Helle Knife Build-A-Long

[tmccall]

Well, the meat is in the marinade and everything is in place for a great July 4th celebration.  I've been busy all evening long getting everything ready and now that I'm finally done it seems to me like this might be a good time for a build-a-long!

This is where we start:

 

We begin with a Helle Harding blade and hardware from Wingnut and a custom built handle blank designed to match my Dryad Bushwacker.  You can get the blade and hardware from Dryad Bows at a very reasonable price, however I had to beg, plead, lie, cheat and steal to get that handle blank!      

[Bodork]

I'm waiting!

[tmccall]

To answer the question I know someone is going to ask, the handle woods are Coco and Yew.  My first step was to get the Nickle Plate seated on the knife.  I accomplished this by putting a cut-off tool on my Dremel and **lightly** touching the inside of the slot in the nickle just enough to allow it to slide up over the last inch or so of the blade.

 

I discovered that, if you do this right, you end up with a nice tight fit.  Once it was in place it was never removed during the rest of the building process.

[tmccall]

Nice to have you along Bodork!    

Next we drilled a hole through the center of the handle block.

   

I inserted the tang in the hole to get an idea of how the knife would fit the handle.  I drew circles on both ends to give me an idea of what wood needed to come off.  These lines served as guides thru the process.

[tmccall]

Next I took my Dremel tool and flared out the hole on one end to accept the flare in the tang.

 

I also started rough shaping the handle.  I did this mostly with my Dremel tool and a 60 grit sanding band.

[tmccall]

I continued to rough out the handle:

 

This goes pretty quick with the Dremel.

 

It doesn't take long for it to start taking shape.

[tmccall]

Working with the Dremel, slowly and carefully, I kept bringing the knife down to shape.

 

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I was starting to feel pretty good about the way things were going at this point.  After only a couple of hours of work, this thing is really starting to come together.

[tmccall]

At about this point I decided to check and see how close I was to fitting in the sheath.  You can just imagine my dismay as I realized that A WHOLE LOT of wood still needed to come off!

Back to the drawing board.

 

I know it looks funny but I started working from the sheath end back slimming down the whole thing to fit.  I figured I would take care of the butt end once this thing started fitting in the sheath.

[tmccall]

Once it started fitting in the sheath I started shaping the handle.

 

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Now it starts looking more like I had imagined it would look.

[tmccall]

I kept working on the handle, judging the fit to my hand as I went.

At this point it is nearly done.

   

*****

   

I started this project on a Tuesday evening after work.  I was at this point after about an additional hour of work on Wednesday evening.

A guy that had the time and patience could build one of these on a Saturday, from start to finish!

[steadman]

 Very Nice!

[tmccall]

I did a little more work to the handle Wednesday evening, then started finish sanding the handle.

The next evening I finally got around to putting the whole thing together.  I filled the hole in the handle with 2-Ton epoxy and glued the tang into the handle.  I then touched the back end of the tang slightly with the Dremel cut-off tool and tapped (hammered) the brass piece onto the but of the knife.

The next evening I filed the rest of the tang off flush with the brass piece and **finally** started spraying finish!

Here's the completed project:

 

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[tmccall]

A few more:

 

*****

 

This was my first attempt at a knife and I feel pretty good about the outcome.  I'm already planning my next couple of projects involving Helle blades -- it just seems to go hand in hand with traditional archery!

This is an extremely rewarding do-it-yourself project that just about anybody could tackle.  I've been thinking about trying it for a couple of years and I just can't tell you how glad I am that I finally gave it a shot!

[Cutty47]

Great stuff!  I've been wanting to try a Helle blade with a 'boo and osage handle with at tung oil finish to match a BBO...

Now that I know Wingnut and Dryad carry those Helle blades, I've got no excuse!

[wingnut]

Nice Job Tony!!  Dang your dad and you made those knives really pop.  Now how many folks do you have standing in line waiting for new knives?

LOL

Mike

[the Ferret]

Nice stuff Mr McCall. Your knife turned out beautifuly. It's hard to explain how easy these projects are but the pictures tell a thousand words.

[tmccall]

Thanks Mike and Mickey!  I felt like it turned out pretty good for a first attempt.  As soon as I get vacations, birthdays and such out of the way (July is gonna be a killer!) I'm going to get a few more going.  I don't know what I'm gonna do with them, a guy can't cary more than one (or maybe two...) at a time...  But I sure enjoy making them!

[tmccall]

BTW Mickey, Mr McCall is my Dad!     I'm just Tony.

[snag]

I have a 4"X 8"X 12" block of some extremely hard and beautiful wood that came in a shipping crate at work. I have just kept it around the shop because it is one of those things that you know has value and you can't just throw it away! Well, now I know what I should do with it. Thanks for inspiring me Tony. That wood is destined to be knife handles!

I love the shape of your handle. Very nice!

[tmccall]

Snag, you gotta post pics when you get it done!  This is a really fun project, I can't wait to see what you do with it...