Mora re-handle (advice please)

[jimbo75]

Hi chap's, I am looking to re-handle a Mora 711 knife.. I have taken the horrid black plastic rubber sheath off, and I intend to give it a nice Curly Birch handle (scandi style). I don't wan't to split the wood and carve out the shape on both sides? I want to try and follow a scandi technique with the tang going into the block of wood.. Has anyone else tried this? Or put together one of those knife kits that all the b-craft retailers are selling at the moment?
I haven't got use of a pillar drill, but then again I shouldn't think 99% of the people buying those knife kits have either? I'm guessing a pilot hole, and then some whacking of the wood?? Have got a work mate and a drill... And I'm quite handy at this stuff!
What can the BCUK mob advise please??
http://jimbobushcraft.blogspot.com/

 

[Zingmo]

Hi
I have just finished putting a Karesuando puuko kit together so I understand your concerns. The first problem was that the instructions said to drill a hole 3mm diameter long enough to hide the tang. This proved to be about 120mm - making such a drill bit unobtainable. Advice from on here and BB suggested cutting the tang shorter. Others made a handle in two or more pieces, drilled seperately. I managed to buy a couple of extra long 4mm drill bits from the bay and just trusted the epoxy to fill the gap. I borrowed a pillar drill but then found that the drill travel wasn't long enough so I just used a handheld Makita anyway! I think I achieved a pretty good result without any specialist tools.
You do need plenty of patience and a clear idea of what you want the handle to look and feel like .

Have fun!

Z

 

[jimbo75]

cheers fella!

 

[brancho]

I would not split the wood either.

Look HERE at what I did with a broken Mora 780.

Much depends on what you want it to look like and what you use as a bolster.

You can drill the holes with a hand/cordless drill if thats all you have. there is nop need for a long drillbit just shorten the tang a bit if necessary. The tang will be be quite short in a711 though.

You should buy a blade to handle really.

 

[Chainsaw]

It is pretty straighforward, I cheated a bit and did a 3 stage handle, more blog info over on SotP, part 1, part 2 and finished Definitely doable with just a drill and some sandpaper, pretty much all I used.

Cheers,

Alan

 

[WolfCrafter]

Sheffield steel to the rescue Jimbo, I found these extra long drill bits in a specilist shop in Bury St Edmunds called DJ Evans. Their made by Presto of Sheffield. 3mm & 2mm drill bits. Was just over £3 for the 2 but well worth it!
They look a lot stronger than your standard bits so should hopfully stand up to the pressure/depth. (although im going to take it extra slow when drilling my pear handle for my mora!) Im currently half way through the carve, so I'll post on here the results when finished.

Heres a pic of the 2mm drill bit inserted with the mora tang, and the 3mm by the side.. definatly long enough for the job aye!!

2mm is 83mm in length total (should get away with 5mm for chuck grip)

3mm is 100mm in length total

When I see you next, ill bring it along with my cordless!!

 

[brancho]

Extra long drill bits are quite fragile IMO and certainly not necessary with a tang that short at about 35 mm I geuss as you get about 55mmm with an ordinary length bit and a bit of creativity.
I do have a couple of those extra long bits though