Knife Wonder: ReHandle Case pairing knife 1985 in walnut

My neighbor found this Case knife in his garden the other day and discovered that I can, on occasion, do an okay job putting handles on knives when I offered.It's a case pairing knife, the tang stamp date sit to 1985, the year before case started having other people make this line of knives, "The Great Americas" line, made of "SSP" which means stainless steal with polished burnishing I believe. It originally had a walnut handle on it, but as you can see that has long since gone.

Posting on bladeforums some showed concern that for the scales to be this badly rotted and the knife not very scarred it may have been in a fire, ruining the heat treatment. But I saw no signs of burning or scorching and the knife held a edge well. My guess is the handle just got very wet while laying around.

Here's a finished picture before we get started, as always, just so you know there's a happy ending :)

First step was to remove the original handle or what was left of them. I was surprised by the shape of the pin hole in the butt, it made the scales a touch more difficult to drill because the [pins have to align and this can't be done well by hand or "eye." Since the pin can move around in this long hole I had to be careful to get it right.

Next was a simple clean up few the rust and grime under the handle, didn't want to sand down the blade to much because I wanted to be able to keep the case symbol,. I'd hate it f someone sanded off the stamp that identified my found knife as a genuine good'un, especially without asking.

UI try to do a little planning on paper before getting too far in, just to get things straight in my head. With a fixed blade I find it fun to play with the contorting of the handle end closest to the blade (or the ricasso) - FYI I decided on none fo the sketches show, just to be difficult :p

Took my time picking out the wood for the handle, wanted a nice grain once it was finished up, walnut can look "plain" and not in a good way, it can also look plain in a good way, simple in a great way, and figured in an awesome way. So the knife met a few possible partners.

Covered up the sharp bit and drilled the first pin holes in the right scale (then labeled this "right" just in case.)

Making sure my alignment was good, lucky so far.

Rough cut the scales out using a coping saw.

Started sanding them into a cleaner, closer shape on a sanding disk and by hand, grains starting to come out of the wood (FYI, had to change scales because I got over excited at this point on the first ones and over sanded in two places, wasn't major but you would have been able to feel that the wood came just a little under the handle and that would irritate me. So I followed the steps above once more.)

Handle getting fixed on, I try to fit three camps but it's not always possible. I also make sure to give the epoxy/sealant/glue (whatever you use) some space to grow into on the inside of the handle paying special attention to the ricasso area and the butt, whcih came develop gaps filled with epoxy if you're not extra careful.

Then its back to hand sanding to round the scales and moving up the sandpaper grits till you get the finish your after. I stopped at 600 with this one, it's a pairing knife so you don't want ti slippery after all. I treated the handle with linseed oil to protect it and seal the wood (walnut is a thirsty wood FYI, and takes a lot of attention.) I try to get at least 4 coats on letting the handle dry between each one, some light rubbing for heat and of course some "polishing" although I don't really go for buffing wheel type finishes (I have done it, just not my thing) I do try and help the grain come out with some cloth whipping.

Linseed oil and walnut has to be one of my favorite final looks.