# Show us your sticks (finished handle projects)...



## cotedupy

There seem to be a decent, and increasing, number of us amateurs doing some reasonable re-handling of knives, so I thought maybe we could have a thread to share our efforts.

For those wanting to show WIP or ask detailed questions probably be best to start a new thread, but give us any pics of finished stuff that may not need a whole seperate post.

Let's put the pros on the other subforum to shame! Show us your sticks...


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## cotedupy

I'll get things rolling with my latest two handles...

First a 240mm Ishizuchi Sujihiki. Handle and ferrule from used winemaking oak staves with a spacer from white plastic I found on the beach:












And a 185mm Kosuke Muneishi Bunka. Handle from a a piece of Sheoak firewood, ferrule from some Redgum firewood, and the same plastic spacer:


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## cotedupy

And here, as a demonstration of progress, my very first rehandling effort a few months ago. Wine oak staves on a Two Lions Cai Dao:


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## Barry's Knives

London plane with brass pins on my munetoshi. First handle project so there room for improvement.


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## cotedupy

Barry's Knives said:


> View attachment 99263
> 
> London plane with brass pins on my munetoshi. First handle project so there room for improvement.



Very nice! I'm yet to attempt scales properly, but have a couple of old Sabs to have a look at soon...


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## cotedupy

150mm Ishizuchi Petty. Tasmanian Oak and blue epoxy.


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## Dhoff

Love the bandaid matches the epoxy!

I tend to prefer all wood handles, and no synth, but this looks really good and adds something extra!


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## Carl Kotte

Let’s see....


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## Carl Kotte

And some western sticks too


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## Dhoff

Gotta stick it to you, it looks great 

Might be a sticky thread at one point if we stick together.


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## cotedupy

Carl Kotte said:


> Let’s see.... View attachment 99436



Ahh I've seen a picture of this one before I think. It's _lovely! _What wood was it...?


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## cotedupy

Dhoff said:


> Love the bandaid matches the epoxy!
> 
> I tend to prefer all wood handles, and no synth, but this looks really good and adds something extra!



Ha! It does indeed. And (irony of ironies) it was this very knife that sliced into my thumb when I was trying to remove a bit of spilt epoxy after installing the blade a couple of days ago.

(EDIT - Oh and thank you! I'm not a big fan of loads of bright colour on handles either, but there's something about that blue that works nicely with this shade of wood when used as highlights. I've done a couple with more blue, and they're a bit in yer face, but a little is good )


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## Carl Kotte

cotedupy said:


> Ahh I've seen a picture of this one before I think. It's _lovely! _What wood was it...?


Thank you! Spalted maple. Lots of action


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## NO ChoP!

Here's one I was pretty fond of.


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## cotedupy

NO ChoP! said:


> View attachment 99441
> 
> Here's one I was pretty fond of.



What are the materials here? They're rather striking


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## cotedupy

Here's one of mine from yesterday. 165mm Ishizuchi Bunka, with wine oak and brass spacer.


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## Caleb Cox

Pyinma burl with a bog oak spacer


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## Caleb Cox

Stabilized bubinga and purpleheart


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## cotedupy

Couple I've done for friends recently...

Muneishi 165mm Nakiri with Tasmanian oak:






Ishizuchi 165mm Bunka with winemaking oak:


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## birdsfan

Here's one that I am proud of It is a Fu Rin Ka Zan western handle reshaping....












Sorry about the non knife porn quality pictures


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## Tim Rowland

How about a bucket of work in progress stuff?


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## Dhoff

birdsfan said:


> Here's one that I am proud of It is a Fu Rin Ka Zan western handle reshaping....
> 
> View attachment 101392
> View attachment 101393
> View attachment 101394
> 
> 
> Sorry about the non knife porn quality pictures




looking great! what type of wood?


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## Dhoff

cotedupy said:


> Couple I've done for friends recently...
> 
> Muneishi 165mm Nakiri with Tasmanian oak:
> 
> View attachment 101376
> 
> 
> Ishizuchi 165mm Bunka with winemaking oak:
> 
> View attachment 101375



more pics of the taz please


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## birdsfan

Dhoff said:


> looking great! what type of wood?



It is a stabilized cypress burl. It appears dyed as well.


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## birdsfan

Tim Rowland said:


> How about a bucket of work in progress stuff?


Even unfinished, Tim's work looks great!


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## Tim Rowland

birdsfan said:


> Even unfinished, Tim's work looks great!



Thanks,
Here they are with some odies oil still partially soaked in.
Half are dowel construction and already slotted. Half traditional style waiting to be drilled and slotted.


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## cotedupy

Tim Rowland said:


> How about a bucket of work in progress stuff?
> 
> View attachment 101398



Ah yes, I have a box that looks very similar (except yours is much nicer wood!)


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## cotedupy

Dhoff said:


> more pics of the taz please



This was actually one of the first handles I made with coloured epoxy used to fill a knot in the wood (it's floorboard offcuts, so there are quite a few knots to play with). Still terrible pictures on my crappy phone camera, but here you go:











I now usually use blue coloured epoxy for this. Here's a very striking one I did a couple of evenings ago, which I rather like and will be keeping for me!


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## Dhoff

Thank you! really good looking, both the non-coloured and the blue lightning


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## Caleb Cox




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## cotedupy

Dhoff said:


> Thank you! really good looking, both the non-coloured and the blue lightning



Ta! I like 'Blue Lightning' moniker, I'll be stealing that one


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## cotedupy

Caleb Cox said:


> View attachment 101829



Very nice! What's wood is the kind of spalted one at the bottom? Is it maple like Carl K's earlier...?


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## da_mich*

Barry's Knives said:


> View attachment 99263
> 
> London plane with brass pins on my munetoshi. First handle project so there room for improvement.



Nice work and very nice wood. Where do you buy this wood? Thanks

Best Regards,
Michael


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## Caleb Cox

cotedupy said:


> Very nice! What's wood is the kind of spalted one at the bottom? Is it maple like Carl K's earlier...?


That's black and white ebony, with buffalo horn on top.


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## cotedupy

Another wee bit of experimentation today...

I'd wanted to get a way of getting some of my beloved blue epoxy into a handle made from the very dark winemaking oak staves I use sometimes, but it hadn't really worked the couple of times I'd tried. This is better.

I made a handle blank from the oak and sawed the end off for a 'ferrule', then used beer bottle tops* to cast some epoxy:







Popped them out, and used the blue one as a spacer between the two bits of the handle:






Sand shape polish &c. and I think this will make a pretty cool handle...













*Other casting methods are available, but the best _ideas_ certainly come after a couple of beers.


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## birdsfan

I just finished the western wa for a homey!












A couple of others getting a coat of finishing oil.


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## cotedupy

birdsfan said:


> I just finished the western wa for a homey!
> 
> View attachment 103445
> View attachment 103446
> View attachment 103447
> 
> 
> A couple of others getting a coat of finishing oil.
> 
> View attachment 103448



Lovely stuff! I need to get me some properly pretty wood.


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## cotedupy

And to demonstrate my sentiment above here's one I did yesterday for my new Leung Tim Slicer using Spotted Gum for the first time, which turn out to be not the most interesting of woods. Spacer is from a piece of cast epoxy coloured with blue eyeshadow (we've gone into hard lockdown here and I forgot my mica powder when escaping to the beach house.) Not my best effort, but hey ho.


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## cotedupy

Put the handle in one of my posts above onto my Blenheim Forge Nakiri last night. Very happy with the outcome


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## Caleb Cox




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## cotedupy

Caleb Cox said:


> View attachment 104080
> View attachment 104081



Beautiful wood, and really like those spacers! What do you use for them?

(I also like the way the angle of the photo makes it look like you're about to light up a nice robusto )


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## Caleb Cox

cotedupy said:


> Beautiful wood, and really like those spacers! What do you use for them?
> 
> (I also like the way the angle of the photo makes it look like you're about to light up a nice robusto )


Thanks! The white and black are both paper micarta, and the blue is g10. Haha I have a ringed gidgee "cigar" on my Martell gyuto. Almost broke my teeth trying to bite the end off.


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## Danzo

This one I finished a ways back. I told myself I _needed _a good western beater with a white handle. So here it is. Shame it hardly gets used.


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## Mikeadunne

Danzo said:


> This one I finished a ways back. I told myself I _needed _a good western beater with a white handle. So here it is. Shame it hardly gets used. View attachment 104189
> View attachment 104190
> View attachment 104191


Shoot, I think I might need one now...


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## Luftmensch

Awesome thread...

My only disappointment - since you are calling handles 'sticks', how come the title isn't something like: "Show us your stick pics (finished handle projects)..."


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## cotedupy

Luftmensch said:


> Awesome thread...
> 
> My only disappointment - since you are calling handles 'sticks', how come the title isn't something like: "Show us your stick pics (finished handle projects)..."



Damn! I hadn't thought of that until you mentioned... Now every time I look at this thread I will remember the missed opportunity


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## Heli

cotedupy said:


> Another wee bit of experimentation today...
> 
> I'd wanted to get a way of getting some of my beloved blue epoxy into a handle made from the very dark winemaking oak staves I use sometimes, but it hadn't really worked the couple of times I'd tried. This is better.
> 
> I made a handle blank from the oak and sawed the end off for a 'ferrule', then used beer bottle tops* to cast some epoxy:
> 
> View attachment 102402
> 
> 
> Popped them out, and used the blue one as a spacer between the two bits of the handle:
> 
> View attachment 102403
> 
> 
> Sand shape polish &c. and I think this will make a pretty cool handle...
> 
> View attachment 102405
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 102408
> 
> 
> 
> *Other casting methods are available, but the best _ideas_ certainly come after a couple of beers.



what kind of epoxy is that?


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## cotedupy

Heli said:


> what kind of epoxy is that?



I use Araldite 5 min clear epoxy which I colour with mica powder. (And the same epoxy for the installs, tho James from KnS gave me some hot glue pellets recently, so I may move onto those for the future.)


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## Heli

cotedupy said:


> I use Araldite 5 min clear epoxy which I colour with mica powder. (And the same epoxy for the installs, tho James from KnS gave me some hot glue pellets recently, so I may move onto those for the future.)


Great, thanks


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## Luftmensch

cotedupy said:


> James from KnS gave me some hot glue pellets recently, so I may move onto those for the future.



For the spacer? Or installing the handle?

All the hot glue (a.k.a 'hot snot') I have used has been convenient for semi-permanent joints - tacking things together. Joints that don't take much of a shear force. It is a convenience... there are usually better glues. I don't have a huge amount of confidence in it as a durable resin-like substitute. I wouldnt use it as a spacer - but perhaps there are better hot glues out there than the ones I have used....


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## cotedupy

Luftmensch said:


> For the spacer? Or installing the handle?
> 
> All the hot glue (a.k.a 'hot snot') I have used has been convenient for semi-permanent joints - tacking things together. Joints that don't take much of a shear force. It is a convenience... there are usually better glues. I don't have a huge amount of confidence in it as a durable resin-like substitute. I wouldnt use it as a spacer - but perhaps there are better hot glues out there than the ones I have used....



Ah sorry yeah I meant trying it for the install, not for casting a spacer.

Interesting what you say. I'll try it on something cheap of my own then before doing any for friends. I think James might've said to possibly use a bit of epoxy at the end for added sturdiness. Maybe better for fancier slicing knives than everyday ones by the sound of it too (?)


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## AT5760

@Caleb Cox , the #3 handle from your 11/2 post is really nice looking!


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## Ericfg

Sneek peek. Work in progress but it's coming out very good.
Indian Rosewood(?) and the dark ferrule is part of the original handle of this 100 year old knife.


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## birdsfan

A couple that I just finished. I think there is one repeat in there, so sorry for that. First 2 are maple burl with dyed curly maple ferrule, the second is an unknown wood that I grabbed from the discount bin (What a score....$6 and enough for 4-6 handles) at the local Woodcraft store, with copper spacer and horn ferrule










This second pair is pyinma burl with blond horn. The other is box elder burl and dark horn ferrule











I made this one for my new Kemadi, it is stabilized sindora burl with stainless steel and g-10 spacers






This last one is dyed cypress burl and Mountain ash ferrule, with stainless and g-10 spacers


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## cotedupy

birdsfan said:


> A couple that I just finished. I think there is one repeat in there, so sorry for that. First 2 are maple burl with dyed curly maple ferrule, the second is an unknown wood that I grabbed from the discount bin (What a score....$6 and enough for 4-6 handles) at the local Woodcraft store, with copper spacer and horn ferrule
> 
> View attachment 105602
> View attachment 105603
> 
> 
> 
> This second pair is pyinma burl with blond horn. The other is box elder burl and dark horn ferrule
> 
> View attachment 105604
> 
> 
> View attachment 105605
> 
> 
> I made this one for my new Kemadi, it is stabilized sindora burl with stainless steel and g-10 spacers
> 
> View attachment 105606
> 
> 
> This last one is dyed cypress burl and Mountain ash ferrule, with stainless and g-10 spacers
> 
> View attachment 105607



Smart stuff mate! Beautiful wood, and the spacer work's pretty swish


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## cotedupy

Put one of mine pictured above onto a knife at the weekend. Doing this kind of mega-heavy epoxy infil takes a bit of a knack (the final picture shows the extent of the fill), but drilling it was a real feckin nightmare, and it broke several times before I somehow managed to get it to work...


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## cotedupy

birdsfan said:


> A couple that I just finished. I think there is one repeat in there, so sorry for that. First 2 are maple burl with dyed curly maple ferrule, the second is an unknown wood that I grabbed from the discount bin (What a score....$6 and enough for 4-6 handles) at the local Woodcraft store, with copper spacer and horn ferrule
> 
> View attachment 105602
> View attachment 105603
> 
> 
> 
> This second pair is pyinma burl with blond horn. The other is box elder burl and dark horn ferrule
> 
> View attachment 105604
> 
> 
> View attachment 105605
> 
> 
> I made this one for my new Kemadi, it is stabilized sindora burl with stainless steel and g-10 spacers
> 
> View attachment 105606
> 
> 
> This last one is dyed cypress burl and Mountain ash ferrule, with stainless and g-10 spacers
> 
> View attachment 105607



I particularly like the dyed maple ferrule, you should try one with that as the main part. I think grey is under-represented in handle colours!


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## cotedupy

Experimented with removing Kuruochi yesterday, and mixing blue and green mica to get this rather natty aquamarine...


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## Dhoff

Dude, you are a colour wizard 

Looks like a lake in the middle of a desert


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## birdsfan

That handle you put on your blade is so striking!  I know you have posted it before, but everytime I see it I am taken with that bright splash of color amongst the complex grain. Very distinct!


