Knife handle advice acorn bolts

[max whitlock]

Hi guys - i'm in the process of fitting my first knife handle and i am unsure how to fit acorn bolts correctly.

I am not a DIY type but i'm trying to learn so apologies if this seems really obvious to others.

When drilling through the handle slabs in line with the holes in the knife tang do you need to also drill a wider (than the drill hole) but shallow recess about 1/2 way through the slab to allow the bolts to hold the slabs. If you drill straight through the slabs at the same diameter as the tang holes the bolts wont be holding onto anything will they? Am i correct or is there something obvious i'm missing or is there a secret trick knifemakers use?

Regards and thanks:

Max

 

[Chainsaw]

yup you are correct, you need a wider hole. I normally go deeper than half way. I try and leave a good 2 or 3mm. You can just about see it in this pic. oh and try not to mess it up like I did in this piccie....

you should really have a nice step drill but I get away with a tin drill and then a thick one, the wood drills I have are pretty flat at the tip. Make treble sure you have the right size drill and then make treble sure you're drilling the right side then make treble sure you get the 2 holes centred (tricky) you do have a little leeway as you can file away the little hole slightly if needs be

cheers,

alan

 

[Ph34r]

lol chainsaw, I did the same thing last week.

The easy way to do it is just to get a countersink drill bit of the the right size, and thne you don't have to worry about drilling to far through (and it keeps the smaller hole central).

 

[max whitlock]

Thank Alan that's great

i'm keen not to mess this up as i don't have any spare slabs

Thanks again for the reply

Max