# Wa handle tang holes and installation



## rockbox (May 17, 2011)

I have no problems making decent looking wa handles, but I'm still confused on how/when to drill the tang hole, what size it should be in relation to the tang, and the process of adding the epoxy/tang. Could one of you guys enlighten me?

BTW, I do not own a mill, just a drill press.


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## watercrawl (May 17, 2011)

rockbox said:


> how/when to drill the tang hole



Before you put the tang in!



texaslonghornfan said:


> what size it should be in relation to the tang



Larger than the tang!!



texaslonghornfanandbig12fanboy said:


> and the process of adding the epoxy/tang



You mix the epoxy, get the long cure time stuff....put it in the tang hole and let it settle to the bottom of the tang hole for a few minutes....set the tang in the hole.


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## rockbox (May 17, 2011)

watercrawl said:


> Before you put the tang in!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
Any more smartass comments from you and I will have to bring up the head-to-head record between Texas and Nebraska football.


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## watercrawl (May 17, 2011)

Ouch!! :cry:


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## JohnnyChance (May 17, 2011)

watercrawl said:


> You mix the epoxy, get the long cure time stuff....put it in the tang hole and let it settle to the bottom of the tang hole for a few minutes....set the tang in the hole.


 
How do you determine how much epoxy to put in the tang hole? Dave told me to use System Three T-88 to fill and Devcon 2 Ton to seal. After the tang goes in, should the epoxy nearly fill the tang hole, and then fill the remaining bit with Devcon?


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## apicius9 (May 18, 2011)

I would say if it flows over, you used too much :wink: see, I can smartass with the best of them - and I am immune against you threats, because I don't know a thing about American football :slaphead:

Stefan


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## JohnnyChance (May 18, 2011)

You might not care about American football...but at least my carbon knives don't rust away like an old chevy!


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## apicius9 (May 18, 2011)

Ouch! :headbonk:

O.k., I find it easier to drill the slot into the main handle piece before I glue everything together. That way you may not need extra long drills, and it's easier to stay straight with the shorter travel. If I use spacers, I also predrill everything. Of course, you need to be careful that you align everything correctly and things don't shift while the epoxy sets. 

Since I often don't know what the knife tang looks like, I oversize the inner tang slot slightly to accomodate twisted or curved tangs. You need a bit more epoxy that way to fill it up, but you also have a little wiggle room if the slot is not perfectly straight, which can still happen with a drill press at the price level I can afford. Depending on the size of the handle, I may use 1/4" drills or even wider - I have seen some pretty crooked tangs... If you have the knife in front of you, you can work much more precisely - Marko us going that route and may have more tips there.

Into the ferrule piece I drill a thinner, undersized slot. That slot then gets filed open to snugly fit the tang. In a perfect setup (as if this did ever happen...), you would then fill in epoxy, insert the tang and it would be straight because you filed a perfect fit into the ferrule. 

I'm bad at estimating how much epoxy you need to fill a handle, and mine always flow over - keep a wet rag handy. Some epoxies shrink when they set, so You will have to apply some more later, and that can then be a different kind or one mixed with wood dust or dye - Dave is the master of this. 

I hope this helps,

Stefan


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