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## Johanshi

Finished this one this morning for, stab birch and buffalo horn. Simple design but doesn´t steal the attention from the blade (Yu Kurosaki Senko 210mm Gyoto).

Have a couple in pipe line, might throw up a post here and there


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## birdsfan

Well put @Dhoff !


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## birdsfan

Beautiful work Johanshi! Very crisp lines and beautiful wood!


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## cotedupy

Dhoff said:


> Dude, you are a colour wizard
> 
> Looks like a lake in the middle of a desert



Ah cheers man! Those two I was definitely quite pleased with


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## cotedupy

Johanshi said:


> Finished this one this morning for, stab birch and buffalo horn. Simple design but doesn´t steal the attention from the blade (Yu Kurosaki Senko 210mm Gyoto).
> 
> Have a couple in pipe line, might throw up a post here and there



This is really gorgeous. That wood is stunning!


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## Johanshi

Have to post another one that I like. Gave this to a friend.
Zakuri aogami #1 Bunka with birch handle and bog oak as front. Made a Saya to it as well that is really nice.


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## cotedupy

Quite pleased with this yesterday for a friend. She wanted plain Tasmanian Oak, without colourful epoxy (I know, weird eh!). It can tend to be a little bit boring, and this one looked like it was going to be, until I started hand sanding. I think the (grey) paper I was using wasn't particularly suited to metal, and the spacer caused a lot of coloured dust which I don't normally get, to work it's way into the grain. Came out quite a cool effect in the end.


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## birdsfan

a couple I finished for some friends the other day.

Western wa, made in spalted mango with brass spacer and Katalox ferule









And a heart shaped wa out of mango with brass and g10 spacer


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## Ericfg

cotedupy said:


> until I started hand sanding. I think the (grey) paper I was using wasn't particularly suited to metal, and the spacer caused a lot of coloured dust which I don't normally get, to work it's way into the grain. Came out quite a cool effect in the end.


I had that same issue with my last handle job. I think it came from the steel of the tang and I did not like it nor want it. Tried my best to remove it to only a little effect and then had to live with it.
I wonder how to stop that issue in the future?


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## cotedupy

Ericfg said:


> I had that same issue with my last handle job. I think it came from the steel of the tang and I did not like it nor want it. Tried my best to remove it to only a little effect and then had to live with it.
> I wonder how to stop that issue in the future?



I often start with 'no-fill' sandpaper for lower grits, which tends to be white, and then move to regular for higher grits. I don't know if it actually makes a difference, but it seems to in my mind.

On this handle I didn't have any no-fill at the time, so was doing coarse sanding with grey/black sandpaper.


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## cotedupy

One I did today for a mate back in the UK. A lot of his family are Aussies, so wanted something with classic Aus woods - Curly Sheoak, steel spacer, and Redgum ferrule.

(Credit to @birdsfan for his tips regarding spacers, and as always - @Carl Kotte for his handle-making 101 when I first started trying to make a couple.)


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## Carl Kotte

cotedupy said:


> One I did today for a mate back in the UK. A lot of his family are Aussies, so wanted something with classic Aus woods - Curly Sheoak, steel spacer, and Redgum ferrule.
> 
> (Credit to @birdsfan for his tips regarding spacers, and as always - @Carl Kotte for his handle-making 101 when I first started trying to make a couple.)
> 
> View attachment 107169
> 
> 
> View attachment 107168
> 
> 
> View attachment 107170


Don’t remind me! When will you make a handle guide 202?


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## cotedupy

Carl Kotte said:


> Don’t remind me! When will you make a handle guide 202?



It'd involve nothing more than copying and pasting what you sent me. Though I'm certainly not above taking undue credit...


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## Carl Kotte

@cotedupy come on! With my guide you can’t do nice handles like that! If that were so, I would have made equally good looking handles


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## Dhoff

cotedupy said:


> One I did today for a mate back in the UK. A lot of his family are Aussies, so wanted something with classic Aus woods - Curly Sheoak, steel spacer, and Redgum ferrule.
> 
> (Credit to @birdsfan for his tips regarding spacers, and as always - @Carl Kotte for his handle-making 101 when I first started trying to make a couple.)
> 
> View attachment 107169
> 
> 
> View attachment 107168
> 
> 
> View attachment 107170



very nice! does shoak by any chance smell in a particular way?


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## cotedupy

Ta! 

(Not that I've noticed... for why...?)


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## cotedupy

Carl Kotte said:


> @cotedupy come on! With my guide you can’t do nice handles like that! If that were so, I would have made equally good looking handles



Nonsense, I've seen your ways with spalted maple CK!

(Also these pictures cleverly disguise my tang-slot-drilling-ability... or lack thereof.)


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## JoBone

This one was for my daughter’s Yuki. It’s the only one of our first knives that’s constantly in rotation.


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## cotedupy

JoBone said:


> This one was for my daughter’s Yuki. It’s the only one of our first knives that’s constantly in rotation.
> 
> View attachment 107176
> View attachment 107177
> 
> View attachment 107173
> View attachment 107174



Wow! I doff my cap to you sir, and henceforth resign my position as king of natty blue fills... How'd you do it?


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## cotedupy

A christmas present from my parents (weirdly I had been talking about Pallares Solsona on here a few days previously). Now with handle made from 100 year old Syrah vine.

Before:





And after:


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## cotedupy

Been using the same vine wood for a few different knives recently for friends in the UK. It's remarkable looking stuff... Vine Wood WIP


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## birdsfan

Just finished this ensemble for a friend. First time I have ever worked brass like that to fabricate a ferrule. I have done flat nose plates before, but this was the first time did coving and rounding like this. Also the first time I attempted an inlay on a saya. I should probably have done a WIP on both parts of the project because they were both, at the same time, tricky and yet easier to accomplish than I thought they would be.


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## AT5760

My 3rd attempt at a handle. Decided to try an oval shaped handle (there was a D horn/ho on this before.


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## TB_London

Are full tangs allowed?


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## birdsfan

Nice work TB! What kind of wood is that?


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## cotedupy

AT5760 said:


> My 3rd attempt at a handle. Decided to try an oval shaped handle (there was a D horn/ho on this before.
> 
> View attachment 112444
> View attachment 112445
> View attachment 112446



Very nice! The oval shape really does well with that grain doesn't it


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## Dhoff

Look great TB. Out of curiousity, are Wa handles never termed as full tang?


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## TB_London

Cheers, it’s a piece of Bocote so the brighter yellow will tame to more of a light brown as it oxidises.

Wa handle are usually partial tang as the the tang isn’t the full size of the handle. Delbert Ealy handles are kinda full tang wa


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## cotedupy

Here's a couple I did recently that I was pretty happy with. First is Red Mallee burl, steel spacer and horn. Second (cleaver) is filled Syrah vine.


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## IsoJ

I didn't plan to do any handles like a year ago but here I am pants down and getting started slowly . Here are couple of simple ones that I have made before winter and this month. Watanabe and Munetoshi are my first handles (after two practise pieces ). Seems that all the handles have more or less tapering and a bit bigger sizes to fit my hand better.

Watanabe bogoak





Munetoshi walnut





Mazaki duo bogoak








Birch for Isasmedjan bbqfork








Bog oak, copper and buffalo horn without oil









Birch and some ferrule , maybe for 240 Toyama(I have one three piece handle with spacers in the works and if that works out, I will propably put that). Did some aggressive taper here, doesn't show on pictures that much...


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## cotedupy

IsoJ said:


> I didn't plan to do any handles like a year ago but here I am pants down and getting started slowly . Here are couple of simple ones that I have made before winter and this month. Watanabe and Munetoshi are my first handles (after two practise pieces ). Seems that all the handles have more or less tapering and a bit bigger sizes to fit my hand better.
> 
> Watanabe bogoak
> View attachment 124271
> 
> 
> Munetoshi walnut
> View attachment 124272
> 
> 
> Mazaki duo bogoak
> View attachment 124274
> View attachment 124275
> 
> 
> Birch for Isasmedjan bbqfork
> View attachment 124276
> View attachment 124277
> 
> 
> Bog oak, copper and buffalo horn without oil
> 
> View attachment 124278
> View attachment 124279
> 
> 
> Birch and some ferrule , maybe for 240 Toyama(I have one three piece handle with spacers in the works and if that works out, I will propably put that). Did some aggressive taper here, doesn't show on pictures that much...
> View attachment 124280
> View attachment 124281



Very nice! I like the detail where you have the chamfers 'straight' on otherwise tapered handles 

(Or at least that's how it appears on some of these pics).


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## IsoJ

cotedupy said:


> Very nice! I like the detail where you have the chamfers 'straight' on otherwise tapered handles
> 
> (Or at least that's how it appears on some of these pics).


Thanks. I've done all by eye and figured it is easier to make them that way before I get more hang of it.


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## cotedupy

Here are a few of my recent favourites:

Filled vine wood on a double-bevel Deba:







Filled Tasmanian Oak on a Petty:






Wine oak staves, double steel, and horn on a Takohiki:






This I did yesterday for a Yanagiba I'm restoring, wine oak staves & horn but no spacer:






And this last one I'm actually quite proud of... I wanted to try to keep the vintage blonde horn ferrule from the original handle of this, but it was so thin that it meant I had to try making my first d-shape. Worked out pretty nicely tho! Wood is Elm burl:


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## cotedupy

IsoJ said:


> Thanks. I've done all by eye and figured it is easier to make them that way before I get more hang of it.



It's a cool touch  I must have a try with that myself!


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## IsoJ

cotedupy said:


> Here are a few of my recent favourites:
> 
> Filled vine wood on a double-bevel Deba:
> 
> View attachment 124300
> 
> 
> Filled Tasmanian Oak on a Petty:
> 
> View attachment 124302
> 
> 
> Wine oak staves, double steel, and horn on a Takohiki:
> 
> View attachment 124303
> 
> 
> This I did yesterday for a Yanagiba I'm restoring, wine oak staves & horn but no spacer:
> 
> View attachment 124304
> 
> 
> And this last one I'm actually quite proud of... I wanted to try to keep the vintage blonde horn ferrule from the original handle of this, but it was so thin that it meant I had to try making my first d-shape. Wood is Elm burl:
> 
> View attachment 124297


That vine wood is gorgeous and clever way of adding some colours there . I imagine not an easy task to not break the old horn


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## cotedupy

IsoJ said:


> That vine wood is gorgeous and clever way of adding some colours there . I imagine not an easy task to not break the old horn



Well depending on your point of view I was either slightly cheating, or 'working clever' ... I sawed the end off the original handle and used that. Which meant I could drill the elm burl beforehand, stick the two parts together, shape it using the original ferule as a guide, and then when it was done I already had a neat, pre-drilled tang slot that fitted the original knife: Kikuichi Monji Nakiri Refurb WIP


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## IsoJ

cotedupy said:


> Well depending on your point of view I was either slightly cheating, or 'working clever' ... I sawed the end off the original handle and used that. Which meant I could drill the elm burl beforehand, stick the two parts together, shape it using the original ferule as a guide, and then when it was done I already had a neat, pre-drilled tang slot that fitted the original knife: Kikuichi Monji Nakiri Refurb WIP


Very practical trick. So in the future if one is about to cheat, he/she is actually beeing clever instead of cheating


----------



## Carl Kotte

Pear


----------



## Carl Kotte

A few friends hanging out. All beige.


----------



## cotedupy

Carl Kotte said:


> A few friends hanging out. All beige. View attachment 124313



Ah! _Beige on Beige_... it reminds me of the Dylan album from his under-appreciated 'Beige Period' in the mid 80s.


----------



## Carl Kotte

cotedupy said:


> Ah! _Beige on Beige_... it reminds me of the Dylan album from his under-appreciated 'Beige Period' in the mid 80s.


Great men know to appreciate it...


----------



## cotedupy

Carl Kotte said:


> Great men know to appreciate it...



Well quite! 

I was taking (further) inspiration from you only last week as it happens. Feast your eyes on this...


----------



## M1k3

IsoJ said:


> I didn't plan to do any handles like a year ago but here I am pants down and getting started slowly . Here are couple of simple ones that I have made before winter and this month. Watanabe and Munetoshi are my first handles (after two practise pieces ). Seems that all the handles have more or less tapering and a bit bigger sizes to fit my hand better.
> 
> Watanabe bogoak
> View attachment 124271
> 
> 
> Munetoshi walnut
> View attachment 124272
> 
> 
> Mazaki duo bogoak
> View attachment 124274
> View attachment 124275
> 
> 
> Birch for Isasmedjan bbqfork
> View attachment 124276
> View attachment 124277
> 
> 
> Bog oak, copper and buffalo horn without oil
> 
> View attachment 124278
> View attachment 124279
> 
> 
> Birch and some ferrule , maybe for 240 Toyama(I have one three piece handle with spacers in the works and if that works out, I will propably put that). Did some aggressive taper here, doesn't show on pictures that much...
> View attachment 124280
> View attachment 124281





Carl Kotte said:


> View attachment 124311
> View attachment 124312
> 
> Pear





Carl Kotte said:


> A few friends hanging out. All beige. View attachment 124313





cotedupy said:


> Well quite!
> 
> I was taking (further) inspiration from you only last week as it happens. Feast your eyes on this...
> 
> View attachment 124324


----------



## xsmx13

@IsoJ Love that copper and bog oak combo!


----------



## birdsfan

Are we doing a beige today?


----------



## birdsfan




----------



## birdsfan

Ok.....there is some dark beige on this one...


----------



## gregfisk

Looking good! I too am about to embark on wa handle making. I like your tapers and your bbq fork looks great.


----------



## IsoJ

gregfisk said:


> Looking good! I too am about to embark on wa handle making. I like your tapers and your bbq fork looks great.


Thank you. Post some photos when you have some finished work.


----------



## da_mich*

New Ebony handle for a Sugimoto #6 
I asked Sugimoto multiple times to send me a original handle but they don´t sell original knife parts -.-. It´s waste of time to discuss with there customer service. So i decided to make my own handle because the pre owner damaged the original handle and replaced it with a very ugly handle. What do you think about the new handle?


----------



## cotedupy

da_mich* said:


> New Ebony handle for a Sugimoto #6
> I asked Sugimoto multiple times to send me a original handle but they don´t sell original knife parts -.-. It´s waste of time to discuss with there customer service. So i decided to make my own handle because the pre owner damaged the original handle and replaced it with a very ugly handle. What do you think about the new handle?



Oh that is pretty swish, great job! I'm actually not a massive fan of the original handles tbh... yours is a _marked_ improvement


----------



## Caleb Cox




----------



## da_mich*

Nice handles . Which wood did you use for the second handle? It looks like Amber


----------



## Caleb Cox

Thanks! Ironwood burl for all 3 cuts.


