietly now..... :oops:
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shocker
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Re: Hilting/scaling knife blades

Post by shocker »

I go...I come back...

I was thinking of obtaining a large nut of brass or stainless, sawing it in half, then mounting it to either side of the blade at the butt end and MIG welding it on, filling the void with weld. I got this idea from a Chris Reeves handmade knife that a mucker had in the states, years ago. That one was useful for a bit of light hammering and gave a good balance to the knife.

Obviously all this welding and brazing would need to be done before the wood/bone was mounted.

Anybody got any thoughts ? Apart from the obvious "buy a knife you stingey chiseller" and "shut up and let us get on with real conversations" :oops:
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ForgeCorvus
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Re: Hilting/scaling knife blades

Post by ForgeCorvus »

You do know that even Pb-free solder needs a heat high enough to frag the HT?
Silver solder is higher still..... I'm assuming that its a finished blade
Just seen your latest post.... Welding even more so
You've paid for professional heat treatment, why throw it away?

Drilling a HT'ed blade is difficult, I'd try one on those pointed TC spade bits you can get for drilling tiles and glass.... But it might not work

Hard, dense and tough are what you need for knife handles.
Woods like Box, Lignum vitae or even boring old Beech.
Bone, Horn and Antler are also excellent
Modern materials include Polypropylene (the budget Moras), glass filled Nylon and Micarta

Being able to make a knife means that you know what goes into a good knife
Last edited by ForgeCorvus on Sat Apr 01, 2017 10:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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shocker
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Re: Hilting/scaling knife blades

Post by shocker »

Thanks mate, all this is just speculation off the top of my head, not thought through. I throw it out so people who actually know stuff will tell me the obvious flaws...my thinking hadnt go that far yet ! even so,....whoops.. :oops:

As far as the heat thing goes, yes, obviously, not thinking, getting carried away building dream knives without reference to reality -sorry

I have made quite a few blades over the years but this time I wanted to take some time and get something I really like. I have this blade in paracord order for about 7 years now so I know its a keeper. Before now I have made rivets out of brass or copper rod.

Done some reading - bolster is the word I've been looking for, the "cross-bar-stop-fingers-sliding-onto-cutty-bleedy-bit"
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Re: Hilting/scaling knife blades

Post by Mr spyder »

May help with scales contact every wood flooring company ask for samples usually listed on the site every kind of wood in usable sizes for free