Someone please school me on adding a handle ...

[Rob DiStefano]

... to a Helle knife blank ...

 

... it's a #56 Odel-Kniven w/2.25" blade.  

I want to go with this style of knife handle that philil did ...

 

I'm guessing to just drill a hole in a piece of hardwood stock, shape the wood, epoxy it in ... ?

[robtattoo]

Hi Rob, have a look at these two tutorials/buildalongs from British Blades.
They show 2 different ways of handling a Scandi blade.....

  Hidden tang tutorial  

  Scandi Turorial

The biggest mistake most folks seem to make when handling Helle & other Scandi blades, is not fitting the bolster right upto the blade & having an ugly step between the two. Don't be afraid of cutting the tang down to length either. If you're struggling to get the bolster right upto the shoulders of the blade, whip an inch or two off the tang to make your handle easier to drill.
When it comes to drilling & filing the bolster, take it slow & easy. Take the time to fit & re-fit the thing, taking off tiny amounts at a time, until it's a good snug fit upto the shoulders. If you're using a brass plate bolster, try & make it a nice smooth transition between blade & handle. Don't just leave it big!

The best advice I was given when I started was to find a knife I'd like to copy & refer back to as many pictures of it as possible at every stage of the build. Don't stop sanding/shaping until you're 100% happy that your knife matches the picture! If you do go too far, as we all have, when shaping, drilling or sanding, there's no shame in scrapping the whole thing & starting again. It's only wood!  :D

[Rob DiStefano]

Thanx Rob, good stuff - I like that hidden tang process.

[robtattoo]

Oops! Added stuff whilst you were posting!  :D

[Bodork]

One thing I've  learned working with helle blades. I like to make brass finger guards, therefore I have to cut a slot in the brass to slide up the tang to the back of the blade. This needs to be a good snug fit so there is no gap between the blade and the brass. It seems when they polish the blade, it makes it smaller than the rest of the tang. If the brass fits tight on the tang, it's still loose when it gets to the blade. I grind the tang on the flat edges before I make the slot in the brass too big. Don't think this will affect the handles you are looking at but it might help someone else along the way. Mike

[elk ninja]

Here's a couple more tutorials:
 http://www.northcoastknives.com/northcoast_knives_tutorials_puukko.htm
 http://www.northcoastknives.com/northcoast_knives_tutorials_hiddentang1.htm

Mike

[Rob DiStefano]

Rob, thanx for the added comments.  Yes, the tang is too long and will get cut down a bit.  I like the three part handle wood scheme, where the center piece is fitted precisely to the tang and the outer clamshell pieces cover it all up.  

Would just using epoxy hold it all together or are some rivets needed?  

Also wondering how philil made those handles, they look one piece ... if so, might that just be a drilled hole and lots of epoxy?  I should PM him on that ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mike, good scoop on the finger guard, thanx ... but something I want to avoid - no finger guard or rear tang nut.

[robtattoo]

It looks like Philil has cut a slot in the bolster piece, making it a nice snug fit to the blade then ,I would summise, drilled a straight hole in the handle portion & epoxied it in place.

If you go for the 3-part, hidden tang idea a good Epoxy will be more than enough to hold it all together. Devcon 2-ton would be perfect, just leave it a good 24hrs after glue up before you start sanding.

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by robtattoo:
It looks like Philil has cut a slot in the bolster piece, making it a nice snug fit to the blade then ,I would summise, drilled a straight hole in the handle portion & epoxied it in place.

If you go for the 3-part, hidden tang idea a good Epoxy will be more than enough to hold it all together. Devcon 2-ton would be perfect, just leave it a good 24hrs after glue up before you start sanding.

Thanx Rob.

As a luthier, I'm well familiar with all manner of glues ... and wood!  :D

[robtattoo]

Ah. Teaching Granny to suck eggs is another of my strong points!  :D  :D

P.s. Cool job! I wonder how many people have asked you, once you've told 'em what you do, 'What's a luthier?'  

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by robtattoo:
Ah. Teaching Granny to suck eggs is another of my strong points!   :D    :D  

P.s. Cool job! I wonder how many people have asked you, once you've told 'em what you do, 'What's a luthier?'    

They usually say they'd never expect a bloke like me to be in the ministries.  :D

[tippit]

Rob, Nice to see you as a participant here.  With your wood working skills we definitely want some pictures...Doc

[Rob DiStefano]

Doc, messing with knives is a WHOLE different territory than messing with fretted instruments, but I'm game to give it a go!

[Lewis Brookshire III]

Rob, this is off topic but I would LOVE to see some of you guitars if you have a website or photobucket you could PM me.

Oh to stay more on top, are those knives that Philil made actually a full tang knife? Kinda looks like it from the pic.

[philil]

Sorry for the delay guys!

I actually cheated a little to get a snuggly fit.

I glued the two pieces of wood together with epoxy. Had to clean the surfaces with acetone first since I was told olive can be hard to glue.

I then used a friends drill press to get a straight hole into the whole block, just the diameter of the tang.
After shaping the riser,I filed some grooves into the tangs to give the epoxy more grip surface.Then I glued the tang into the whole with regular epoxy (curing time about 11 hours)

After the epoxy had dried I mixed some 5.min-epoxy with wodd dust and apllied it where the blade meets the wood.
This is why it looks like I cut a slot, which I actually was to lazy to do   :rolleyes:  

Have fun building...those little guys really keep an edge