----------



## da_mich*

I think, I will use Ironwood next time too. I never used it. I always use Nut, Amaranth(Purple Heart), Ebony, Leadwood and Smoked Oak (fumigated with ammonia).


----------



## Caleb Cox

It's pricey and predictably tough to work, but it's still a favorite.


----------



## IsoJ

Handle for Toyama 240. Blade needs some work before installing. Rough 240 finish. Bogoak, copper and buffalo.


----------



## Carl Kotte

Rehandled Forgecraft


----------



## birdsfan

Scorched Oak?


----------



## Carl Kotte

birdsfan said:


> Scorched Oak?


Good eye! Absolutely correct!


----------



## birdsfan

Nice work Carl! I have been meaning to try one of those. I have heard they feel reallly great in hand. It is a great aesthetic match for the vintage Forgie


----------



## Carl Kotte

birdsfan said:


> Nice work Carl! I have been meaning to try one of those. I have heard they feel reallly great in hand. It is a great aesthetic match for the vintage Forgie


 Yeah torchy torchy and oak is a nice grippy match. This time I wanted to see if I could get grippy yet smooth enough by finishing sanding on p80 and then torch. It got smooth enough but I can’t tell if it affected grip. Either way, I like it.


----------



## cotedupy

Time for some shiny bling (apologies Carl)...

Elm burl, steel spacer and horn on a 290mm Sakimaru. Oval shape.


----------



## home chef

First beveled handle. Some unknown stabilized wood. Definitely some places I want to improve on the next one but it was a good learning experience and I am happy with how it turned out for a first beveled design.


----------



## Caleb Cox

Lovely wood, great contrast! Is this knife hidden tang or full? I couldn't tell from the angle of your pics. If it's full tang, you'll probably regret not using at least one pin. I initially did pinless handles on full tangs and I had several eventual failures.


----------



## home chef

Full tang and I elected to not use pins this time due to some time constraints and aesthetics, but I am using the g-flex epoxy so it should hold up pretty well compared to 5min epoxies I have used in the past especially with the extra care on surface prep I took. Time will tell how it holds up. I will probably do a hidden pin design on the next one.


----------



## cotedupy

home chef said:


> First beveled handle. Some unknown stabilized wood. Definitely some places I want to improve on the next one but it was a good learning experience and I am happy with how it turned out for a first beveled design.



Well your 'unknown stabilized wood' is pretty striking eh! Looks ace, nice work


----------



## Carl Kotte

Tickler stickler


----------



## M1k3

Carl Kotte said:


> Tickler stickler View attachment 127320
> View attachment 127321
> View attachment 127322
> View attachment 127323


#SnackStorage


----------



## Carl Kotte

M1k3 said:


> #SnackStorage


Yaman. Prepare to be surprised when I serve burgers


----------



## Jtchiang9

Here is my first handle project! And boy was it an adventure.......
Before:





After:


----------



## Ericfg

Sneak peek.


----------



## birdsfan

Jtchiang9 said:


> And boy was it an adventure.......




It looks like it came out well. What made it adventurous?


----------



## Jtchiang9

birdsfan said:


> It looks like it came out well. What made it adventurous?



Thanks! I used the dowel method for this and it ended up being difficult to get the handle drilled out straight with my setup. Things ended up being much less precise than planned! Which made getting the beeswax and everything lined up much more stressful haha 

The roasted maple was surprising to work with as well. Much more brittle and prone to tear out and splitting than I expected. 

All in all, I learned a lot and have new ideas for future handles I make! Maybe incorporating some 3d printing to replace the dowel and make some jigs. Lots of ideas!


----------



## birdsfan

Using the dowel method also, I have generally found that using anything bigger than 7/16 creates a much greater likelihood of tearing out or splitting. I am fortunate enough to have a drill press and a press vice that keep things pretty straight. Jigs are always a great idea. I use a jig to cut the slot in the dowel and it has definitely helped in getting things straight.


----------



## cotedupy

.


----------



## cotedupy

birdsfan said:


> Using the dowel method also, I have generally found that using anything bigger than 7/16 creates a much greater likelihood of tearing out or splitting. I am fortunate enough to have a drill press and a press vice that keep things pretty straight. Jigs are always a great idea. I use a jig to cut the slot in the dowel and it has definitely helped in getting things straight.



Pah! This all sound like cheating to me .

I’m a firm advocate of the ‘Kotte Method’, and even now I can’t consider myself a _true_ ‘Carlist’, as I do still use a belt sander.


----------



## cotedupy

.


----------



## Carl Kotte

cotedupy said:


> Pah! This all sound like cheating to me .
> 
> I’m a firm advocate of the ‘Kotte Method’, and even now I can’t consider myself a _true_ ‘Carlist’, as I do still use a belt sander.


Nah, the Kotte method is slow, painful and often leads to bad results. You’re past that! Me on the other hand


----------



## childermass

My first time to post something here.
Improved a stainless Kaeru 210 with some plum and bog oak…












The install could have been better but it’s not noticeable in use.


----------



## PtownPhil

Tim Rowland said:


> How about a bucket of work in progress stuff?
> 
> View attachment 101398


Is Etsy the only site I can find your work?


----------



## Jtchiang9

birdsfan said:


> Using the dowel method also, I have generally found that using anything bigger than 7/16 creates a much greater likelihood of tearing out or splitting. I am fortunate enough to have a drill press and a press vice that keep things pretty straight. Jigs are always a great idea. I use a jig to cut the slot in the dowel and it has definitely helped in getting things straight.



Thanks for the tips! A press vise would be a great addition to my drill press. 



cotedupy said:


> Pah! This all sound like cheating to me .
> 
> I’m a firm advocate of the ‘Kotte Method’, and even now I can’t consider myself a _true_ ‘Carlist’, as I do still use a belt sander.



Haha. I would say what I did was a Kotte inspired method . Only power tool I used was the drill press. Chisels, planes, knives, and files for everything else! Sandpaper only at the very end to take off the sharp corners.


----------



## cotedupy

Jtchiang9 said:


> Thanks for the tips! A press vise would be a great addition to my drill press.
> 
> 
> 
> Haha. I would say what I did was a Kotte inspired method . Only power tool I used was the drill press. Chisels, planes, knives, and files for everything else! Sandpaper only at the very end to take off the sharp corners.



Well consider my cap well and truly doffed! Lovely handle already, but doing it all by hand is quite impressive. I've only ever made a couple without a belt sander, and they were nothing like as good as yours and CK's .


----------



## cotedupy

childermass said:


> My first time to post something here.
> Improved a stainless Kaeru 210 with some plum and bog oak…View attachment 127931
> View attachment 127932
> View attachment 127933
> View attachment 127934
> 
> The install could have been better but it’s not noticeable in use.



Very nice! I've done a couple with dark / black oak ferrules recently. It's quite a classy look I think.


----------



## cotedupy

Carl Kotte said:


> Nah, the Kotte method is slow, painful and often leads to bad results. You’re past that! Me on the other hand



Ah, but it's the purity of concept, execution, and aesthetic sensibility that the rest of us can only aspire to... you're not from Scandinavia by any chance are you?


----------



## childermass

Carl Kotte said:


> Nah, the Kotte method is slow, painful and often leads to bad results. You’re past that! Me on the other hand


I had to revert to the Kotte method too as one of the wheels of my bandsaw broke recently . It really is different but I like to use hand tools. A little cheating though because my band sander is a good friend


----------



## Carl Kotte

cotedupy said:


> Ah, but it's the purity of concept, execution, and aesthetic sensibility that the rest of us can only aspire to... you're not from Scandinavia by any chance are you?


Oh Yeah true, I have that Scandinavian design thing going


----------



## childermass

cotedupy said:


> Very nice! I've done a couple with dark / black oak ferrules recently. It's quite a classy look I think.


Initially I wanted to do it with a single piece of plum but my tang-hole-fu needs improvement and I had to hide the mess.


----------



## Tim Rowland

PtownPhil said:


> Is Etsy the only site I can find your work?



Yes for the time being I have handles available on my etsy site and full knives on oldetownecutlery.com 
I have been super busy with my full-time job so have not been doing much custom work the last few months.
I am slowly building up a strong kitchen leadership team so I don't have to be there 70+ hours a week. Then will be creating a lot more.
You can also find me on Instagram though I don't post a lot lately.


----------



## PtownPhil

Tim Rowland said:


> Yes for the time being I have handles available on my etsy site and full knives on oldetownecutlery.com
> I have been super busy with my full-time job so have not been doing much custom work the last few months.
> I am slowly building up a strong kitchen leadership team so I don't have to be there 70+ hours a week. Then will be creating a lot more.
> You can also find me on Instagram though I don't post a lot lately.


Thank you for getting back to me! I appreciate the work you've been doing and I will still holdout for the hatrick. I have an Isiah Shroerder handle, and a JoBone. I wish you success on you upcoming projects.


----------



## mhenry

It has been a minute since I have made a handle and have never made a cleaver handle but thought it was time to upgrade my beloved CCK. I made a mess of the tang hole that required some creative epoxy work, and still needs a bit of attention. I think it turned out okay considering it has been at least 5yrs.
































.


----------



## Caleb Cox

Nice! Amboyna?


----------



## mhenry

Thanks, yes Amboyna.


----------



## cotedupy

mhenry said:


> It has been a minute since I have made a handle and have never made a cleaver handle but thought it was time to upgrade my beloved CCK. I made a mess of the tang hole that required some creative epoxy work, and still needs a bit of attention. I think it turned out okay considering it has been at least 5yrs.
> 
> View attachment 128189
> View attachment 128190
> View attachment 128191
> View attachment 128192
> View attachment 128193
> View attachment 128189
> View attachment 128190
> View attachment 128191
> View attachment 128192
> View attachment 128193
> .



More than ok! Beautiful piece of wood, and you've kept elements of the original handle shape very well. I think I might try a similar design next time I do a cleaver handle.

(And yeah - they're always impossible to drill neatly. Have you put a metal collar thing on it...?)


----------



## mhenry

Did a little more tinkering...


----------



## mhenry

This one turned out nice, dimensionally spot on, and I didn’t make a mess of the tang hole either.


----------



## childermass

Finished yesterday.
Smoke tree with elk antler and red vulcanized fibre.
I‘m pretty happy with that one.


----------



## mhenry

My kid really likes the handle I put on my cleaver, so he asked me to make one for his.


----------



## tostadas

mhenry said:


> My kid really likes the handle I put on my cleaver, so he asked me to make one for his.


It matches really well with the "dirty" patina. What are the dimensions of that handle?


----------



## Hero KZ

I am very new to the custom handle making. Finished this one recently.


----------



## cotedupy

Hero KZ said:


> I am very new to the custom handle making. Finished this one recently.



Very smart! What are the white parts of the spacer...?


----------



## Hero KZ

cotedupy said:


> Very smart! What are the white parts of the spacer...?


It’s is some kind of vulcanized fiber material made for the spacer purpose.


----------



## tostadas

Reshaped the stock handle on a kiwi nakiri for my kid after also modifying the blade shape. Was going for a sort of coke bottle style for really tiny hands.


----------



## TB_London

mhenry said:


> My kid really likes the handle I put on my cleaver, so he asked me to make one for his.



Missed seeing your work over the past couple of years


----------



## Hero KZ

Finished last week


----------



## birdsfan

Work at the restaurant has been so busy that I havent had much time to play in the shop. I did manage to hook up a few over the last few weeks.


Pretty fun project....For the Kono Sumiiro I dyed and stabilized some cypress burl and paired it with some stainless spacers and a pale horn ferrule, to make a comfortable heart-shaped handle. I inlaid some curly maple with some of the handle material and treated the saya with some of the dyed stabilant so that it would pick up the same coloring as the handle, then heat set the resins. Yeah, I know, sort of dingy, but I think it all works with the dark black KU on the blade.














For my Masashi SLD I used some stabilized maple burl with g10 and copper spacers. This all put the balance point anout an inch ahead of the handle, right at my pinch. It feel very nimble for a big tall blade, though this is as much from the Yoshikane inspired grind as it is my well balanced handle....








(the little cricket photo bombed me!)


----------



## Jtchiang9

I found a bit of time to make a handle and clean up an old rusty knife last night. Happy with how this one turned out and went a lot smoother than my first one! Made out of some lightly toasted oak.


----------



## mhenry

Slapped something together for my little Yoshikane shank. The knife used to be bigger but the tip got broke off so had to do some reshaping. I should have done some before/after pics.


----------



## da_mich*

New handle for a Masahiro Cleaver. I used Snake Bean wood and selfmade pins.

after:














before:


----------



## mhenry

I am really enjoying making these chunky 














cleaver handles. Looks like I am going to have to buy a new cleaver.


----------



## Keith Sinclair

JoBone said:


> This one was for my daughter’s Yuki. It’s the only one of our first knives that’s constantly in rotation.
> 
> View attachment 107176
> View attachment 107177
> 
> View attachment 107173
> View attachment 107174



So many nice handles here. That Spyder turquoise fill looks really cool.

Can't say I've been making any handles lately.
These are a few I've been using these knives
didn't bother to buff them.

African blackwood mango ferrel

African blackwood Hawaiian spalted signature ferrel

Oval splalted signature handle buff. horn ferrel

Amboyna burl buffalo horn ferrel.


----------



## schutzen-jager

made from walnut tree cut down in back yard in 1994 - put together for my grandson -


----------



## mhenry

This color combo is getting mixed reviews here at the house.


----------



## Tapio

Some time ago I got a gyoto blade and made a handle for it. I burned, brushed and waxed the wood. Even though it's a soft wood handle I haven't had any durability issues with it.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Hero KZ said:


> Finished last week View attachment 134766



Man, that whole package just trips my trigger!


----------



## Chips

mhenry said:


> This color combo is getting mixed reviews here at the house. View attachment 139087
> View attachment 139088
> View attachment 139089


 I think the thinnest of copper/bronze/nickel spacers on either side of that turquoise and you'd have a perfect looking handle!


----------



## mhenry

My son said “there is no way you can put that handle on that ugly old knife”


----------



## cotedupy

I'm having what my mother refers to as 'one of those days'. So far I have; ballsed up a fit so will have to remove and re-do, tipped a knife, cut myself twice whilst repairing it, revealed a load of low spots that I now want to remove, and run out of cigarettes. So here are some pictures to make me feel better of something that did go well a few days ago...

