# Trying my hand at knife handles



## David Bradford (Sep 12, 2019)

I have a fair little pile of rare exotic wood now and decided to try my hand at knife handles.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Those knives make a cooks' mouth water.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Looks nice, David! What wood is that?

I have a friend who makes knives and knife makers call the handles 'scales' - I don't know why.

David


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Nice job, they look ergonomic


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## sunnybob (Apr 3, 2015)

difalkner said:


> Looks nice, David! What wood is that?
> 
> I have a friend who makes knives and knife makers call the handles 'scales' - I don't know why.
> 
> David


 Scales on knives are the TWO seperate pieces that are fitted to each side of the handle. A full solid wood handle is just a handle.
if the metal tang protrudes from the far end its called a "through tang handle", if the metal does not protrude, its a "hidden tang handle"


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## David Bradford (Sep 12, 2019)

These are through tang knives and the small one is chakte kok and the larger is African padauk.


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## sunnybob (Apr 3, 2015)

can we see the ends of the tangs? usually the end cap sticks out quite a bit and I'm interested to see how youve made them flush.


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## marecat3 (Nov 30, 2010)

cool


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## Chris Itin (Oct 15, 2019)

Beautifully done.


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

Sharp!!


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## David Bradford (Sep 12, 2019)

sunnybob said:


> can we see the ends of the tangs? usually the end cap sticks out quite a bit and I'm interested to see how youve made them flush.


Pictures of the end.


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## sunnybob (Apr 3, 2015)

ah, so they are scales after all.

How have you fixed them? Just epoxy?

I take it these are NOT dishwasher proof? (lol)


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## David Bradford (Sep 12, 2019)

Just epoxy I prefer not having the rivets if I can help it. They will never see the inside of a dishwasher.


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## sunnybob (Apr 3, 2015)

Absolutely. As kitchen knives they should never be subjected to enough force to need rivets. And no matter how tight the rivets are, theres always room around them for food debris to go bad in.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Beautiful work but a few progress shots would have been nice.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Further to my above post and at the risk of upsetting some members, I must speak my mind. New members generally join a forum like this one to learn new skills, and simply posting pictures of finished projects does not help these members to improve their knowledge. The internet has an almost infinite number of photos. of furniture etc. that members can peruse for ideas but they don't help in learning HOW to make them. Progress shots/photo-shoots are what I believe new, and probably older members need/want. There, I feel better now!


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## sunnybob (Apr 3, 2015)

Harry, 90% of my "work in progress" pics would be of the scrap bin under the bandsaw. And the other 10% wouldnt look anything like the finished article, because I often change my mind half way through.:surprise::laugh2:

But all credit to those who are organised to have a schedule of works.:smile:


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## st8yd (May 10, 2011)

Scales like this theres nothing to show progress. You glue a slab of wood on and shape it.
This is refered to as a full tang as it the full width and length of the scales.


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## mr happymoose (May 11, 2014)

Nice work. I've done a few knives in my time (I have wip pics for one or two if anyone's interested) and full tang slabs always look deceptively easy. 90% of the work involved in doing them is easy but that last 10% is where all the effort goes and the fit and finish on these looks superb. The only thing I might have done different would have been to use a couple of hidden pins just to give some lateral support to the slabs. I've seen knives with unpinned slabs dropped onto a worktop from just a few inches high and, even though the joints were prepped properly, a slab just pinged right off.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

st8yd said:


> Scales like this theres nothing to show progress. You glue a slab of wood on and shape it.
> This is refered to as a full tang as it the full width and length of the scales.


Of course, I didn't realise that it was as easy as this clock of mine, a block of wood, make a couple of templates and rout away!.


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## David Bradford (Sep 12, 2019)

These are the first of a set so I will try to remember some WIP pictures next time. We are supposed to do that for all of our projects here but I struggle with remembering to do it.


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