first time Green River kits

[Mad Professor]

Hi Folks.

First time at knife building but have metal working skills. Have welded, forged, etc but limited tools for that now. Do have the proper tools for simple stuff.

My question is I have several Green River kits, well sort of kits as ordered parts separate to get the scales I wanted.

Most of these are smaller knife blanks so less tang than I'd like to work with.

Anyway, question is, they are all full tang but I'd like the finished handle to fit my hand better than the metal on the tang allows.

What I mean is some part of the tang I'd like to grind out for fingerholds, but would also like part of handle to be bigger than the provided tang.

I've no problem grinding the tang and not pooching things with too much heat, not a problem on the tang anyways. But how to fill the gap left where I want the handle a bit bigger than the tang?

I've considered saving the sawdust when fitting the scales, then mixing that with epoxy when I attach/glue the handle, using that for filler.

How ugly will this be? I'm not looking for works of art, just solid functional handles. I'm working with osage and cherry scales.

Will work my way up to more labor intense projects when I finish these.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Comrade Coffin]

How about making the scales the way you want them for grip, and then carving a relived section on each half that will 'let' the tang in?

The back of the tang could align with the back of the handle, and the 'excess' wood will be under the tang, with each half butting directly together.

I am not sure I am explaining myself very well here.

 

[LRB]

An excellent suggestion from Doc. A semi-morticed tang. Should not be too hard to do.

 

[Mad Professor]

Doc understood and a good idea. No I wish I had a router........

 

[omarick1948]

Doc understood and a good idea. No I wish I had a router........

You do!...Two hands and a sharp chisel!

 

[buford87]

+1 on the chisel as Horner said. Power tools only serve to allow you to make really big mistakes really fast. Slow down and do it right..................watch yer top knot...............

 

[Mad Professor]

O.K. but my smallest chisel is 1 1/2" for timber framing.............maybe try the 3" slick? :grin:

 

[buford87]

I think you will need something along the lines of 1/4 to 3/8 inch chisel. Then work in the same direction as the grain. If you try to go cross grain with a large chisel nothing good will come of it...............watch yer top knot...............

 

[MSW]

what Buford said! ... and you want your chisels to be sharp enough to shave hair off your forearm. (it is very difficult to get bloodstains out of nice wood - don't ask me how i know :redface: )