The first handle that I put on my @Kippington wasn't quite right for a couple of reasons. The design of Jules' tangs forces height (and subsequently width) onto a handle, and the size of the spacer metal I was using didn't allow me to put much taper in whilst getting the fit correct at the neck. Which in turn meant that I had to make the handle longer than I'd like in order to get balance, as the wood wasn't very dense. The result was very pretty, but effectively the kind of handle that I'd put on a yanagiba, not a gyuto:






Earlier this week a guy I'd got talking to on a woodworking forum came round and brought me half a forest's worth of stuff he wasn't going to use. Beautiful things; some quite rare and expensive, highly figured pieces, lovely spalted wood, stabilized burl blanks, &c. Toward the end he took out three anonymous-looking brown sticks and told me they were a bit special, that I should be saving it for something good:






Western Myall is a very long lived, slow growing, shrub-like acacia, that grows in some of the more remote desert-y bits of Australia, and a geologist friend of his had brought some back from the arid inlands of SA. This particular tree had been dead some 250 years already, and was at least 500 years old before that, probably more. It's slightly difficult to describe, but there's something quite special about the pattern of the tightly-twisted grain, the chattoyance, tobacco-smoke colour, density, and general feel of it:






With a Red Mallee burl and steel spacer, and Ebony Ferrule:


----------



## mhenry

Beautiful!


----------



## ecchef

mhenry said:


> This one turned out nice, dimensionally spot on, and I didn’t make a mess of the tang hole either. View attachment 132239
> View attachment 132240
> View attachment 132241


Mike! Holy Crap...welcome back!


----------



## mhenry

ecchef said:


> Mike! Holy Crap...welcome back!


Holy Crap Thanks!! It's good to be back. The Forum sure has changed.


----------



## cotedupy

I don't often do one-piece handles, because they're a b**ch to drill. But this wood was so gorgeous that anything else I felt might have been gilding the lily.

Cypress burl, part of a selection of goodies very generously sent to me by @birdsfan


----------



## Dhoff

cotedupy said:


> I don't often do one-piece handles, because they're a b**ch to drill. But this wood was so gorgeous that anything else I felt might have been gilding the lily.
> 
> Cypress burl, part of a selection of goodies very generously sent to me by @birdsfan
> 
> View attachment 146397
> 
> 
> View attachment 146395
> 
> 
> View attachment 146396




one of the modt beautiful youve made yet and the wood is stunning. How is the fit between tang and handle?


----------



## cotedupy

Dhoff said:


> one of the modt beautiful youve made yet and the wood is stunning. How is the fit between tang and handle?



Beautiful stuff isn't it! The fit was ok on this one, not perfect but not bad. In those pics the handle hadn't been glued yet, so it's snug enough.

The way I make handles means it's effectively impossible to get completely perfect fit on a one-piece, but with a bit of practice I can get pretty close.


----------



## IsoJ

Curly birch handle for Mazaki santoku. Finished with 600grit and few coats with tru-oil. I am not sure if I like the finish as much as 240 with just 1-2 little thicker coatings.


----------



## IsoJ

This is a second version of this handle. I wasn't happy with the first one. I left this sit couple of months before handsanding to see if the copper spacers will sit flush after sanding. If the wood will schrink with use, then I will sand the copper spacers below the wood and horn surface. Finished 800 grit with 4 layers of tru-oil.


----------



## mc2442

mhenry said:


> Holy Crap Thanks!! It's good to be back. The Forum sure has changed.


If I remember correctly, don't you have the turtle on the bottom of the handles? I remember loving your work. Will shoot you a PM if you are still doing rehandles.


----------



## mc2442

I cannot seem to PM you. Does not seem to be post count, not sure but assume I am missing something in front of my face.


----------



## cotedupy

IsoJ said:


> Curly birch handle for Mazaki santoku. Finished with 600grit and few coats with tru-oil. I am not sure if I like the finish as much as 240 with just 1-2 little thicker coatings.
> 
> View attachment 146514
> View attachment 146515



Well it's certainly lovely looking! (Even if you're not sure about the finish.)

I personally usually finish to 600, but left a razor handle at 240 the other day, and it does feel rather nice. So perhaps I'll try for a knife too sometime...


----------



## IsoJ

cotedupy said:


> Well it's certainly lovely looking! (Even if you're not sure about the finish.)
> 
> I personally usually finish to 600, but left a razor handle at 240 the other day, and it does feel rather nice. So perhaps I'll try for a knife too sometime...


Thank you. It turned out pretty good overall. I use mainly tru-oil and I am still figuring out how to apply layers and light sanding between the layers etc. I haven't used many woods and I guess it is personal preference how the grain pops out with different grits. I think that with some metal spacers, horn ferrules and denser woods the higher grit finish looks better.


----------



## JoBone

IsoJ said:


> I think that with some metal spacers, horn ferrules and denser woods the higher grit finish looks better.



Higher grits can burn horn and cause stabilized woods to gum up. Work slow or at low speeds.


----------



## IsoJ

JoBone said:


> Higher grits can burn horn and cause stabilized woods to gum up. Work slow or at low speeds.


Thank you for the tip, much appreciated.


----------



## Jim Beam

My best results to date, African blackwood and brass on a cheap Chinese blade for my soon-to-be son-in-law....


----------



## rocketman

Is this a test to see if he is worthy before a real knife?


----------



## Jim Beam

rocketman said:


> Is this a test to see if he is worthy before a real knife?



Let's just say that he has yet to prove what he's made of.


----------



## tostadas

My first attempt at making a handle with minimal tools. Burnt oak with buffalo horn. I documented part of the process in a separate thread.





First Wa Handle w Hand Tools


Decided to try my hand at making a new handle. The plan was a half-octo/half-round shape using white oak and black buffalo horn. Here's how it went. My tool selection was limited, so I mainly made do with hand tools. I have a sander for bulk removal, but it's not at all useful for straight...




www.kitchenknifeforums.com


----------



## rocketman

tostadas said:


> My first attempt at making a handle with minimal tools. Burnt oak with buffalo horn. I documented part of the process in a separate thread.


So, where is the link to the separate thread? Really like the shape.. I made a triangle with rounded corners once, and still think it is the best feel.


----------



## tostadas

rocketman said:


> So, where is the link to the separate thread? Really like the shape.. I made a triangle with rounded corners once, and still think it is the best feel.


Updated the post with link


----------



## birdsfan

Just a couple of my recent projects...

Rehandle and saya for my Heiji SS KU. The handle and the saya are both cypress burl. The ferrule is fashioned from 3/8 brass stock. I stabilized and dyed and stabilized the handle stock and tried to tint the saya with the same dyed stabilant, hoping to get a decent match. Instead I got something akin to woodland camo. (Mental note, don't bring this blade camping, or it might be lost for good)














For the Hinoura santoku I used maple burl for both the main handle body and the saya. The ferrule is dyed stabilized curly maple, with g10 and brass spacer










The KeMaDi Bulat got a stabilized sindora burl handle with a katalox ferrule and brass and g10 spacers. For the saya, i inlaid some of the same sindora burl into some highly figured walnut.


----------



## MowgFace

mhenry said:


> Holy Crap Thanks!! It's good to be back. The Forum sure has changed.



Welcome back!!! Great job on those handles. Definitely a different place these days. Great to see an OG KKFer. Hope all is well!


----------



## KnightKnightForever

I'm a noob... but here are a few I've made over the last week. Pretty into this right now


----------



## Dhoff

birdsfan said:


> Just a couple of my recent projects...
> 
> Rehandle and saya for my Heiji SS KU. The handle and the saya are both cypress burl. The ferrule is fashioned from 3/8 brass stock. I stabilized and dyed and stabilized the handle stock and tried to tint the saya with the same dyed stabilant, hoping to get a decent match. Instead I got something akin to woodland camo. (Mental note, don't bring this blade camping, or it might be lost for good)
> 
> View attachment 147141
> View attachment 147142
> View attachment 147143
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For the Hinoura santoku I used maple burl for both the main handle body and the saya. The ferrule is dyed stabilized curly maple, with g10 and brass spacer
> 
> View attachment 147144
> View attachment 147145
> 
> 
> 
> The KeMaDi Bulat got a stabilized sindora burl handle with a katalox ferrule and brass and g10 spacers. For the saya, i inlaid some of the same sindora burl into some highly figured walnut.
> 
> View attachment 147146
> View attachment 147147
> View attachment 147148



how did you go about the heiji handle?

looks really great and comfy


----------



## birdsfan

Thanks @Dhoff! Those westerns have really been some of my favorites these days. I have never done a WIP series on them. The main handle body started as a 5"x1"x1.5" blank. I use the slotted dowel method. So I marked and drilled a 7/16 hole and glued in the slotted dowel. Then I cut the rough shape on a band saw. I did all the shaping and contouring on a 6x48 belt sander with 80 grit. Beyond that, it is really dust a matter of going slow taking off stock until I get the shape and feel in hand that I like.


----------



## Jesse Killion

@birdsfan Thats a nice coke bottle on the Heiji. Great stuff!


----------



## JoBone

birdsfan said:


> Just a couple of my recent projects...


They look awesome!!


----------



## KnightKnightForever

Red amboyna burl wa handle


----------



## Dhoff

@cotedupy I wish to see what you can make out of banksia pods, should be right up your alley dude.

consider this a humble request


----------



## TB_London

mc2442 said:


> If I remember correctly, don't you have the turtle on the bottom of the handles? I remember loving your work. Will shoot you a PM if you are still doing rehandles.


 The turtle was the logo of Mike Riggen @mkriggen who I think was Hawaii based.

@mhenry was one of the OG of the rehandle game, that brick background was legendary


----------



## cotedupy

Dhoff said:


> @cotedupy I wish to see what you can make out of banksia pods, should be right up your alley dude.
> 
> consider this a humble request



Haha... I haven't done anything with banksia for a long time. Just when I was starting to make handles experimentally I found a bit on the ground; I didn't know what it was at the time, or that people actually used them, but had a play around: Wine and Wood (handles)

I should probably try again properly soon - lot's of potential I think!


----------



## birdsfan

cotedupy said:


> I should probably try again properly soon - lot's of potential I think!


Agreed! Next time they are in season you need to give them a try!


----------



## Dhoff

cotedupy said:


> Haha... I haven't done anything with banksia for a long time. Just when I was starting to make handles experimentally I found a bit on the ground; I didn't know what it was at the time, or that people actually used them, but had a play around: Wine and Wood (handles)
> 
> I should probably try again properly soon - lot's of potential I think!



A full handle would be great looking. really like the blue ferrule you made


----------



## birdsfan

Just a couple of recent projects I have been tinkering with.....

Did a western wa for my TF Mab. The handle body is dyed and stabilized curly maple with a stainless steel spacer and horn ferule. The saya is also curly maple which was tnited with dyed resin and heat set. Wish the sun was out so you could really see the chatoyance. Curly maple is rapidly becoming one of my favorite woods!















The Masakage Koishi got a similar shaped western wa. This one made from stabilized African mahogany with a brass face plate. The saya was cut from the same block as the handle. You can see how much darker the resin tints the wood. I used this one at work last week and had forgotten what a good cutter it was, and how well this AS held an edge.


----------



## gregfisk

Birds fan, you’ve really been busy since you started making handles. Really nice work. I still haven’t made a wa handle yet, but I’ll get to it one of these days.


----------



## birdsfan

Hah....that I have, Greg. I have a lot of knives. And once I put a handle and saya on 'em, I get too attached to sell them. When is the next Knife Anonymous meeting? "My name is Fred and I am powerless against the draw of new gyutos......Wait....Heiji western on BST?!? " Maybe I will make the next meeting...


----------



## Ericfg

birdsfan said:


> chatoyance


I just learned a new term! Very cool, thanks. Maple is great for that (and awesome figuring in general) but I've got a little Walnut heartwood that can duel with Maple on a good day.


----------



## birdsfan

Ericfg said:


> I've got a little Walnut heartwood that can duel with Maple on a good day.


Walnut is a beautiful wood as well. Nice to work with too! Havent done a handle in it yet, but I have done a number of sayas. Would love to see some stuff you've done with that heartwood!


----------



## Ericfg

birdsfan said:


> Walnut is a beautiful wood as well. Nice to work with too! Havent done a handle in it yet, but I have done a number of sayas. Would love to see some stuff you've done with that heartwood!


Here ya go mate.


----------



## birdsfan

NICE! Really beautiful grain features!


----------



## Ericfg

birdsfan said:


> NICE! Really beautiful grain features!


Thanks! It looks twice as good in hand when you roll it slightly; the different grains change shades as they move. Very chatoyancey.


----------



## birdsfan

Hah! Now i learned a new word! Chatoyancey!


----------



## captaincaed

birdsfan said:


> Just a couple of recent projects I have been tinkering with.....
> 
> Did a western wa for my TF Mab. The handle body is dyed and stabilized curly maple with a stainless steel spacer and horn ferule. The saya is also curly maple which was tnited with dyed resin and heat set. Wish the sun was out so you could really see the chatoyance. Curly maple is rapidly becoming one of my favorite woods!
> 
> View attachment 154225
> View attachment 154226
> View attachment 154227
> 
> 
> The Masakage Koishi got a similar shaped western wa. This one made from stabilized African mahogany with a brass face plate. The saya was cut from the same block as the handle. You can see how much darker the resin tints the wood. I used this one at work last week and had forgotten what a good cutter it was, and how well this AS held an edge.
> 
> View attachment 154228
> View attachment 154229
> View attachment 154230



Your work is getting ever more sophisticated. What a wonderful job.


----------



## gregfisk

Could you guys that are making wa handles tell me what size blank you start out with? I’m making a new mold for epoxy resin and I’m going to be experimenting with wood and epoxy layers. My current mold and my current wood layered handles that are made without a mold start out at 1”x1”x6”. That size won’t work for a wa handle or on a larger knife. Thanks. -Greg


----------



## birdsfan

Actually....for a standard octo wa, that is exactly the size I start with.


----------



## gregfisk

birdsfan said:


> Actually....for a standard octo wa, that is exactly the size I start with.



No kidding? Wow! I have always thought that I was starting with a smaller blank than what would be needed for a wa. Using that size blank for my Japanese style oval handles they end up fairly narrow in hand. My wife really likes the size but it’s a bit thin for me. Now that I think about it, making a wa requires a lot less material removal so I guess it makes sense. Well, before I make a new mold I’ll make my first wa handle and see how that goes. Thanks for the input, it’s much appreciated.


----------



## birdsfan

Pleasure to help a fellow handle enthusiast! Yup....a lot less stock removal. All I typically have to do is cut it to length for balance weight, grind down to the desired tapers and sand in the chamfers.


----------



## gregfisk

So, just realized that while I’ve participated in this thread admiring everyone’s work I’ve never actually posted any of mine. For some reason when this thread started, I thought it was only about wa handle making. Anyway, here are some of my handles that I’ve made in the last year.


