The other week my old friend John.R turned up at my house. "You've inspired me to make my own knife". He said. With a big grin he rummaged in his bag and presented me with a box. Inside was everything you would need to make your own knife, except the blade provided was absolutely horrid. I gave my friend Chris a call, and asked if there was anything to be done. He told me that when I come up for a visit he would sort something out...
On my return home I gave John.R a call to show him what Chris had made, a very nice utility blade in CS80, Scandi ground with a nice chunky needle tang.
John found me a nice piece of Yew for the handle. I soon set about making a copy of the handle used on the MaChris. Once it neared completion I gave it to a friend of mine who would drill a couple of holes down the middle to accommodate the tang. This job can be done with a hand held electric drill if your careful...
I made up a couple of wedges from some pieces of timber from the 'Gypsy Moth'. These wedges are popped in to stop up the visible hole, they aren't structural in any real way...
It is always a good idea to protect some of the blade and handle with tape, in this instance I used some parcel tape..
Before assembly, make sure the shoulder of the knife fits accurately into the handle. I had to use an old screwdriver, heated until red hot, to poke down the drilled hole just to burn enough wood away for an extra couple of millimetres depth...
When your happy with the fit, mix up your fixing resin and fill the chamber, pop in the blade, push the blade into a wooden block and give the top of the handle a couple of sharp blows to get everything seated. Carefully remove the blade and handle from the block and insert the wedges...
A couple of taps to seat them and leave to dry...
Once the resin has set, use a knife to carefully carve away the wedges, clean the handle and leave to soak in your preferred oil for a day or two. In this instance I used some Danish oil from Liberon.
I am sure John will get many years good use from this knife. All we have to do now is make a sheath...
ENJOY...
Its lovely!
ReplyDeleteHi hi Leigh...John.R loves it. Hopefully we will sort out a scabbard soon..J
ReplyDeleteWonderful idea - thanks for the tutorial!
ReplyDeleteMungo
Hey Mungo. I'm in the middle of doing another one now !...J
ReplyDelete