helle blade knife build-along -finished pic

[Bodork]

Okay guys, All it took was a request for a build-along for these knives so I jumped on it. I started this knife at about 8:00 last night. I am in no way an expert, just learning as I go along so if anyone has any pointers or suggestions, feel free to contribute. Mike
 The first thing I do is trace the blade I am working with on a piece of copy paper. I use a sharpie. A ball point will work. Then, with a pencil, I draw the desired shape of the handle and any stripes I might want to try. With a pencil here, I can erase and redraw 'till I'm pretty satisfied with my design.
 At this point, I cover the blade with three layers of masking tape to protect myself and the blade.
   
 These blades are made to accept a brass push nut at the end of the handle. That is why the tang is smaller at the end. The tang is supposed to extrude through the end of the handle and the nut goes on it. I'm not 'nuts' about the looks of the brass thing so I haven't used it. I have made my handles a little longer to cover the entire tang. However, on this blade, the polar, I want to shorten the handle but still not use the nut so I will simply cut the tang a little shorter. This picture shows how I shortened the design so I will need to cut the tang. I always measure the tang and write down the length so when I shape the handle I don't cut too much off the end and cut into the tang.
   

[Bodork]

One of the reasons this endevor looked so appealing to me is, because I'm a packrat, I have all kinds of scrap wood and lamination pieces lying around from bowbuilding and I figured I could use alot of them up making knife handles. I knew I wanted ebony and cocobolo for this knife. Well, because God is good, I found a scrap piece of ebony that was left from a riser fadeout in my box. It had a little piece of mexican cocobolo and a maple accent stripe left on it but I decided because of the placement and curve of stripe I would leave it there because it might look neat where it is. The curve was close enough that all I had to do was square the thick end and smooth the arch up a bit.
 
 Then I went back to my scrap box and found a piece of mexican cocobolo that would be big enough so I covered it with masking tape so I could see my pen mark and traced the curve of the ebony on it.
 

[Bodork]

Then I cut the radius out with my bandsaw. I try to leave the pen mark and sand down to it with my drum sander. This picture shows a high spot that will need to be sanded down. I plan to put a piece of .030 maple accent between the ebony and cocobolo so when I am squeezing the pieces together to look for high spots, I need to have the maple between them. If not, the ebony and cocobolo will fit nicley but when you add the thickness of the stripe, the gap in the radius will change.
 
 You can use smooth-on, super glue or epoxy to glue the pieces together. On this one, I used thick super glue just so I wouldn't have to wait so long to continue the build. The smooth-on is just as messy, but at least when (not if) you get it on your skin you are not instantly stuck to yourself and everything else on your bench. Whatever I use, I always tape a piece of wax paper to my work area so my stock doesn't get stuck to my bench. Clamp it real tight and let the adheisive set.
 

[Bodork]

Here is the piece after gluing and with the excess glue sanded off. You can see the cocobolo on the top alot clearer here. I think the maple accent stripe on top is .040 but it's close enough to the one I added on the bottom that most people won't notice. See how fortunate I was that the two curves match nicely?
 
 Here I just cut off the excess wood at the end of the handle.
 

[Osagetree]

I don't mean to rush you but I'm waiting to see how you mount the dang blade in that block of wood!

[Bodork]

I bought the finger guard that Chad has but it is a factory fit for the helle blade only as he points out on his web site. Therefore I had to cut a little notch in the top of the blade so the blade fit into the guard. I used my dremel tool and one of those little flat abrasive blades. You'll also notice that the finger guard is slightly concurved. I put the domed side away from the handle so the sides of the guard lay flat on the end of my handle stock.
   
 You can't really see it in this picture, but I put a piece of masking tape on the top of the handle and draw a line down the center with a pen. This acts as a guide when lining up the drill press. I also lay the blade on the handle stock WITH THE FINGER GUARD IN PLACE and trace the tang and draw my intended handle pattern on the side. If your stock is barely wider than the finger guard, the hole you drill will not be in the center of your stock because the finger guard hangs lower beneath the blade. This also acts as a guide while setting up to drill. I turn my press table at a 90 degree angle and clamp the handle stock in place trying to make sure the bit will drill down the center looking from the top and in the appropriate spot looking at the side. Make sure your depth is the right length for your tang. Use the tightest drill bit you can find. Drill a hole in a scrap piece of wood to check the fit.
 