----------



## gregfisk

Sorry for the duplicates, I was having trouble posting with my phone.

Fixed the duplication problem and changed up some of the pictures. I should add that I also made the knives and letter openers that are also shown in some of the pictures.

The epoxy resin handles look much better in real life. If anyone is interested the spacers are 1” aluminum mini blinds turned towards and away from each other to form the pattern and placed before the epoxy is poured into the mold.


----------



## Caleb Cox

A man who loves a spacer so much, they become the whole handle. Bravo.


----------



## gregfisk

So, having more time I went back and reposted the pictures to get rid of the duplicates. I had a heck of a time as they kept showing up twice. Then when I tried to delete the duplicates it would delete both of the pictures as if there was only one posted. Anyway, I know these are all similar in design, which is why I’m going to start working on wa handles and some other ideas I have floating around in my head.


----------



## enchappo

gregfisk said:


> So, just realized that while I’ve participated in this thread admiring everyone’s work I’ve never actually posted any of mine. For some reason when this thread started, I thought it was only about wa handle making. Anyway, here are some of my handles that I’ve made in the last year. View attachment 158149
> View attachment 158150
> View attachment 158151
> View attachment 158152
> View attachment 158153
> View attachment 158154
> View attachment 158155
> View attachment 158156


Some beautiful work there!


----------



## gregfisk

enchappo said:


> Some beautiful work there!



Thank you.


----------



## enchappo

This is my humble first attempt at a handle… Huon pine and ebony


----------



## gregfisk

Very nice, especially for your first one.


----------



## enchappo

gregfisk said:


> Very nice, especially for your first one.


Thank you!


----------



## birdsfan

I finished this ensemble the other day for my Heiji 270. I used cherry burl for the handle that I scored from @Chang and a disk of Aussie redgum generously provided by @cotedupy squeezed between 2 copper spacers with some g10. Despite the weight of the spacers, the balance point is still blade forward. I found a nice piece of reclaimed cherry for the saya. It has a lovely grain and streaks of color that nicely match the handle material inlay. The grain almost mimics a blade bevel...


----------



## tostadas

birdsfan said:


> I finished this ensemble the other day for my Heiji 270. I used cherry burl for the handle that I scored from @Chang and a disk of Aussie redgum generously provided by @cotedupy squeezed between 2 copper spacers with some g10. Despite the weight of the spacers, the balance point is still blade forward. I found a nice piece of reclaimed cherry for the saya. It has a lovely grain and streaks of color that nicely match the handle material inlay. The grain almost mimics a blade bevel...
> 
> View attachment 163284
> View attachment 163285
> View attachment 163286


I love that splash of wood going across the saya


----------



## birdsfan

Thanks Tostadas! I had a little handle wood left over and I have lately enjoyed making sayas that match my handles. It makes the knife look even more bada$$ when you pull it out of your bag.


----------



## enchappo

Latest handle: red mallee burl with mountain ash


----------



## birdsfan

I think I had posted a picture of my Myojin in another thread, so I apologize for the redundancy. That said, I just finished the matching saya, and I think this wood is really freaking cool looking, so it deserves a show off. The handle is myrtle burl, the saya is myrtle. It has some curl in it, and some awesome color variation. As is my habit, I put an inlay of the handle material so they would compliment each other better. (and when I get older I will know which saya goes with which knife)


----------



## KitchenCommander

Western handles apply to this thread?

Some low cost carbons that I did last week. 240 suji, 180 Misono Santoku with a spine reprofile, and a Forgecraft boning knife.

The Suji and Misono are in matching Koa wood un-stabilized that I brought back from a trip to Hawaii. The Forgecraft is Bocote. Couldn't help but cut something with the top two before I got photos, since I did a thinning and refinish on them and really wanted to see how they did on some food.


----------



## cotedupy

birdsfan said:


> I think I had posted a picture of my Myojin in another thread, so I apologize for the redundancy. That said, I just finished the matching saya, and I think this wood is really freaking cool looking, so it deserves a show off. The handle is myrtle burl, the saya is myrtle. It has some curl in it, and some awesome color variation. As is my habit, I put an inlay of the handle material so they would compliment each other better. (and when I get older I will know which saya goes with which knife)
> 
> View attachment 164668
> View attachment 164669
> View attachment 164670
> View attachment 164671




Wowsers mate... you are knocking it out the park - this is properly next level. I'm never going to catch up!


----------



## rocketman

The saya has some look of a spalted wood.. I have not dealt with myrtle, but you really made it look great!


----------



## birdsfan

Thank you mate! I have seen your work, and you are a true pro! I just have the benefit of a fully equipped workshop.

That myrtle does have a look of some spalting, Rocketman, or at least some sort of trauma which caused the wood to discolor. I wish I had a couple more slots of it!


----------



## Philip Yu

"Shattered" on a Tanaka x Kyuzo B2 240.


----------



## daddy yo yo

rocketman said:


> The saya has some look of a spalted wood.. I have not dealt with myrtle, but you really made it look great!


I have once had a handle made of myrtle. I bought that particular block from a former KKF-vendor (burlsource?), it was stabilized by K&G. It also showed some signs of spalting. When I bought and received the block it had a warm brown color. For whatever reason the color changed over the next months/years and it became greyish-brown. However, I really loved the wood!

Maybe you can find the finished handle, it was on a Raquin I sold here in BST…

EDIT: it was this Raquin:





SOLD - Bryan Raquin & Tilman Leder wa-gyutos


Hey there, I am wanting to sell 2 gems here. It is hard to let go, but life has been good, some new knives have come my way and I would like to pass these 2 on to a cosy place where these 2 are welcome. I am the original owner of both knives. Each knife has been used to cook 2 veggie meals for...




www.kitchenknifeforums.com


----------



## Carl Kotte

KitchenCommander said:


> Western handles apply to this thread?
> 
> Some low cost carbons that I did last week. 240 suji, 180 Misono Santoku with a spine reprofile, and a Forgecraft boning knife.
> 
> The Suji and Misono are in matching Koa wood un-stabilized that I brought back from a trip to Hawaii. The Forgecraft is Bocote. Couldn't help but cut something with the top two before I got photos, since I did a thinning and refinish on them and really wanted to see how they did on some food.


I love it! So


----------



## tostadas

My latest wa handle I made for a small knife. Figured maple, African blackwood, with a simple black g10 spacer.














Some photos of the process here:





Making a Wa Handle with Hand Tools... continued


This is my second attempt at a wa handle, this time trying to stick to a more traditional octo design. Similar to my previous handle, this one was also just using primarily hand tools (saw, drill, sandpaper on an atoma block, and various hand files). I decided to go with a cheap piece of maple...




www.kitchenknifeforums.com


----------



## birdsfan

OK.....not a knife, but a fairly interesting project. Did this spatula rehandle for a Philly homey. He will be grilling in style. This is ironwood with layers of thin black g10. The finger knurls were much more challenging to get straight and uniform than I thought they would be, but all's well that ends well...


----------



## MSicardCutlery

Various resins



















Ebony and lapis lazuli










Ebony and Serpentine













Maple burl, dyed/stabilized





Almost resembles a tiger's face, eh? I thought it was just me, but a lot of people seem to notice the resemblance.


----------



## MSicardCutlery

Plain ebony and copper, but I went for a stippled look on the pin faces and front of the spacer. 










Amboyna burl and lapis lazuli






Resin handles aren't for everyone, some find them a little loud, though I've noticed a stunning number of converts among people who have been entranced by them. To paraphrase that old grouch: "If you gaze long into a resin handle, the resin handle shall also gaze into you" 






Cherry on the left, toasted oak and ebony on the right










Stabilized amboyna burl




Glitter in clear resin exhibiting a holographic effect in low light







My crowning jewel, dyed maple burl with a facetted butt


----------



## Johan Grönstedt

I’ve been experimenting around with handle shapes as of late.

Originally I was really drawn in by the looks of a very sculptured handle, one that really lets your hand wrap it and locks you in.

I am still in love with that look. It screams custom. Luxury.

But the more I come to learn of knives, the more my design becomes impacted by performance.

Thus, over time I’ve come to gravitate towards cleaner lines and handles that leaves the user more open to options. This is one example.

I would by no means call this type of handle “simpler” to execute. Having fewer details leaves fewer places to hide imperfections. It increases the pressure on symetry, exactness and attention to detail. Personally, it entails more planning to execute.

I cannot explain how, but even an untrained eye can detect half-millimeter deviations when it comes to imperfections between parallel lines. I think we are evolved to spot pattern disruptions somehow and this is what makes this type of handle so challenging.

And, Even though it looks like just straight lines, there is only one straight line on the whole handle. Everything else is tapered in slight but important directions all along the handle. Both to make it look sleek and assertive but primarily to put the chef in the best possible position for the craft.

That’s the ultimate goal. Make a tool to amplify the feeling. Functional art. Provide tingles. Food love. ❤


----------



## gregfisk

I like that shape a lot!


----------



## Jaeger

That's an awesome looking handle 
Great work!


----------



## Jaeger

Walnut with Oregon maple burl.









Greets Fabian


----------



## Johan Grönstedt

Jaeger said:


> Walnut with Oregon maple burl.
> 
> View attachment 172004
> View attachment 172005
> 
> 
> Greets Fabian ✌


Cool inlay effect!!


----------



## captaincaed

birdsfan said:


> I think I had posted a picture of my Myojin in another thread, so I apologize for the redundancy. That said, I just finished the matching saya, and I think this wood is really freaking cool looking, so it deserves a show off. The handle is myrtle burl, the saya is myrtle. It has some curl in it, and some awesome color variation. As is my habit, I put an inlay of the handle material so they would compliment each other better. (and when I get older I will know which saya goes with which knife)
> 
> View attachment 164668
> View attachment 164669
> View attachment 164670
> View attachment 164671


Where did you find/how did you make the pin? I have some brass rod stock, but no way to really taper or add a grip…


----------



## birdsfan

The pins I have been using are actually metal 1/8" cribbage pins that I got on EBay. I like the way they look, and they are inexpensive, but since they are metal there is no "give" in them, and with a hardwood saya, they fall out a bit easier than I would like. They also protrude a bit further than I would like.


----------



## captaincaed

birdsfan said:


> The pins I have been using are actually metal 1/8" cribbage pins that I got on EBay. I like the way they look, and they are inexpensive, but since they are metal there is no "give" in them, and with a hardwood saya, they fall out a bit easier than I would like. They also protrude a bit further than I would like.


I thought I recognized that shape! I had the same thought about falling out. Honestly I'm thinking of a medium soft wood pin cut square so the corners bite into the round hole a bit better


----------



## OwlWoodworks

Jaeger said:


> Walnut with Oregon maple burl.
> 
> View attachment 172004
> View attachment 172005
> 
> 
> Greets Fabian ✌


This is really cool, never seen anything like it.


----------



## BillHanna

Showing off your latest cutting board won’t be looked down on either


----------



## OwlWoodworks

BillHanna said:


> Showing off your latest cutting board won’t be looked down on either


You’re probably right, I just hate those people that post their work and try to play it off as if they’re not just trying to advertise their stuff. I mean I’m not, but there’s so many people that do that, I don’t wanna be mistaken for those kind of people.

I just want this to be the degenerate knife collecting side of my personality.


----------



## tostadas

OwlWoodworks said:


> You’re probably right, I just hate those people that post their work and try to play it off as if they’re not just trying to advertise their stuff. I mean I’m not, but there’s so many people that do that, I don’t wanna be mistaken for those kind of people.
> 
> I just want this to be the degenerate knife collecting side of my personality.


Too late I've already judged you. So you might as well post your cool stuff for us all to see!


----------



## OwlWoodworks

tostadas said:


> Too late I've already judged you. So you might as well post your cool stuff for us all to see!


Hahaha, ok we’ll see


----------



## birdsfan

Speaking as a card-carrying degenerate knife collector, I wanna see cool cutting boards too! And I am quite sure that the OP of this thread would welcome the opportunity to see interesting or unique knife related hand craft of any kind. 

You know, there are quite a few members on here who do craft cutting boards. Enough that perhaps there may already be a board "show your work" thread.


----------



## captaincaed

Finished saya. Pretty happy with this on. Complete with lazy-man cribbage peg.


----------



## birdsfan

Nice work Cap! The saya has a real cool sleek shape to it!

When I got a notification that you replied to this thread....I was expecting a cool cutting board!


----------



## captaincaed

thanks Birds!

Well, I can throw this one up! Think I already posted somewhere... Meh, it's karma farming day I guess.


----------



## MSicardCutlery

Stabilized, oiled, and buffed purple heart. It's a nice wood, easy to work with too, and smells vaguely floral when you sand it.


----------



## M1k3

DISCLAIMER: NOT MY HANDY WORK



That said, after miscommunication with an inept coworker recently, I had to get a handle replaced...

A kind member here @Carl Kotte sent me a replacement. Came out really good! Looks much better in person.


----------



## deltaplex

Where'd the balance point come out after the install?


----------



## M1k3

deltaplex said:


> Where'd the balance point come out after the install?


Before:






After:


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

M1k3 said:


> DISCLAIMER: NOT MY HANDY WORK
> 
> 
> 
> That said, after miscommunication with an inept coworker recently, I had to get a handle replaced...
> 
> A kind member here @Carl Kotte sent me a replacement. Came out really good! Looks much better in person.
> View attachment 175554
> View attachment 175555



Very cool @Carl Kotte! Looks nice @M1k3. Glad it all worked out.


----------



## birdsfan

A couple of new projects...

I put new shoes and coat on a TF wa Denka. The handle and the saya are made from maple burl, though the handle wood was stabilized with Cactus Juice. This project was the first time I tried a diagonal spacer in a handle. Trying to drill the dowel hole in diagonal stock added an interesting challenge, but the belt sander can correct a multitude of sins.









The next project is a Y. Tanaka forged gyuto that I got from Miura knives last year. It came with a pretty run-of-the-mill ho-wood handle...but with a really cool streaked pale horn ferrule. I had to save that! So I cut off the ferrule and incorporated it into a new curly mango grip with brass and g-10 spacers. The saya is constructed from mango as well, into which a inlaid a couple of strips of brass wire. This is the second time I tried doing the brass inlay. The first time was into some very dark wood. The light wood of this project was not very forgiving.... Meh.....not my best work. But at least the handle came out perfect.













OK....so I can't take credit for this handle. It is the Takeshi Saji original on a blue#2 rainbow Damascus. I couldnt find any ironwood that matched the colors on this handle. Best match I could find at Woodcraft was black mesquite. I did wire inlays of both copper and brassm to pick up the colors in the mosaic pin. Dark wood is much easier to to those metal inlays in.


