Knife Build

[kahowell1]

You all know I'm a knife guy and love working with damascus. But I have been seeing some knives lately that I had been itching to buy and finally decided to scratch that itch.

Esee Knives makes an awesome neck knife called the Izula. I really like the design but not so much the steel. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with the steel they chose but it wasn't my steel of choice. Recently, Jantz, a company where I buy my knifin' supplies, decided to offer a similar blade blank. And they decided to offer it in D2. Bob Dozier is an absolute master with D2 and makes all of his knives out of it. But I digress, anyways I had to have one. So I ordered the blank and a snazzy Kydex thermoformed sheath. All I had to do was attach some 1/4" G10 Black and Blue scales and polish it up.

It is 7 3/4 inches overall with a 3 1/2 inch blade. It is ground from 1/8" stock.

In the next day or so I'll update the thread with item numbers and instructions if anybody wants to tackle a fun knife project. If you have a drill and some sand paper you could easily make one.

Keith

[LastHurrah]

[cshall999]

That is nice.

[ofishil]

In for the show....

[kahowell1]

Ok, here's the grocery list from Jantz (http://www.knifemaking.com/). Some of these items are brand new and not yet on their website but Terri and the girls will be happy to place an order for you if you call them: D2 blank, Item # J452, $24.95, Preformed Kydex Sheath, Item # KT450, $12.95, Black and Blue G10 Scales, Item # GJ634 $6.95, Corby Rivets, Item # CP624, $1.95 x 2.

This is what I used but feel free to substitute any handle material you may want. A lot of people just wrap the handle with paracord.

So what first? Well for starters, the sheath is finished when it arrives. It's fully assembled and fitted to the blade. So set it to the side for now. The blade already has a factory edge. It's not razor sharp but will cut you. Any time I work on handles I like to wrap the blades with masking tape. This serves two purposes. 1) it protects you from the blade 2) it protects the blade from any stray scratches, glue, marks, etc.

[kahowell1]

So now we have a wrapped blade. The handle is skeletized which means you don't have to drill through the hardened steel handle for your rivets. I should also mention that Jantz sells a stainless steel version for $19.95. But honestly, spend the extra $5 and get the D2.

1) First we need to determine where our handle should end closest to the blade. Insert the blade into the sheath. Then find a point between where the sheath begins and the first cut out section in the skeletized handle. Mine is about 5/8" back from the throat of the sheath. Mark that spot on the handle with a pencil.
2) Remove the knife from the sheath and lay the handle on your handle material. Make sure your material begins at the mark you just made. Now draw an outline of the handle on your material. Do the same for the other handle material scale.
3) Using a saw, remove everything just outside your lines.

I'll wrap up the rest tomorrow.

[DJames]

This is awesome!

[Shane]

Zach and I are going to have to give this one a try, Keith. I can't find info on the blank to show what the diameter of the pin holes are. Would this Texas Star mosaic pin (7/32") work instead of the rivets? http://www.knifemaking.com/product-p/mp711.htm

I'm thinking antler scales..... Too bad it isn't Damascus.

[Patton]

nice knife and sheath

[kahowell1]

Shane, I am thinking about making a damascus one in the future. I should have taken a picture before I assembled the knife. Let's see if I can find one. The short answer is, yes, those pins will work fine.

[kahowell1]

Here is the image of the knife without handle scales. You can see how it would be easy to wrap with paracord.

[TexasBob]

When looking at their blade blanks, how do you know what steel it is? I have been wanting to put a few together, but I was leary of getting a low quality blade.

[kahowell1]

I can't get any work done so.....

4) Take one of your handle scales and place the knife against it. Mark where you want your pins to go.I placed mine, one at the front, one about middle, then a hollow tube at the end.
5) Drill the holes in your first scale.
6) Tape your handle scales together (not on the knife). Then drill through the holes you made in step 5 to make matching holes in the other scale.
7) While your scales are still attached, round off the front so that they will match when assembled on the knife. I used a belt sander but files, sandpaper, and elbow grease will work just as well.
8) Next run a bead of epoxy around the edge of the knife handle. (Not the handle scales) I started even with the skeletized cutout and went from around but i did not put epoxy where the front of the handle will meet the blade. It's a booger to have to remove the dried epoxy. The rest of the epoxy around the handle can be sanded off. clamp that up and let it cure.

[kahowell1]

9) Now we have one handle scale temporarily attached. Here is the somewhat tricky part. Since the handle is skeletized, your pins will be smaller than the opening. You could build and pin a little insert to keep it from wiggling or do what I did. I bought some Gorilla Glue because I know it expands as it cures. I drilled some small dimples 1/16" - 1/8" deep on the inside of the attached handle scale. Just make sure you don't drill all the way through. The dimples will create little pockets for the glue to grab.
10) Fill the cavity about 1/3 way full of gorilla glue. This will give it enough room to expand and fill the void but will not create enough pressure to separate your scales.
11) Line up your other scale and pin it through the holes you drilled in steps 5 & 6.
12) Clamp it together and let it cure.

[kahowell1]

13) Once everything has cured and your handles are firmly attached it's time to get sanding. Use whatever means you have (belt sander, files, saw sandpaper, etc) to remover the handle material until it is flush with the metal.
14) Then use various grits of sandpaper to sand your handle to the desired finish. Make sure you remove all scratches from the previous grit sandpaper before moving to a finer grit for a better finish. I have found that securing the knife and working the sandpaper back and forth "shoe shine style" rounds the handle edges and makes a comfortable grip.

I hope this helps anybody interested. Feel free to ask if you have any questions.