# Choosing shoes for a small shigge



## icanhaschzbrgr (Mar 20, 2014)

I think I'm on my finish line with this Shige. The road was pretty long, and here are some milestones.







First version build almost 2 month ago. The owner wanted to keep handle compact so I tried but hasn't really succeeded. Also this was build from unstabilized burl wood that's too light and porous I didn't bother to make proper finish for this handle.










Cocobolo with crazy yellow spacer. I had to put that yellow stuff somewhere since it making me nervous laying around 










This was built as an experiment. That's the first block of Karelian Birch that I stabilized myself. I liked the size and shape of this handle, but thin black spacers spoiled everything. 










After receiving Gidgee from Burl Source I couldn't wait to start making handles from it. But this one was a failure. Ferrule is made from horn, and after shaping those ugly white stripes appeared on it. And the very thin red spacer is obviously redundant. So I grab another piece of gidgee and started making another handle with simpler design














Failed to capture real beauty of this wood on those photos, but trust me, it really looks great in person. One of the my best handles. 

Now I'm gonna send an email to the owner of this blade and hope he wouldn't choose the last one handle 

Which one would you choose?


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## JHunter (Mar 20, 2014)

Yellow all the way, I love the look of the grain as well as the shape.


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## CoqaVin (Mar 20, 2014)

either 1 or 2


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Mar 20, 2014)

Surprising choices so far


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## pleue (Mar 20, 2014)

last one or the karelian birch one. Lemme know if that one is for sale  I really like the first one as well but it looks too big for the knife.


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## Eric (Mar 20, 2014)

First and last. If I had to choose one, the last is awesome.


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## daddy yo yo (Mar 20, 2014)

I'm all for the gidgee + red spacer...


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## mkriggen (Mar 20, 2014)

I like both the Gidgee handles (I actually like the white stripes in the horn, I think it compliments the white spacer), but I agree, the red spacer looks out of place. It might have worked if paired with another one on the other side of the white spacer though. Oh, in case you didn't realize it...you got it bad bro, real bad:viking:

Be well,
Mikey


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## RavenMad (Mar 20, 2014)

Cocobolo hornet for me!  They're all gorgeous tho, man - really nice work.


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## Mute-on (Mar 20, 2014)

Honestly, I really like both the Cocobolo with the yellow spacer, and the last Gidgee with the dark brown/black spacer.

These handles look very classy and unique with the ferrule and handle matching, wide contrasting spacer, and an angled end cap. This really looks to be your style, and identifies you as an artist. I'd have them on all my knives. Period. 

Cheers,

J


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## apicius9 (Mar 20, 2014)

mkriggen said:


> I like both the Gidgee handles (I actually like the white stripes in the horn, I think it compliments the white spacer), but I agree, the red spacer looks out of place. It might have worked if paired with another one on the other side of the white spacer though. Oh, in case you didn't realize it...you got it bad bro, real bad:viking:
> 
> Be well,
> Mikey



I agree with Mikey, but I also like the cocobolo one for the lines in the wood, even though yellow is not my color... 

Just curious: Did you glue or burn them on already? I occasionally have a handle where I don't like the combination or the ferrule cracks etc., and I have no problems to just cut it apart, put on a new spacer, ferrule etc, and work it into a new handle. After sanding it will be a bit smaller, but it doesn't hurt the handle and some wood pieces are just too nice to throw away. 

Stefan


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## jimbob (Mar 20, 2014)

Karelian has a nice tone, but u think your right about the spacers, maybe a metal one would have looked good.. The yellow one is styly too.


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## Stanimal (Mar 20, 2014)

The yellow one looks awesome! really draws your eye to it. but I would probably go with the karelian birch handle if it was going on one of mine, the yellow is a bit flashy for me.


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## cazhpfan (Mar 20, 2014)

All the handles look great! I especially like the Karelian birch.

P.S. Do you, by any chance, homeroast your own coffee?