----------



## Caleb Cox

birdsfan said:


> the belt sander can correct a multitude of sins


Grind it so they can't find it! As opposed to the mechanic's "paint it black and put it back"


----------



## JayS20

@birdsfan Your work is great and getting even better. Lovely woods, interesting and still elegant ideas with small details and also quite like the shapes.
If I was from the US I would knock on your door


----------



## birdsfan

@JayS20 thank you for you kind compliment. This forum has been a great source of know-how and inspiration to try new things.


----------



## M1k3

DISCLAIMER AGAIN: NOT MY HANDY WORK

@ian also made a handle for me. Wenge, metal (stainless? ) spacer and.....birch bark?


----------



## ian

M1k3 said:


> DISCLAIMER AGAIN: NOT MY HANDY WORK
> 
> @ian also made a handle for me. Wenge, metal (stainless? ) spacer and.....birch bark? View attachment 178823
> View attachment 178824



Metal = stainless steel washers, idea credit @cotedupy
Lighter wood = black walnut


----------



## esoo

M1k3 said:


> DISCLAIMER AGAIN: NOT MY HANDY WORK
> 
> @ian also made a handle for me. Wenge, metal (stainless? ) spacer and.....birch bark? View attachment 178823
> View attachment 178824



Can it withstand lemongrass?


----------



## Get a Grip

I've been hesitant to post, so I'll let the wood do the talking. Tanaka and Ironwood.


----------



## deltaplex

What's the spacer material?


----------



## Get a Grip

deltaplex said:


> What's the spacer material?


ivory g10


----------



## tostadas

Stabilized koa, black g10 liners, and hidden brass pins on my Morihei TF. My first attempt at a western handle, so was kinda just trying to figure it out along the way. Next up, gotta clean up and refinish the blade itself.


----------



## birdsfan

Really awesome dude!


----------



## pleue

Finished masur Burch 1 piece on a Tanaka ginsan 165, at home on my bothers knife rack.


----------



## Boynutman

tostadas said:


> Stabilized koa, black g10 liners, and hidden brass pins on my Morihei TF. My first attempt at a western handle, so was kinda just trying to figure it out along the way. Next up, gotta clean up and refinish the blade itself.


Nice!! 
How did you get the wood so glossy? I am working with stabilized walnut and tung oil but it remains quite matt.


----------



## tostadas

Boynutman said:


> Nice!!
> How did you get the wood so glossy? I am working with stabilized walnut and tung oil but it remains quite matt.


Sanded the wood up to 2000 grit. Then realized it still had some open grain, despite it being stabilized by K&g. So filled the grain by sanding again with CA, then sanded back up to 2000 or 2500. Then 2 coats of hardwax oil. It's a "satin" finish but the sun was bright when I was taking photos.


----------



## Get a Grip

Black Palm, Elforyn, and Trustone.


----------



## cotedupy

Been a little while since I posted in this thread, so here's one I did recently that I rather like. When I make handles for other people they largely want very fancy things with multiple parts and resin fills and the like, and so it's rather nice to do something simple for one of my own knives. There's also a little experimentation / damage control / tip that others might find useful...

---

Last year my learned colleague @birdsfan sent me a box of goodies, including among other things were a Mazaki 210 Gyuto I bought from him a gift of a lot of very beautiful wood blanks he'd stabilized himself. A few of which were something I'd been leaning on him to try out, using grey dye in the stabilization. And I'd saved a piece of that for myself to do something nice with, I always forget what exactly what this wood is and have to ask again, but perhaps Cypress or Maple burl (?).

Either way - earlier this year I also got some horn rolls with some blonde and mottled pieces in there, I selected my favourite bit of that to pair with the wood for a simple two piece handle. Bottom 1/4 of the second roll here.








The handle came out beautifully, and I drilled it according to the tang of a 180mm Ishizuchi Tosa Gyuto I had, though I wanted to put it on something really special.

---

Now BF had made rather a good handle for the Mazaki, and knowing him to be a consummate professional unlike myself, I knew that he would have fitted it with hot glue, rather than epoxy. So if I wanted I could take it off with ease and put it on another of my knives, or put it back on the Maz if my new one didn't work out.

His handle is one of his earliest efforts, and though he may use fancier woods normally nowadays there are some rather clever and adept touches here I think. This is what we might call a 'tapered heart' shape; it's not the easiest thing in the world to do properly well as here, but it is pretty much the most comfortable style I know, this handle just melts into your hand. Note also the second metal spacer near the heel, put in to pull the balance point back to a pinch grip on the heavy and thick-spined Mazaki. It's the little details!












My new handle is a similar width and length, and it's actually a little heavier; BF's version clocked in at 54g vs 60g for the new one, which I assume is because his one may not have been made with stabilized wood (?). This is quite a good sign for me though, because my handle doesn't have that metal toward the heel, so in actual fact the balance point on the knife is going to be very similar.

---

My big problem however turns out to be the tang, which as you can imagine on a Maz Gyuto is considerably longer and thicker than the hole I'd drilled for the 180mm Tosa. And when I tried to re drill it I did this, twice...







Bollocks.

So, if you do something like that there are a few options: On something quite dark, such as this handle, just a clear epoxy fill will work quite well, but I wanted it properly invisible. You can use sandings from the same wood to colour it, but I don't have any more of this wood, and wood sandings don't colour epoxy particularly well or evenly. They work better with CA glue, but CA glue doesn't sand as well as epoxy. Mica powder I use a lot, it colours very well as it has a huge surface area / weight but I don't have any black mica and it's slightly shiny / iridescent, which I don't really want. However something else that also has a huge surface area to weight when properly crushed or powdered is charcoal. It's why they use it in water purification. So let's go out to the BBQ, and roll some dice...







Long story short: finely grated charcoal is a completely superb thing to colour epoxy with. You can make it anywhere from light grey through to jet black. And it means my little drilling f ups are now basically invisible:












I'm pretty happy with my balance point too:







BF's previous handle (which will be going onto one of my other knives) was certainly more technically accomplished, but there's something about a classic two-piece octagon which I think shows off some rather beautiful wood and horn quite nicely here. I'm pretty happy anyway, I think it's rather lovely. The slight downside being that it no longer matches the equally impressive saya he'd made for it, though I can live with that.

Rescued from (or rather _by_) the ashes:


----------



## daddy yo yo

This is just perfect. P-E-R-F-E-C-T.


----------



## cotedupy

One of the reasons I bothered typing all that process out is because this grated charcoal technique can be used to make an absolutely spot-on colour match for black horn, in case anybody ever wants to fill around a tang slot completely invisibly.

I picked up a very old razor recently where the old horn scales were somewhat f***ed, particularly at the ends. So I saved the middle bits, filled the holes that had been eaten by mites, and re-imagined them into a kamisori style handle. Slight problem being that if you're making scales into a fixed handle, then you've got a big gap, cos it's not a full tang:







But charcoal epoxy to the rescue again.







And the fill is near invisible.


----------



## cotedupy

daddy yo yo said:


> This is just perfect. P-E-R-F-E-C-T.



Ah cheers! I was really very happy with how the Maz came out, I think it looks absolutely great .


----------



## birdsfan

Freaking awesome fix! The repair is practically invisible on the cypress burl. I love the combination of the pale horn and the grey burl wood. Perhaps the desire for a matching cover will drive you to dabble in a bit in saya fabrication?


----------



## tostadas

Good stuff! That handle compliments the maz so well


----------



## Boynutman

New handle on my TF 210 Maboroshi. Stabilized walnut with brass pins. Tang shape unaltered but more voluminous handle and reworked (shortened and tapered) bolster.















edit: more typos.


----------



## Dr. T

This my new 195 TF Maboroshi with a handle I made from Cocobolo and maple. The wood I cross-cut out of a piece I had in Costa Rica. I made two handles like this. I'm not sure this handle goes with this blade. I'm working on a couple of other handles and may swap out. This is a temporary install.


----------



## birdsfan

Not a knife.....but still a fun project. A while back I blinged up a spat for a KKF homey. It came out so cool that I wanted to make one for myself. This one is dyed stabilized maple burl with a red g10 liner. Briefly, I considered a mosaic center pin.....but I thought that might be over the top.













Now I find myself thinking about what other kitchen tools I can hook up


----------



## Huntdad

Finished a few handles this weekend.


----------



## MowgFace

100% not the same as ANY of the handles in this thread, but a new one nonetheless.











Going Camping this weekend and planned on bringing my Project knife to work on in any free time.

It was wearing a “JNS 240” handle, or a 270 handle for those who aren’t familiar. Was a nice enough Ho handle so I didn’t want it to get all camped up.

Made out of a piece of Hardware store Kindling in about 20 minutes. Not too shabby.


----------



## Dr. T

I finished the other two handles that I am considering for the TF in my post four above. Cocobolo and maple; and Ron-Ron, African Blackwood spacer and desert ironwood. I think Ron-ron is a very under rated wood if for no other reason than the translation is Rum- Rum.





Since I'm here, I'll post some other handles.





Cocobolo and African blackwood





Cocobolo with maple on a Ron-Ron cutting board.




Closeup of the figure.




Left side.





Cocobolo on a Yoshikane 240. I also made the table out of cocobolo. There are better pictures somewhere. The other side is actually better. 
I made most of these with hand tools on my balcony or coffee table from information I got on this forum. I would like to express a deep sense of gratitude to the members who generously shared their knowledge. I've learned a lot. Thank you all.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Dr. T said:


> I finished the other two handles that I am considering for the TF in my post four above. Cocobolo and maple; and Ron-Ron, African Blackwood spacer and desert ironwood. I think Ron-ron is a very under rated wood if for no other reason than the translation is Rum- Rum.
> View attachment 188321
> 
> 
> Since I'm here, I'll post some other handles.
> 
> View attachment 188322
> 
> Cocobolo and African blackwood
> 
> View attachment 188325
> 
> Cocobolo with maple on a Ron-Ron cutting board.
> View attachment 188323
> 
> Closeup of the figure.
> View attachment 188326
> 
> Left side.
> 
> View attachment 188328
> 
> Cocobolo on a Yoshikane 240. I also made the table out of cocobolo. There are better pictures somewhere. The other side is actually better.
> I made most of these with hand tools on my balcony or coffee table from information I got on this forum. I would like to express a deep sense of gratitude to the members who generously shared their knowledge. I've learned a lot. Thank you all.



Outstanding!

Would you have any interest in starting your own thread talking about your tools, methods, lessons, etc? I understand if not but this is something I'm very interested in and would love to read your insights.


----------



## Dr. T

I would be happy to do that. I am leaving tomorrow for a five week trip to Europe so it would not be until September sometime, if you can wait. I mostly make **** up with the guidance that I found on this forum, but I do have some experience which comes with trial and error. i.e. mistakes. Probably what I can advise most on is finishing cocobolo. It is different. I saw a post that someone submitted on cocobolo that was pretty close to what I do about 6 months ago or so. If you are making your own handles, I can give you Ron-ron, cocobolo, and Ironwood. I don't think the ironwood I have is very pretty, but you are welcome to it. You pay shipping. I think I have one more really nice piece of cocobolo, and the Ron-ron is good.

For your amusement, here is a photo on my patio in Costa Rica while sanding down one of the handles. Suction vise on a glass table.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Dr. T said:


> I would be happy to do that. I am leaving tomorrow for a five week trip to Europe so it would not be until September sometime, if you can wait. I mostly make **** up with the guidance that I found on this forum, but I do have some experience which comes with trial and error. i.e. mistakes. Probably what I can advise most on is finishing cocobolo. It is different. I saw a post that someone submitted on cocobolo that was pretty close to what I do about 6 months ago or so. If you are making your own handles, I can give you Ron-ron, cocobolo, and Ironwood. I don't think the ironwood I have is very pretty, but you are welcome to it. You pay shipping. I think I have one more really nice piece of cocobolo, and the Ron-ron is good.
> 
> For your amusement, here is a photo on my patio in Costa Rica while sanding down one of the handles. Suction vise on a glass table.View attachment 188364



Very generous but I'm not anywhere near ready yet. I'll slowly start picking up tools and contemplating.

And I can very much wait for your thread until your return. Have a safe trip!


----------



## Tim Rowland

I know I've been MIA for a while. 
Here is a recent rehandle.


----------



## WilliamDallas

Wow I never knew such a variety of beautiful handles even existed! Definitely some inspiration going on here.


----------



## Get a Grip

Some curly Narra and Tanaka action.


----------



## tostadas

Stabilized tasmanian blackwood and bog oak with black g10 spacer for my modified Matsubara ginsan cleaver.


























More of the cleaver info here





Been a while since we had a Cleaver chat.


I was thinking more of their American retailer. Not sure about JKI's sales number but Jon seems to be doing fine, they sell other knives too.




www.kitchenknifeforums.com


----------



## birdsfan

I finally got around to doing some western style handles that I have been putting off. 

For the Misono dragon 240, I used stabilized maple burl. This particular block had some spalting in it which tended to darken the color a tad. looks almost like granite with a glossy finish on it. As is my wont, I inlaid a piece of the handle wood into the highly figured walnut that I used to make the saya. By the way, that gorgeous blue patina on the blade is real, it isnt a reflection of the flowers.













I have been procrastinating on this Takamura R-2 for a while. This has one of those half tangs that presented some real creative challenges, as you have to cut a very thin slot in the block, then drill the holes for corby bolts with such tight tolerances that you leave no play, which would be visible in the butt end of the handle. Came out pretty well though. I used stabilized pyinma burl for both the handle and the saya, since it is a fairly light wood, i figured it would keep the knife from being annoyingly handle heavy.

















Lastly, my little Kazan Hap40 150 petty, in stabilized curly maple, and a saya in similar curls.


----------



## tostadas

birdsfan said:


> I finally got around to doing some western style handles that I have been putting off.
> 
> For the Misono dragon 240, I used stabilized maple burl. This particular block had some spalting in it which tended to darken the color a tad. looks almost like granite with a glossy finish on it. As is my wont, I inlaid a piece of the handle wood into the highly figured walnut that I used to make the saya. By the way, that gorgeous blue patina on the blade is real, it isnt a reflection of the flowers.
> 
> View attachment 191310
> View attachment 191311
> View attachment 191312
> 
> 
> 
> I have been procrastinating on this Takamura R-2 for a while. This has one of those half tangs that presented some real creative challenges, as you have to cut a very thin slot in the block, then drill the holes for corby bolts with such tight tolerances that you leave no play, which would be visible in the butt end of the handle. Came out pretty well though. I used stabilized pyinma burl for both the handle and the saya, since it is a fairly light wood, i figured it would keep the knife from being annoyingly handle heavy.
> 
> 
> View attachment 191313
> View attachment 191314
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 191315
> 
> 
> 
> Lastly, my little Kazan Hap40 150 petty, in stabilized curly maple, and a saya in similar curls.
> 
> View attachment 191316
> View attachment 191317


Your dragon with maple burl looks fantastic!


