Soldato
Not so much "today", but this has been my project over the last couple of weeks:
My knife handle broke
While the knife is nothing special, I've had it for about 10 years, the steel seems pretty good as it holds a nice edge, and I like the shape.
Rather than send it to landfill and buy a new one, I decided it would be a fun little project to repair, so straight on Ebay to buy some wood offcuts.
Meanwhile, time to start preparing it:
Some cardboard to protect the edge (and my hands!), and then the whole blade wrapped in masking tape to protect it in the vice:
Hack off the rest of the handle material with a hacksaw, chisel etc.:
Looks a bit rusty (there were a few cracks in the plastic handle before, so I guess some water got in.
A few minutes of attacking it with a wire brush in the drill later:
Got wood?! From left to right: English walnut, curly burr walnut, African blackwood:
Since I basically had no idea what I was doing other than what I'd gleaned from internet forums, Youtube videos, watching too many episodes of Forged in Fire, and growing up in a family of woodworkers, I decided to go with the (relatively) cheap stuff for my first effort, in case I completely ****** it up.
Cut the block of wood in half, and then took another knife from the same set, and traced the handle onto the wood, time to start attacking it with the rasp & drill:
Some time later:
I was "in the zone", so forgot to take photos of the next couple of steps, but I decided to burn-in the tang to get a decent fit, basically involves drilling the handle slightly too small, then heating the tang with a torch, and shoving the handle on so it burns out the correct size hole - cue lots of smoke; burning walnut smells lovely
As you can see from the photos, the tang already had some holes in it.
On the plus side, this meant I didn't have to worry about drilling holes through hardened steel without a drill press (next on the shopping list!).
On the down side, this meant that perfectly lining up the hole in the handle was pretty difficult - I got close, but was out by ~0.5mm. Not a lot, but enough to mean the brass pin wasn't centred in the hole
A lot of sanding later and I got a shape I was happy with.
Cut a bit of 4.5mm brass rod down to size (a few mm bigger than necessary), and annealed one end (heat to red hot with a torch, then a quench in water), then peened it over. I then annealed the other end, ready to peen once everything was in place.
Made sure everything fit correctly, filled the handle with epoxy (I used JB Weld), put in the tang, put the pin through, then peened the other end. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get this perfectly round, so definitely need more practice there!
Then to wait 24 hours for it to set.
Carefully filed off the excess epoxy, then set to work on the final shaping and finishing, ending up with this (yes, that's car rubbing compound and bodywork polish - seemed to work well enough, and it was all I had whilst waiting for some proper stuff
) :
To be honest, I wasn't really happy with the result, because of the off-centre hole, and my poor peening skills, you can see the grey epoxy on the side of the pin.
After deliberating for a couple of days, I decided to risk ruining the whole thing and change the design slightly - it's not a bug, it's a "feature"
So I carefully drilled out the pin, ground away the grey epoxy from around it, and also scraped the epoxy out from the join between the handle and bolster. I then drilled a larger hole a few mm deep around the existin pin hole, trying to keep it centralised.
I cut a new piece of brass rod, and didn't peen it this time.
Made up some clear epoxy with turquoise mica powder, put the new pin in, and then using a syringe, filled the surrounding hole, and the join between handle and bolster. The epoxy was supposedly 24 hour, but it took more like 36, and I had to top it up a couple of times; all in all it was around 5 days before it was ready to continue - that was yesterday.
Spent a couple of hours yesterday filing off the excess epoxy and getting the new pin flush, then lots of sanding, starting at 320 grit and working up to 3000 grit for a lovely smooth finish. Also polished up the bolster as it had gotten a bit scratched up with all the other sanding & filing.
Final step - an overnight soak in mineral oil for some protection against water ingress (although it's quite a dense wood anyway), and this is what I had this morning after rubbing off the excess oil:
Going to give it a final buff at lunchtime with some beeswax to seal it, and then it's done
I'm still not completely happy with it - one side has turned out really nicely, but the hole in the other side isn't perfect. I'm - let's say "satisfied" - as a first effort, but I think I can do better next time.
The epoxy also hasn't polished up as much as I thought/hoped for, despite spending quite some time on it with the fine sandpaper and polishing compound. Don't know if it's the epoxy I used, too much/little mica powder, or that's just how it is and I had unrealistic expectations.
Lessons learned:
A) It's a kitchen knife, to be perfectly honest it probably doesn't need the pin, the JB Weld is rock solid, and it's not like I'm going to be hacking away at things with it. It would be a lot neater without, although... would it look boring?
B) Hand drilling precision holes by hand is haaaaard! Get a drill press.
C) When you only have an hour lunch, spending 15 minutes getting everything out to start work, and another 15 minutes to put them away is frustrating, as is having bits and pieces lying around the house while epoxy sets etc. I need a permanent workspace.
D) Don't be afraid to take a step back, rethink, and try something new.
My next project is repeating the process, but making the knife itself, by grinding it out of an old file - should be a fun experience! I'd love to be able to actually forge it from scratch, but I have neither a forge or anvil (yet...
)
Actually, before that, the next project is:
Clearing out the shed to use as a workshop
Building a decent workbench
Attacking my rusty old vice with a wire brush and some new paint
Edit: buying a drill press!