[Bodork]

After the hole is drilled to the proper depth, I take a small round file and work it in and out several times to scratch the sides of the hole and loosen and saw dust left in the hole. If you used the right bit, you will have to screw the blade back and forth to get it to go in the hole. The blades have little radiuses at the end so you will need to take a small file and make grooves in the top and bottom of the hole. Some blades have more radius than others so the depth of the grooves depends on the blade you use. When you can push the blade with the finger guard in and everything lays nice and flat, you are ready to glue the blade in place.
 
 Here comes the easy part. Gluing the blade in place. Blow the hole out with compressed air. Put the handle in a vise. I use the devcon two ton epoxy in the syringe. One syringe does three blades. Mix the epoxy and pour it in the hole. If you can keep it to one side it will go in easier. If you dump it over the hole, an air bubble will be trapped in the hole. An ice pick will help get the epoxy to the bottom. I used the blade tang once but when the tang is already covered with epoxy and you slide the finger guard on, well, you get the picture. With the hole filled most of the way and a clean rag handy, slide the blade, with the finger guard in place, into the hole. Epoxy will ooze out the hole. Wiggle the blade a little to work the epoxy all around the tang. Push firmly. Make sure the blade sits tight at the end of the handle and in the finger guard. I wipe any excess epoxy off the handle and off the finger guard. Let the epoxy cure.
 

[hormoan]

I think its a great looking knive already! Thanks for sharing!

                  Brent

[elk ninja]

I am enjoying this and was planning on getting a Helle blade here in a couple weeks, so keep it up, I love it!
Semper Fi,
Mike

[DarkeGreen]

I'm liking what I see so far. Is it done yet?  

[Bodork]

Next I draw and cut the general shape of the handle. You could just sand and file from here but cutting to rogh shape saves a lot of time. Just leave it bigger than you think you want it. You can't put wood back on after you have cut it off!
 
 Here it is after it is cut. I'm liking that little piece of cocobolo on the top.
 
 I use the belt sander to round the edges and put the finger grooves in. I also use my drum sander with a smaller drum. Keep the wood moving so you don't gouge too deep. Moderate pressure for the grooves and corners and light pressure to feather things together. Go Slow!
 
 Here it is to rough shape. You'll notice the imperfections left by the drum sander.
 

[Bodork]

Now it is time to hit it with the file to nock down the high spots and tweak your shape. Use the flat surface of your file with long, steady strokes and light to moderate pressure. Keep the file moving around the handle a little at a time, never in one place or you'll make a flat spot. You'll see the highs come out if you watch closley while you are filing. I put two pieces of cardboard on the blade and put it in my vise to do the top and bottom.
 
 I move it to the end of my bench to do the sides.
 
 Now it is ready for sanding. Use a sanding block. If you use your fingers, they will follow the valleys and make low spots worse. First 60 grit followed by 150 grit. After block sanded with 150 you can use sandpaper and your fingers to do the tiny areas. Let the paper do the work and change it often.
 

[Bodork]

Don't worry if you scratch the finger guard with the sandpaper. In fact, in order to get the wood smooth with the edge of the guard, you have to sand the guard and the wood at the same time. Just try not to make really deep scratches in it.
 
 A few strokes with the sanding block and 220 grit will buff the guard right back. You'll have to stroke it around the handle. Be careful not to put sanding marks in your handle. If you do, resand them with the grain and they'll disappear. If you'll notice a few pictures back when the handle was just block form, the bottom of the finger guard hung below the block a tiny bit. All I did was sand the wood and the guard as if it were one piece with the drum and it took the excess guard off and made the transition between the guard the the wood very smooth.  

[Bodork]

Here is where I am with the knife now. I use t-bird laquer sealer. I like to brush it on because I can get it kind of thick. If it runs or sags a little I don't care. I'll let it dry good them brush on another coat.
 

[Dano]

Great buildalong, great lookin knife.

[sticshooter]

There should be a law against making sticshooter DROOL!LOL Mike this is you best one yet IMHO!Great job. ya now I am going to have to get some of them fancy tools<><

[sndmn11]

wow that is beautiful.  i am on the last stage of doing my first knife and it is a helle as well.  yours puts mine to shame...now im glad that i dont know hwo to post a picture lol

[steadman]

NICE!!! Thanks for the informative build a long. Great lookin knife. And knives on the other threads!!

[Kip]

Mike good deal wish you had done it sooner I see now how to get a  better fit from handle to finger guard.Thanks Kip

[Adam Mooney]

This is awesome. I have 2 Helle blades I am working on and was having a little bit of difficulty with them. You just made it look so easy. I started thinking "Why didnt I think of this way to do it". Thank you.