Fallkniven F1D cos re handle wip

[mark.177]

committed now! just ripped the handle off a brand new Fallkniven f1d in cos steel!
i did a fare bit of testing on the blade first to make sure its good before invalidating my 10 year warranty!
its an excellent small utility/bushcraft blade in an excellent steel and a good price but the handle is way too small for my large hands. so thought id do a re handle wip
i dont actually have any material for the handle yet but will post pics as i go

 

[mark.177]

forgot the pic.

 

[mark.177]

re shaped tang

 

[Kepis]

Looking forward to seeing the finished article as i have an F1 clone i was given that im thinking about rehandling

 

[snappingturtle]

Decent width of tang on that blade, I'll be keeping an eye on this.

 

[Rickyd]

If you sell this I’ll buy it!! Been after one for ages!!

 

[Janne]

Will you thin the blade too?

 

[mark.177]

Will you thin the blade too?

no, it works beautifully as it is with the full convex, the only thing i changed is the factory secondary v edge to a convex

 

[mark.177]

after removal of black coating using nitromorse paint stripper. finish under coating is poor so will need sanding/polishing

 

[Janne]

Interesting. The non coated blades from them are nicely finished.
Maybe they did not do the finishing to get a key for the coating? Or saw a way to save a krona or two by telling the Japanese manufacturer not to worry about the finishing?

 

[Janne]

Was it easy to cut back the tang? I work with a Carborundum disk and a Dremel.
You gave me an idea to change the handle on one of my FK knives. (Not that I will use it.....)

 

[mark.177]

Was it easy to cut back the tang? I work with a Carborundum disk and a Dremel.
You gave me an idea to change the handle on one of my FK knives. (Not that I will use it.....)

no not long at all, took about 5 minutes on the linisher dunking in water each pass to keep cool

 

[mark.177]

some Australian red Mallee burl for the handle

 

[snappingturtle]

Interesting. The non coated blades from them are nicely finished.
Maybe they did not do the finishing to get a key for the coating? Or saw a way to save a krona or two by telling the Japanese manufacturer not to worry about the finishing?

I would think a bit of both maybe someone knows better? I like the way the tang drops back from the spine a touch of curve in a handle is always nice.

 

[Janne]

Only the boys in Kiruna and the manufacturer down in Japan knows...

In my job, I need to have sometimes surfaces coated and in those cases they blast them with a special media to get a good 'key'.
Normally those surfaces are highly polished to silken matt, depending on my prescription.
The surface exposed by Mark looks 'unfinished'.

"s#rew the final step, it will be invisible under the coating anyway, and we save some money" kind of thing. Except said in Swedish!

 

[mark.177]

it'll look nicer after a couple of hours sanding and polishing

 

[Stew]

I've removed a few coatings of knives and everyone has a poor finish underneath.

 

[Janne]

That is fine on cheapish knives, but those are fairly expensive!
What, £150 or so?

 

[Stew]

Even the expensive ones have a poor finish.

Busse are a good example....

 

[Janne]

You and Mark are lucky, you can fix those problems! I look forward seeing Marks end result!