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Mar 21, 2014)

Thanks for the kinds words guys. 
I've noticed an interesting thing for myself after starting this thread: when I was making those handles, I wasn't satisfied with them. Each next handle had some flaw in my eyes to I started new one. But when I look at photos those flaws aren't that apparent even to me (I mean I know they are still there). Kind of different point of view. 
I'm still awaiting of reply from blade owner, so I have no idea which one he choose. And I have no idea where would I put the rest 4 handles probably would start a giveaway one day, when I had too many of them lying around. 




jimbob said:


> Karelian has a nice tone, but u think your right about the spacers, maybe a metal one would have looked good.. The yellow one is styly too.


I still hasn't mastered metal spacers :slaphead: Have one glued but unshaped handle with metal spacer lying around, but can't force myself to complete it. And I don't have blade for it anyway. 
As for Karelian Birch it was also an experiment in how thin I could cut wooden spacers. I've bough myself a new saw blade that perform way better then the old one, so probably with some care could cut them at least twice thinner then on this handle.
For someone with small hands this handle fits this blade better then other 4 handles, so after all the owner of blade might pick it for that reason.



apicius9 said:


> Just curious: Did you glue or burn them on already? I occasionally have a handle where I don't like the combination or the ferrule cracks etc., and I have no problems to just cut it apart, put on a new spacer, ferrule etc, and work it into a new handle. After sanding it will be a bit smaller, but it doesn't hurt the handle and some wood pieces are just too nice to throw away.


Haven't glued them and haven't ever tried burning a handle (haven't any fire sources at home other then matches/candles).
And I still have A LOT to learn from you Stefan in terms of being efficient  I have 2 handles that I had to cut after ferrules cracking, but they are still lying around as spare parts for possible future handles.




cazhpfan said:


> All the handles look great! I especially like the Karelian birch.
> P.S. Do you, by any chance, homeroast your own coffee?


No I don't do that  
I love coffee and drink it a lot, but can't say I'm that picky about it. Fully automatic coffee machine suites my needs just fine for now. 


And now back to MOAR handles!  That Watanabe petty that I've bough a week ago still doesn't have it's handle glued. I've made two new handles for it but still can't decide if I want to keep any of them or start making new one. Damn is this addictive.


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## apicius9 (Mar 21, 2014)

Just to put that into perspective: I never counted them, but I have certainly made several hundred handles by now, and almost all of them had flaws. If you spend a few hours working on a piece, you see things that a customer might not even pick up, things that you see as a flaw because they are not like you wanted them - but they are still well within the tolerance for a handmade product made from natural materials. 

Stefan


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## Burl Source (Mar 22, 2014)

I like this one best.





I think of spacers like pin striping on a car. Subtle is better in my opinion.


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Mar 22, 2014)

Burl Source said:


> I think of spacers like pin striping on a car. Subtle is better in my opinion.


Less is more


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## Keith Sinclair (Mar 26, 2014)

Nice work


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Mar 26, 2014)

Original owner of Shige told me to choose the best one myself as he was struggling to choose from photos. So I propose him to meet on the weekend so he could try them all and choose which one fits his hands better.

I also cut 4-th handle into parts as I didn't like how it ended up. And while I was bored I've made 2 more handles from cocobolo. 

Another crazy yellow spacer version









and the other one with more classic look and shape









Both handles doesn't have proper finish yet. I've only applied one coating so far and gonna finish them by the weekend.


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## Chefu (Mar 27, 2014)

They are all very well done. I'm usually very conservative, but the first one in cocobolo and yellow spacer really pops. Like the wood, location of the spacer and the color, plus the shape of the handle. I'd buy that in a heartbeat.


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## cazhpfan (Mar 27, 2014)

I see...

Anyhow, I thought the knife looked stunning on a background of coffee beans. The texture and color variation of the coffee complemented nicely with the stark blade and mottled handles. 



icanhaschzbrgr said:


> No I don't do that
> I love coffee and drink it a lot, but can't say I'm that picky about it. Fully automatic coffee machine suites my needs just fine for now.


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