----------



## birdsfan

tostadas said:


> Your dragon with maple burl looks fantastic!


Thanks Tostadas! That particular chunk of burl wood had a lot going on! Your cleaver handle projects are gorgeous as well!


----------



## tostadas

The second of my two cleaver handles just installed today to sweeten up this Takeda. 
Stabilized maple burls w/ g10 spacer.


----------



## birdsfan

Gorgeous dude!


----------



## brimmergj

My first handle build. More work than I thought it was going to be, but came out much better than I thought it would.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

brimmergj said:


> My first handle build. More work than I thought it was going to be, but came out much better than I thought it would.



Good for you dude! Nice job.


----------



## brimmergj

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Good for you dude! Nice job.


Thank you. Quite a fun process. My wife got jealous and now has me making her a "fancy" handle


----------



## Wabisabi-Ken

Thought I may as well jump in on this thread! 

Left one is the first attempt at handle making, middle second and right is my third. Quite happy with the progress, getting better each time. Drilling by hand and using an upside down belt sander is far from ideal but hey the results are worth it 






I gave a water based matte polyurethane coating a go since I didn't want a super shiny plasticky looking finish. I've seen people say it's not great because it can deteriorate over time with water or something like that but I don't drench my handles anyway. Quick wipe off and done. Wish I had space for a drill press though, life would be much easier!


----------



## deltaplex

Here's my first handle/re-handle: It's a piece of pallet scrap (two tone oak, IMO) with a black walnut spacer. It's an attempt at the heart without the divot on top style, or however that's referred to. I learned a ton in making this (I've already got my second handle mounted and getting tung oil applied) and I'm very happy with how it turned out. It's on an ~145mm nakiri, and it's mounted to the blade using beeswax. I'd love to hear feedback on what people think, and pointers on areas that can be improved upon; thanks.


----------



## Caleb Cox

deltaplex said:


> Here's my first handle/re-handle: It's a piece of pallet scrap (two tone oak, IMO) with a black walnut spacer. It's an attempt at the heart without the divot on top style, or however that's referred to. I learned a ton in making this (I've already got my second handle mounted and getting tung oil applied) and I'm very happy with how it turned out. It's on an ~145mm nakiri, and it's mounted to the blade using beeswax. I'd love to hear feedback on what people think, and pointers on areas that can be improved upon; thanks.
> 
> View attachment 197920
> View attachment 197921
> View attachment 197922
> View attachment 197923
> View attachment 197924
> View attachment 197925
> View attachment 197926


Looks great! Might be a little nicer in the hand for a pinch grip if you shaped the top a bit, or just round corners off until they don't feel like pressure points.


----------



## tostadas

deltaplex said:


> Here's my first handle/re-handle: It's a piece of pallet scrap (two tone oak, IMO) with a black walnut spacer. It's an attempt at the heart without the divot on top style, or however that's referred to. I learned a ton in making this (I've already got my second handle mounted and getting tung oil applied) and I'm very happy with how it turned out. It's on an ~145mm nakiri, and it's mounted to the blade using beeswax. I'd love to hear feedback on what people think, and pointers on areas that can be improved upon; thanks.
> 
> View attachment 197920
> View attachment 197921
> View attachment 197922
> View attachment 197923
> View attachment 197924
> View attachment 197925
> View attachment 197926


Looks really good! Since it's custom to you, you can just sand down to adjust any individual areas to fine tune the fit. From a purely aesthetic perspective, I like to introduce some taper of the height/width from the back to the front. My front dimensions are roughly 2mm smaller in each direction compared to the back.


----------



## ethompson

Looks super comfy for a nakiri! I love the half octagons for that application. Install is much tighter than I got my first many installs too. I’m a big fan of hot melt glue over beeswax though


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

deltaplex said:


> Here's my first handle/re-handle: It's a piece of pallet scrap (two tone oak, IMO) with a black walnut spacer. It's an attempt at the heart without the divot on top style, or however that's referred to. I learned a ton in making this (I've already got my second handle mounted and getting tung oil applied) and I'm very happy with how it turned out. It's on an ~145mm nakiri, and it's mounted to the blade using beeswax. I'd love to hear feedback on what people think, and pointers on areas that can be improved upon; thanks.



The inspiration flows!


----------



## deltaplex

ethompson said:


> Looks super comfy for a nakiri! I love the half octagons for that application. Install is much tighter than I got my first many installs too. I’m a big fan of hot melt glue over beeswax though


I'll regularly be using hot melt, but since we keep bees, and this was for my wife, who's also the main beekeeper, I used beeswax.


----------



## ethompson

deltaplex said:


> I'll regularly be using hot melt, but since we keep bees, and this was for my wife, who's also the main beekeeper, I used beeswax.


Disregard my earlier statement. Use your own beeswax. That’s badass.


----------



## Huntdad

A few just completed. Still learning....


----------



## deltaplex

Handle #2 complete: hunk of dead maple stump processed from my back property, I could just stare at the figuring on this for far too long. Shape looks a little strange but feels really good in hand on this knife, I'm excited to get better than a low grit belt finish done on the blade this weekend.


----------



## Wabisabi-Ken

knocked these out today, just worried about how soft/light the wood is.. really wish I had the gear to stabilise wood. Maybe I'll do more looking into any quick n dirty methods. Love the look though! Just need to do finishing touches


----------



## cotedupy

Wabisabi-Ken said:


> knocked these out today, just worried about how soft/light the wood is.. really wish I had the gear to stabilise wood. Maybe I'll do more looking into any quick n dirty methods. Love the look though! Just need to do finishing touchesView attachment 199716
> 
> View attachment 199717
> View attachment 199715
> View attachment 199718




Stunning wood. Love them!

I wouldn't worry too much about stabilizing as long as you can get balance. Just finish with a drying oil like Tung &c. and you'll get some waterproofing-ing.


----------



## Wabisabi-Ken

cotedupy said:


> Stunning wood. Love them!
> 
> I wouldn't worry too much about stabilizing as long as you can get balance. Just finish with a drying oil like Tung &c. and you'll get some waterproofing-ing.


Tung & c? Im not too familiar with oils, so far I've heard a lot about try oil. But I'm keen on trying oils out, I just don't want anything that will colour the wood. I like how light the colour is on whiter woods so for previous handles I've been using a water based polyurethane. It does the job but I'm not sold on its durability!


----------



## cotedupy

Wabisabi-Ken said:


> Tung & c? Im not too familiar with oils, so far I've heard a lot about try oil. But I'm keen on trying oils out, I just don't want anything that will colour the wood. I like how light the colour is on whiter woods so for previous handles I've been using a water based polyurethane. It does the job but I'm not sold on its durability!



Tung Oil. It's a drying oil, so sets and finishes in a way that mineral oil for instance doesn't. Also - Tung doesn't affect the colour. Something like Boiled Linseed Oil is also drying, but it makes wood darker.

Something called 'Hardwax Oil' is also worth looking out for. I use it a lot on softer woods especially.


----------



## deltaplex

I second what @cotedupy says, I don't particularly care for stabilized woods and I use tung oil to finish all of my handles, both made by me and others. I've got one I just finished rough shaping on that, I'll have pics of in about a week, that will show how a softer lighter wood (like those you've made there) looks pre and post tung.


----------



## rocketman

I have stabilized lots of spalted wood, and frequently the starting weight of a blank is around 50 grams-- finished weight 150 grams..
Looks the same, the only change is the density. Of course you can use dye to change the colors too if you want.
This is a big learning curve. So think about having someone do it for you , as the cost, and time , unless you intend to do a lot is 
hardly worth it.


----------



## rocketman

Off this subject, but I can not find a place to ask the question: I tried to look at a contemporary thread, and the site says I do not have permission to view this
page... What is going on?? What do I need to do?? There were three posts yesterday...


----------



## Wabisabi-Ken

rocketman said:


> I have stabilized lots of spalted wood, and frequently the starting weight of a blank is around 50 grams-- finished weight 150 grams..
> Looks the same, the only change is the density. Of course you can use dye to change the colors too if you want.
> This is a big learning curve. So think about having someone do it for you , as the cost, and time , unless you intend to do a lot is
> hardly worth it.


That sounds ideal, the handles are too light at the moment! I get the feeling it'll be a pain to try and find someone to stabilise wood for me here in Japan.. oh well, I wonder how much weight using tung oil would add


----------



## tostadas

Wabisabi-Ken said:


> That sounds ideal, the handles are too light at the moment! I get the feeling it'll be a pain to try and find someone to stabilise wood for me here in Japan.. oh well, I wonder how much weight using tung oil would add


Minimal weight added with oil. Probably no more than 5g.


----------



## Wabisabi-Ken

tostadas said:


> Minimal weight added with oil. Probably no more than 5g.


Haha damn!


----------



## Justinv

Wabisabi-Ken said:


> I just don't want anything that will colour the wood. I like how light the colour is on whiter woods so for previous handles I've been using a water based polyurethane. It does the job but I'm not sold on its durability!



I recently used a product called Loba Invisible that is an ultra matte waterborne 2-part finish intended to leave wood looking unfinished (like raw wood). Its $$$$ due to having to buy a gallon. I used it on a table and was blown away by it. Its self leveling is beyond any water based finish I’ve tried. Its super durable since it is a 2-part finish.


----------



## rocketman

Wasabi-ken..
Go to the web site Cactus Juice Stabilizing Resin, Chambers, and Accessories , the guy there is Curtis, he invented the stabilizing business, and his customer service is amazing. If I were you, I would ask him if he has anyone in Japan who he sells to, and who might be interested in doing your spalted wood.
If anyone will know, it is him...That way you can have it done locally... I have done a ton of spalted wood, and whoever you get to do the job must know that the process will have to be run twice or more, as the fungus which creates the spalting also opens the porosity in the wood, and the surface tension of the stabilizing liquid is not enough to fill the enlarged pores with one treatment... Has to be done twice.. 
A good result with your wood will make it much more durable, but will not change the appearance.


----------



## Wabisabi-Ken

rocketman said:


> Wasabi-ken..
> Go to the web site Cactus Juice Stabilizing Resin, Chambers, and Accessories , the guy there is Curtis, he invented the stabilizing business, and his customer service is amazing. If I were you, I would ask him if he has anyone in Japan who he sells to, and who might be interested in doing your spalted wood.
> If anyone will know, it is him...That way you can have it done locally... I have done a ton of spalted wood, and whoever you get to do the job must know that the process will have to be run twice or more, as the fungus which creates the spalting also opens the porosity in the wood, and the surface tension of the stabilizing liquid is not enough to fill the enlarged pores with one treatment... Has to be done twice..
> A good result with your wood will make it much more durable, but will not change the appearance.


That's a damn good pointer! I'll hit him up, worth a try. I hear you with the spalted wood part, I can tell that the wood really has deteriorated quite a lot. It's so light and soft.


----------



## deltaplex

Wabisabi-Ken said:


> Tung & c? Im not too familiar with oils, so far I've heard a lot about try oil. But I'm keen on trying oils out, I just don't want anything that will colour the wood. I like how light the colour is on whiter woods so for previous handles I've been using a water based polyurethane. It does the job but I'm not sold on its durability!



So it took slightly longer than usual because I had to travel for work last week, but here's how some birch looks before and after a few rounds of applying tung oil and letting it soak in:


----------



## deltaplex

Handle #3: Started out as something very different, but then I started chasing some checking at the back that went further than I expected and I also couldn't correct out some of the unevenness in the facets I was cutting on the sander, so it's my first shinogi/D-shaped handle. A section of red oak branch from a lighting strike tree, I filled the checking near the front with CA, and I used beeswax to affix it to the tang. Again, as always, feedback is very welcome on pretty much every aspect, I'm trying to improve with each handle (on this one I really feel like I was able to refine in my single piece tang slot formation).


----------



## Get a Grip

Amboyna/Anryu


----------



## BaqoXIV

Turkish walnut


----------



## tostadas

My first mono handle. Stabilized maple burl.


----------



## birdsfan

Looks awesome, Brother! Excellent work with the tang slot!


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

@tostadas outstanding. Great work!


----------



## tostadas

birdsfan said:


> Looks awesome, Brother! Excellent work with the tang slot!


Actually interesting that you mention that. This piece was originally intended for one of my cleavers with a fat tang, so I sized the hole pretty big. But my brother really liked the wood so I changed course and built the handle for a smaller gyuto instead. The hole was way too big (it would work just fine for install but too ugly to me). So I used a bunch of sawdust I collected from sanding it, and mixed with epoxy til it was almost like a cookie dough and filled the hole to a depth of maybe half inch or more. then reshape to the new tang and sand. It feels really solid so not worried about durability of the mod. And the color matches, so I was pretty happy with it.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

tostadas said:


> View attachment 205597



This picture is worth that handle's weight in gold! Thank you for tossing it up.


----------



## ch_br

@tostadas very nice work man!

The sterility of the latex gloves really puts the OCD touch on the craftsmanship.

As we were discussing, the delivery address for my holiday present is ...


----------



## tostadas

ch_br said:


> @tostadas very nice work man!
> 
> The sterility of the latex gloves really puts the OCD touch on the craftsmanship.
> 
> As we were discussing, the delivery address for my holiday present is ...


Hehe, the gloves were because the coating is still technically curing so I didn't want to get my dirty hands all over it til it's good.


----------



## JayS20

@tostadas Looks great on the Kaeru. Where did you get the wood from?


----------



## tostadas

JayS20 said:


> @tostadas Looks great on the Kaeru. Where did you get the wood from?


I'm pretty sure it was from someone off Instagram. Quality of pieces off IG can vary, but this particular one was very good.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

No. I didn't make a mistake. It's wabi sabi and that'll be two hundreds bucks!






 

Well, here it is. My first handle. Mistakes were made. Lessons were learned. I'd managed to overcome all the little glitches - a touch off center here, a bit out of square there and so on and everything was going pretty okay. And then there was a power sander incident while attempting to chamfer the corners. 

So I went for the lemonade from lemons approach. What is it they say? Rustic. That's it.
















I was thinking about tossing it into the test pile but the wife was having none of it. She loved it and insisted I install it. She said it is the most comfortable handle of any of the knives in the kitchen and she might even try the "giant" knife if it was on there.

Who am I to argue? 

So, it's all glued up on a 210 Munetoshi. I gotta say, it is pretty darned comfy.

Black walnut and cherry wood.

Thanks again everyone for all the encouragement!

I think I'll try another.


