Carving Knife Handles

[Jim-Iowa]

There is a knfemaker in the area that has an outstanding reputation in the carving community for the quality of his knives.
I bought two blades and am about to make handles for them. I have some walnut scraps that will work fine. He has drilled two 1/8" rivet holes.
Would the rivets be adequate or should i also expoxt them into the handle?

 

[Walks Alone]

FWIW, I for one also epoxy mine just to be sure and to help waterproof the nonexposed wood.

 

With 1/8" holes you can drill the slabs and use brass sheet metal screws as rivets. Use a slow cure epoxey to give yourself plenty of time to work with the handles.

Do not try to trim down the rough shaped blanks until the epoxey sets.

I have found JB Wled the best on the market.

About 2 weeks ago I removed a deer leg bone handle I had installed on a blade nearly 10 years ago. The epoxey I had used was still rubbery down in the middle of the hollow bone. That was a well known and often recommended brand. JB Weld will not do this.

 

[crockett]

It sounds like you have a full tang and want to put on scales. If so, everything Ghost said is accurate, JB Weld is the best. The epoxy makes a perfect bound and keeps out water. I use both brass screws and plain brass pins. The pins are probably ok on most knives if you use the epoxy. With the screw you sometimes get a "pin" that isn't perfectly round on the handle surface, but the scews hold a lot better and they are PC. The old Sheffield catalogs lists iron pins and/or brass screws but I haven't seeen any listing for brass pins(although they were likely used).
If you use the brass screws you may want to go totally PC with cutler's rosin. It was a weak glue make from pine resin/pitch mixed with beeswax and colored black with powdered (very, very fine) charcoal. You have to heat up this goo to apply it. Black epoxy really looks about the same.

 

[Jim-Iowa]

Thanks for the replys. The blanks are finished with the exception of final honeing and stropping
The tang is not a full tangs, they are aprox 1-1 1/4" long. He uses copper rivets in his handles
I have 1/8" brass rod, but might go with the epoxy and screws as mentioned
The blades are a 1 1/4" Gp Carving blade and the other a 1" detail carving blade