My knife handle broke
While the knife is nothing special, I've had it for about 10 years, the steel seems pretty good as it holds a nice edge, and I like the shape.
Rather than send it to landfill and buy a new one, I decided it would be a fun little project to repair, so straight on Ebay to buy some wood offcuts.
Meanwhile, time to start preparing it:
Some cardboard to protect the edge (and my hands!), and then the whole blade wrapped in masking tape to protect it in the vice:
Hack off the rest of the handle material with a hacksaw, chisel etc.:
Looks a bit rusty (there were a few cracks in the plastic handle before, so I guess some water got in.
A few minutes of attacking it with a wire brush in the drill later:
Got wood?! From left to right: English walnut, curly burr walnut, African blackwood:
Since I basically had no idea what I was doing other than what I'd gleaned from internet forums, Youtube videos, watching too many episodes of Forged in Fire, and growing up in a family of woodworkers, I decided to go with the (relatively) cheap stuff for my first effort, in case I completely ****** it up.
Cut the block of wood in half, and then took another knife from the same set, and traced the handle onto the wood, time to start attacking it with the rasp & drill:
Some time later:
I was "in the zone", so forgot to take photos of the next couple of steps, but I decided to burn-in the tang to get a decent fit, basically involves drilling the handle slightly too small, then heating the tang with a torch, and shoving the handle on so it burns out the correct size hole - cue lots of smoke; burning walnut smells lovely
As you can see from the photos, the tang already had some holes in it.
On the plus side, this meant I didn't have to worry about drilling holes through hardened steel without a drill press (next on the shopping list!).
On the down side, this meant that perfectly lining up the hole in the handle was pretty difficult - I got close, but was out by ~0.5mm. Not a lot, but enough to mean the brass pin wasn't centred in the hole
A lot of sanding later and I got a shape I was happy with.
Cut a bit of 4.5mm brass rod down to size (a few mm bigger than necessary), and annealed one end (heat to red hot with a torch, then a quench in water), then peened it over. I then annealed the other end, ready to peen once everything was in place.
Made sure everything fit correctly, filled the handle with epoxy (I used JB Weld), put in the tang, put the pin through, then peened the other end. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get this perfectly round, so definitely need more practice there!
Then to wait 24 hours for it to set.
Carefully filed off the excess epoxy, then set to work on the final shaping and finishing, ending up with this (yes, that's car rubbing compound and bodywork polish - seemed to work well enough, and it was all I had whilst waiting for some proper stuff
) :
To be honest, I wasn't really happy with the result, because of the off-centre hole, and my poor peening skills, you can see the grey epoxy on the side of the pin.
After deliberating for a couple of days, I decided to risk ruining the whole thing and change the design slightly - it's not a bug, it's a "feature"
So I carefully drilled out the pin, ground away the grey epoxy from around it, and also scraped the epoxy out from the join between the handle and bolster. I then drilled a larger hole a few mm deep around the existin pin hole, trying to keep it centralised.
I cut a new piece of brass rod, and didn't peen it this time.
Made up some clear epoxy with turquoise mica powder, put the new pin in, and then using a syringe, filled the surrounding hole, and the join between handle and bolster. The epoxy was supposedly 24 hour, but it took more like 36, and I had to top it up a couple of times; all in all it was around 5 days before it was ready to continue - that was yesterday.
Spent a couple of hours yesterday filing off the excess epoxy and getting the new pin flush, then lots of sanding, starting at 320 grit and working up to 3000 grit for a lovely smooth finish. Also polished up the bolster as it had gotten a bit scratched up with all the other sanding & filing.
Final step - an overnight soak in mineral oil for some protection against water ingress (although it's quite a dense wood anyway), and this is what I had this morning after rubbing off the excess oil:
Going to give it a final buff at lunchtime with some beeswax to seal it, and then it's done
I'm still not completely happy with it - one side has turned out really nicely, but the hole in the other side isn't perfect. I'm - let's say "satisfied" - as a first effort, but I think I can do better next time.
The epoxy also hasn't polished up as much as I thought/hoped for, despite spending quite some time on it with the fine sandpaper and polishing compound. Don't know if it's the epoxy I used, too much/little mica powder, or that's just how it is and I had unrealistic expectations.
Lessons learned:
A) It's a kitchen knife, to be perfectly honest it probably doesn't need the pin, the JB Weld is rock solid, and it's not like I'm going to be hacking away at things with it. It would be a lot neater without, although... would it look boring?
B) Hand drilling precision holes by hand is haaaaard! Get a drill press.
C) When you only have an hour lunch, spending 15 minutes getting everything out to start work, and another 15 minutes to put them away is frustrating, as is having bits and pieces lying around the house while epoxy sets etc. I need a permanent workspace.
D) Don't be afraid to take a step back, rethink, and try something new.
My next project is repeating the process, but making the knife itself, by grinding it out of an old file - should be a fun experience! I'd love to be able to actually forge it from scratch, but I have neither a forge or anvil (yet...
)Actually, before that, the next project is:
Clearing out the shed to use as a workshop
Building a decent workbench
Attacking my rusty old vice with a wire brush and some new paint
Edit: buying a drill press!
Last edited:
all outdoor planned jobs for today are postponed ...
Post digger works well normally. However moving 40 tons of sand is a different matter..
