Knife Wonder: March 2015

A friend of mine sent one of their favorite kitchen knifes to em for a new handle. They want Purple haze Kirinite for the scales. it's the first time I've used the material so I'm looking forward to seeing trying it out.

Theyw ere thoughtful enough to send me a hand print and a not on their preference for how think the handle should be

It is clearly a well used excellent piece of cutlery from Foster Bros USA

These ins are much smaller as they pass though the knife and have been spread pretty far on the outside of the handle

The handle material arrived today and I'm worried it looks a little it, I'll compare it to the knife itself when I get it down to the shed but for now I'm going to keep an eye out for some thicker versions of the purple haze.

Sure is pretty though :)

I took some time to document the current handle, just to be safe, not exciting pictures but useful

The scale material is a little over 1/8" too thin to match the width of the original (something important tot he wonder) so I messaged them and we decided to order some think black liners. Should be here sometime this week and then I'll be able to get to work on it.

I haven't stopped working on this, just take a time out to dry out my house from some water damage. I've also decided the liners I ordered were too thick, so I ordered some new ones that should be in today, Hopefully. If so,more pictures soon!

Back in business!

I forgot the camera on my way out there and had to settle for my backup in the shop,picture quality is not as god but I didn't want to wait any longer and just got working.

First job was getting the old scales off.

and cleaning up the tang

I'd already set the liners to epoxy to the scales so now I just had to clean them up a little

looking good :)

The pin holes turned out to be just a hair over 3/16", I didn't have a drill bit for it but by cleaning out the tang holes with a file and working on the drilled 3/16" holes the same way i found a nice snug fit.

I also had to "adjust" my 1/4" brass pins down to the right size

They will snug up even more because I plan to peen these pins a little before sand them flat.

I used what was left of the old scales to help find as exact a placement as I could to the original handle. Since the goal here, as far as my instructions go, seems to be to keep the handle as much like the original as possible, just change the material.

I'm skipping some steps here and there but I didn't always think to stop and take a picture. Anyway, I have the scales attached and curing now and they should be ready for some shaping and sanding by tomorrow evening.

(FYI this is excessive clamping - if that exists - taking no chances...also Kirinite stinks when sanded :))