Old Wonky needs your advice, I think

[merrygold85]

Hello there,

You're looking well. Enjoying the weather eh. Good times.

Anyway, a small amount of you know I have been trying to make my first knife since the Jan Brockers meet thanks to Chris and his endless generosity. Well, after 4 albums of Alice Chains on my first work day since finishing work, I am very nearly finished shaping Old Wonky. He gets to keep his original due to his imperfections.

So far the only modern technology involved in his creation has been a foot pump (for the forges... yes two forges) and I was wondering if any of you beautiful people could give me some ideas on how I would go about putting a handle on this fella with out using any sort of modern day tools. I'm going to ignore the heat treating and tempering for now.

Do I need to drill holes in it or is there a way I can get away without doing that? Supposing I get a hand drill and drill the holes, how then do I attach the handle? The knives I've seen on here all have fancy looking pins or something in them, what did they use before these came about?

Any and all help will be much appreciated. Searching for this kind of stuff throws up so many threads I don't know where to start.

Here are some photos of the progress so far.

Cheers

Mark

 

[DaveBromley]

there are a couple of ways to proceed depending on how much work you want to put in, you could drill a couple of holes in the tang now and fit into a handle use any kind of metal rod through a corresponding hole in the handle through the tang and epoxy and peen it over.

Alternatively you can draw the tang out further and drill a central hole in your handle material that would accept the tang round the end of the tang off and thread it so that you can attach a but plate. the main thing is to make sure the knife is secure in the handle you might want to look at This thread for another method of extending the tang

The blade overall is looking pretty good so though good luck with it and hope to see it finished soon

Dave

 

[bilmo-p5]

There's any number of ways you could handle a blade using rope of one sort or another. Many can be executed without the need to drill holes and require nothing more complicated than a little patience and a couple of coats of varnish (if that) to keep them in place.
Heres a WIP of mine on an old Green River;

Check out 'turks head knife' & 'rope handled knife' in google images for ideas. There's also quite a few people here who are into fancy ropework.

 

[Retired Member southey]

how about something like these? short tangs the lower is secured with a peened pin and a collet to secure the blad from moving up and down the pin holds it all tight.

bit of a small image from the site to show the spine, it looks as though the handle is just slotted to accept the tang which you could do with any saw.

from here

 

[lannyman8]

looks awesome dude, good work old son........

you could heat the handle end red hot and push it into some wood for the handle, then use some birch resin glue to fix it in place....

regadrs...

chris.

 

[merrygold85]

Thanks for the ideas guys. Much appreciated. I have been bending my mind around this for a few days as they are all feasable.

The rope handle is a possibility but I don't think I have the right shape for one. Has anyone used a rope handled knife? Are they comfortable at all?

I don't think I'll be extending the tang for much the same reason. With some foresight this would have been a good option.

I'm also going to try to stay away from the pins as they need holes drilled. Though I have seen somewhere online that in the iron age they used bow drills with crystal tips so I might try that.

I think burning the tang into the handle is too much. It would take too long and probably wouldn't be snug enough. Though I do like the idea of sealing with resin.

SO! I want to ask if you think this is a good idea. I was thinking of carving a basic handle shape. Splitting it in 2. Carving space for the tang. Securing the handle with resin. And finally binding it with leather. Would this hold?

Cheers

 

[Highbinder]

Well what about a stacked handle of some description? How long is the tang?

 

[redandshane]

If you want to avoid drilling I think the stacked handle is a great idea You can achieve a very nice result and with some thought it can be a very personal piece

The blade is looking good Very good

addo on the forum has done at least one really nice stacked handle if I remember rightly he even used some Co op best bitter can in it

 

[merrygold85]

I have checked out some stacked handles and they look really nice. But it seems I would need to double the length of the tang and attach a pommel somehow. It's the pommel bit that confuses me really. I'm sure I could use wood for a pommel, yeah? But how would I attach it onto the end of the tang? Considering it is supposed be the bit that holds everything together. I saw someone peened theirs. But I'm still unsure as to what this is. Is it just bashing it with a hammer until it fattens out to wedge stuff in place?

Cheers

 

[Retired Member southey]

Yeah either bopping it till it squishes like a rivet or bending over the very end, either would need a washer i think else it might split the wood.