----------



## M1k3

HumbleHomeCook said:


> No. I didn't make a mistake. It's wabi sabi and that'll be two hundreds bucks!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, here it is. My first handle. Mistakes were made. Lessons were learned. I'd managed to overcome all the little glitches - a touch off center here, a bit out of square there and so on and everything was going pretty okay. And then there was a power sander incident while attempting to chamfer toe corners.
> 
> So I went for the lemonade from lemons approach. What is it they say? Rustic. That's it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was thinking about tossing it into the test pile but the wife was having none of it. She loved it and insisted I install it. She said it is the most comfortable handle of any of the knives in the kitchen and she might even try the "giant" knife if it was on there.
> 
> Who am I to argue?
> 
> So, it's all glued up on a 210 Munetoshi. I gotta say, it is pretty darned comfy.
> 
> Black walnut and cherry wood.
> 
> Thanks again everyone for all the encouragement!
> 
> I think I'll try another.


Looks great! I'd rock it on a knife!


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## tostadas

HumbleHomeCook said:


> No. I didn't make a mistake. It's wabi sabi and that'll be two hundreds bucks!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, here it is. My first handle. Mistakes were made. Lessons were learned. I'd managed to overcome all the little glitches - a touch off center here, a bit out of square there and so on and everything was going pretty okay. And then there was a power sander incident while attempting to chamfer toe corners.
> 
> So I went for the lemonade from lemons approach. What is it they say? Rustic. That's it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was thinking about tossing it into the test pile but the wife was having none of it. She loved it and insisted I install it. She said it is the most comfortable handle of any of the knives in the kitchen and she might even try the "giant" knife if it was on there.
> 
> Who am I to argue?
> 
> So, it's all glued up on a 210 Munetoshi. I gotta say, it is pretty darned comfy.
> 
> Black walnut and cherry wood.
> 
> Thanks again everyone for all the encouragement!
> 
> I think I'll try another.


Far from rustic. I think it's beautiful.

Symmetric doesn't necessarily mean most comfortable. Personally I also think that if the handle is twisted just a few degrees off center, counterclockwise, it fits better for my hand (right handed). Unfortunately it bothers me to photograph so I usually just suck it up and install it straight instead.


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## HumbleHomeCook

@M1k3 and @tostadas thank you both so much.

That really does mean a lot. I was very nervous.


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## birdsfan

Excellent work HHC! That style handle is indeed very comfortable to use. You and your wife will both enjoy the upgrade, both from the way it feels to grip, and because it is beautiful!


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## ch_br

HumbleHomeCook said:


> No. I didn't make a mistake. It's wabi sabi and that'll be two hundreds bucks!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, here it is. My first handle. Mistakes were made. Lessons were learned. I'd managed to overcome all the little glitches - a touch off center here, a bit out of square there and so on and everything was going pretty okay. And then there was a power sander incident while attempting to chamfer the corners.
> 
> So I went for the lemonade from lemons approach. What is it they say? Rustic. That's it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was thinking about tossing it into the test pile but the wife was having none of it. She loved it and insisted I install it. She said it is the most comfortable handle of any of the knives in the kitchen and she might even try the "giant" knife if it was on there.
> 
> Who am I to argue?
> 
> So, it's all glued up on a 210 Munetoshi. I gotta say, it is pretty darned comfy.
> 
> Black walnut and cherry wood.
> 
> Thanks again everyone for all the encouragement!
> 
> I think I'll try another.




Looks great man!


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## HumbleHomeCook

@birdsfan and @ch_br thank you.


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## deltaplex

HumbleHomeCook said:


> No. I didn't make a mistake. It's wabi sabi and that'll be two hundreds bucks!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, here it is. My first handle. Mistakes were made. Lessons were learned. I'd managed to overcome all the little glitches - a touch off center here, a bit out of square there and so on and everything was going pretty okay. And then there was a power sander incident while attempting to chamfer the corners.
> 
> So I went for the lemonade from lemons approach. What is it they say? Rustic. That's it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was thinking about tossing it into the test pile but the wife was having none of it. She loved it and insisted I install it. She said it is the most comfortable handle of any of the knives in the kitchen and she might even try the "giant" knife if it was on there.
> 
> Who am I to argue?
> 
> So, it's all glued up on a 210 Munetoshi. I gotta say, it is pretty darned comfy.
> 
> Black walnut and cherry wood.
> 
> Thanks again everyone for all the encouragement!
> 
> I think I'll try another.


I'm ridiculously hard on my own work so I understand the general feeling of "It didn't turn out how I planned, so that's bad" but I think that handle is great and I hope you keep at it (because it's very satisfying, IMO).


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## HumbleHomeCook

Thank you @deltaplex.


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## Dhoff

HumbleHomeCook said:


> No. I didn't make a mistake. It's wabi sabi and that'll be two hundreds bucks!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, here it is. My first handle. Mistakes were made. Lessons were learned. I'd managed to overcome all the little glitches - a touch off center here, a bit out of square there and so on and everything was going pretty okay. And then there was a power sander incident while attempting to chamfer the corners.
> 
> So I went for the lemonade from lemons approach. What is it they say? Rustic. That's it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was thinking about tossing it into the test pile but the wife was having none of it. She loved it and insisted I install it. She said it is the most comfortable handle of any of the knives in the kitchen and she might even try the "giant" knife if it was on there.
> 
> Who am I to argue?
> 
> So, it's all glued up on a 210 Munetoshi. I gotta say, it is pretty darned comfy.
> 
> Black walnut and cherry wood.
> 
> Thanks again everyone for all the encouragement!
> 
> I think I'll try another.



It looks so comfortable Id love it for some of my own knives!


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## HumbleHomeCook

Dhoff said:


> It looks so comfortable Id love it for some of my own knives!



Thank you.


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## HumbleHomeCook

Okay, this one turned out much better.



Pay no never mind to the blade, it's a work in progress but I was excited to see the handle mounted.


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## tostadas

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Okay, this one turned out much better.
> 
> 
> 
> Pay no never mind to the blade, it's a work in progress but I was excited to see the handle mounted.



Wow really nice!


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## deltaplex

Handle number 4: A portion of a lightning strike oak shaped into a half octagonal, capped with a piece of deer antler. I filled the branch section on the bottom with CA, sanded it to 400 grit, and then finished with tung oil.


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## tostadas

My take on a burnt oak


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## HumbleHomeCook

tostadas said:


> My take on a burnt oakView attachment 209274
> View attachment 209275




Great symmetry.


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## tostadas

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Great symmetry.


Thanks! I figured out a better way to mark off the blank prior to shaping that both sped up the process and increased consistency of measurements. Mainly due to my lack of good tools for measuring and squaring things up. Essentially created one flat plane on the block and using a pencil and popsicle stick as sorta like a ghetto scribe, was able to lay out the handle shape. 

... Then after torching the handle, suddenly getting it precise to the 0.5mm doesn't even matter anymore.


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## deltaplex

tostadas said:


> My take on a burnt oakView attachment 209274
> View attachment 209275



Is it oiled after burning, or is the char the "environmental protection"?


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## tostadas

deltaplex said:


> Is it oiled after burning, or is the char the "environmental protection"?


I apply hardwax oil after burning. This handle has 1 coat already, but I still need to apply 1 more tomorrow. I find it helps greatly with water resistance without taking away from the natural wood texture.


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## Dc2123

birdsfan said:


> Not a knife.....but still a fun project. A while back I blinged up a spat for a KKF homey. It came out so cool that I wanted to make one for myself. This one is dyed stabilized maple burl with a red g10 liner. Briefly, I considered a mosaic center pin.....but I thought that might be over the top.
> 
> 
> View attachment 186136
> View attachment 186137
> View attachment 186138
> 
> 
> Now I find myself thinking about what other kitchen tools I can hook up


Where’s the matching saya ^_^

All cooks love a good spoon.. & spooning.
That’s the market.


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## HumbleHomeCook

Watanabe Pro 180.

Made another oval handle. Tall and thin. They really are quite comfortable. Not sure how I feel about this one though so it's just temp mounted while I ponder.


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## tostadas

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Watanabe Pro 180.
> 
> Made another oval handle. Tall and thin. They really are quite comfortable. Not sure how I feel about this one though so it's just temp mounted while I ponder.


Nice one! What are the dimensions?


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## HumbleHomeCook

tostadas said:


> Nice one! What are the dimensions?



Thank you.

~25mm down to 23mm and 19 down to 17.

I guess "tall" is relative in this case. Felt taller but still nice.


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## tostadas

tostadas said:


> My take on a burnt oak


Handle dry fit onto its new home, Wakui 240. Fits like a glove.


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## 1315

So has anyone torched walnut burl, or have a scrap they could light up? I'm curious what the final would look like?


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## jedy617

Why would you torch something as beautiful as walnut burl? At least take something without figure.


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## 1315

To each their own i guess. Straight walnut, no problem, but this particular handle reminds me of grandmas
China cabinet, and clashes with the blade. Gotta do something about it, short of changing the handle. I envision a deep brown-ish with black gloss accents, but I don't know.


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## tostadas

1315 said:


> To each their own i guess. Straight walnut, no problem, but this particular handle reminds me of grandmas
> China cabinet, and clashes with the blade. Gotta do something about it, short of changing the handle.


I think it will depend on your particular piece of burl, since by nature it's irregular. If there are soft spots, as are typical in burl wood, those would likely burn faster. Stuff like knots tend to burn slower. Walnut doesn't tend to have the same kind of pronounced grain after burning as say, chestnut or oak. So best case, you could end up with a darker piece, maybe some contrast in the grain, but I wouldn't expect texture to change all that much. Worst case, you might end up with holes in the handle where the softer wood is.

If you don't like the handle anyways, I say do it for science and let us know.


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## brimmergj

New handle for the Wife's Kyohei. She wanted bright and pink. I'd say, mission was a success.


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## birdsfan

I got this knife from @Andrei Markin a while back. He was kind enough to send it out handleless, at my request. His handle work is stellar, so I was determined to equip it with an outfit that is worthy of the blade he created for me. I finished this ages ago and have been using it at work. Just had it out to whip up some food for lunch and realized that I had never taken any pictures of it, so I snapped a few.

The handle is cypress burl, with a brass faceplate and white/red g10 spacers. I picked up the same theme in the saya......


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## deltaplex

birdsfan said:


> I got this knife from @Andrei Markin a while back. He was kind enough to send it out handleless, at my request. His handle work is stellar, so I was determined to equip it with an outfit that is worthy of the blade he created for me. I finished this ages ago and have been using it at work. Just had it out to whip up some food for lunch and realized that I had never taken any pictures of it, so I snapped a few.
> 
> The handle is cypress burl, with a brass faceplate and white/red g10 spacers. I picked up the same theme in the saya......
> 
> View attachment 218353
> View attachment 218354


Looks great! Are the handle and saya all from the same piece of burl?


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## birdsfan

They are! Though I stabilized the piece that the handle is made from, hence the color difference.


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## tostadas

birdsfan said:


> I got this knife from @Andrei Markin a while back. He was kind enough to send it out handleless, at my request. His handle work is stellar, so I was determined to equip it with an outfit that is worthy of the blade he created for me. I finished this ages ago and have been using it at work. Just had it out to whip up some food for lunch and realized that I had never taken any pictures of it, so I snapped a few.
> 
> The handle is cypress burl, with a brass faceplate and white/red g10 spacers. I picked up the same theme in the saya......
> 
> View attachment 218353
> View attachment 218354


That slight belly in the handle looks really comfy. I also like the detail in matching the angles of the spacer things in the handle and saya.


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## HumbleHomeCook

birdsfan said:


> I got this knife from @Andrei Markin a while back. He was kind enough to send it out handleless, at my request. His handle work is stellar, so I was determined to equip it with an outfit that is worthy of the blade he created for me. I finished this ages ago and have been using it at work. Just had it out to whip up some food for lunch and realized that I had never taken any pictures of it, so I snapped a few.
> 
> The handle is cypress burl, with a brass faceplate and white/red g10 spacers. I picked up the same theme in the saya......
> 
> View attachment 218353
> View attachment 218354



Gorgeous!


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## birdsfan

Thanks friends! The one detail that I couldnt get a good pic of was the face plate. I hammered the revealed side, then polished it, so it has a dimpled look to it. I first saw that look on the first Spare MCX release, and really liked it compared to just a plain polished look. I will try to get some pictures that are in focus...


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## MSicardCutlery

birdsfan said:


> Thanks friends! The one detail that I couldnt get a good pic of was the face plate. I hammered the revealed side, then polished it, so it has a dimpled look to it. I first saw that look on the first Spare MCX release, and really liked it compared to just a plain polished look. I will try to get some pictures that are in focus...


The dimpling makes it much easier to get a tight fit too, it peens things around. 









Great work as always @birdsfan !


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## birdsfan

Thanks Matt! I just used the back of a balpeen hammer to do mine. Yours are much closer and fuller, if that makes sense. What did you use to texture yours?


----------



## MSicardCutlery

birdsfan said:


> Thanks Matt! I just used the back of a balpeen hammer to do mine. Yours are much closer and fuller, if that makes sense. What did you use to texture yours?


A radiused piece of 2.5mm HSS in a GraverSmith. Could do the same by hand, but it goes a lot faster at 3500 strokes/min


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## enchappo

birdsfan said:


> I got this knife from @Andrei Markin a while back. He was kind enough to send it out handleless, at my request. His handle work is stellar, so I was determined to equip it with an outfit that is worthy of the blade he created for me. I finished this ages ago and have been using it at work. Just had it out to whip up some food for lunch and realized that I had never taken any pictures of it, so I snapped a few.
> 
> The handle is cypress burl, with a brass faceplate and white/red g10 spacers. I picked up the same theme in the saya......
> 
> View attachment 218353
> View attachment 218354


Really lovely


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## Andrei

birdsfan said:


> I got this knife from @Andrei Markin a while back. He was kind enough to send it out handleless, at my request. His handle work is stellar, so I was determined to equip it with an outfit that is worthy of the blade he created for me. I finished this ages ago and have been using it at work. Just had it out to whip up some food for lunch and realized that I had never taken any pictures of it, so I snapped a few.
> 
> The handle is cypress burl, with a brass faceplate and white/red g10 spacers. I picked up the same theme in the saya......
> 
> View attachment 218353
> View attachment 218354



Just a chic set turned out . Even from the photo you can see that the handle is ergonomic and comfortable, because it does not have sharp edges and a hook at the end of the handle.
Thank you, it's nice to see such work.


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## birdsfan

Thank you Andrey! The knife is a pleasure to use! Great grind with a nice taper and a profile that suits my cutting style very nicely. It cuts very smoothly yet feels sturdy enough that I don't have to baby it. Lovely work!


----------

