New handle for a Gerber Compact Parang

[Falcn]

A friend of mine bought himself a BG Compact Parang but couldn't bring himself to be seen with the bright orange and grey plastic handle. I made him a new one out of American Black Walnut. My first attempt at making a handle for sharps.

I made two cheek plates and routed in a slot for the tang, then epoxied the cheeks together. After shaping, carving and sanding the tang was epoxied into place. Finally a brass ferule was pressed in for the wrist loop hole.

So, a question to all the more experienced knife smiths out there - I'm sure I made a few blunders, what would you have done differently. I'm happy to learn from you. Shout up.

Comments welcome.

 

[Badger74]

I'm not a knife maker, but that looks grand

Sent from my KFOT using Tapatalk 2

 

[Stew]

Looks good to me.

 

[Clouston98]

That's great! It looks really nice without the orange plastic as you said .

 

[crosslandkelly]

Looks very smart.

 

[swotty]

Nice job...

 

[sgtoutback]

awesome work!

 

[Tat2trev]

Looks mighty fine to me mate .
Maybe added a couple of pins through the tang and epoxied in place and a better lanyard .
But a dam fine job on the wood my friend

 

[ozzy1977]

A vast improvement on what used to look like a kids toy.

 

[John Fenna]

Much better than the original!

 

[Bluffer]

Looks great mucker, but could the blade/tang work loose after a few good tree-beating sessions?

I assume that is why Trev has already recommended pins?

Definitely an improvement on the original anyway!

 

[Shewie]

Very nice, a vast improvement on the Action Force orange

 

[Trencakey]

Better than the job you do on your boats

 

[HHazeldean]

Massive improvement on the original nice work

 

[Clouston98]

Another thought just popped into my head, why not do it with the knife to make them match?

Great work as I said before .

 

[Snooky]

Have you got any pics of it with the original handle removed? want to see what the tang looks like as keep thinking about doing the same with mine

 

[weekender]

Now why don't they sell it like that..? Looks great, a real improvement.

 

[Falcn]

Thanks for the replies and constructive comments

Looks mighty fine to me mate .
Maybe added a couple of pins through the tang and epoxied in place and a better lanyard .
But a dam fine job on the wood my friend

Looks great mucker, but could the blade/tang work loose after a few good tree-beating sessions?

Of course - should have thought about the vibration and the tang working loose. I'll just have to make one for myself and do it properly now

Another thought just popped into my head, why not do it with the knife to make them match?

One to ask Santa for then - like your thinking

Have you got any pics of it with the original handle removed? want to see what the tank looks like as keep thinking about doing the same with mine

Hope this helps

 

[Snooky]

looks good, now I need to be brave and rip the original handle off and sort the new handle

 

[Falcn]

looks good, now I need to be brave and rip the original handle off and sort the new handle

Oh c'mon it can't be any worse than that lump of plastic
Do it tomorrow - force the issue !!