# Misono hidden tang conversion



## Danzo (Jan 22, 2018)

Heres some progress Ive made on this knife this afternoon. Ran out of daylight but more to come during the week I hope. And thanks to Dave Martell for his awesome step by steps on his blog.






Heres the end chopped off.





And the sides of the tang shaped up

I got my piece of wood sized up, hopefully drill and glue up tomorrow.


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## Dave Martell (Jan 22, 2018)

How did the bolster fair in this? That's always the tricky part. Looking good though!


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## Danzo (Jan 23, 2018)

Kind of difficult, when i was filing that last part of the tan closest to the bolster I gouged put a couple chunks. Nothing my 1x30 couldnt fix but it took some precision, plus my bolster may be a little shorter than before


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## Dave Martell (Jan 23, 2018)

I have used my file guides (with carbide inserts) a couple of times with success but with most knives the bolsters aren't square enough in any direction making this a dicey proposition since the jig can't clamp down effectively to hold itself in place..which is the whole point. I need to have a jig made up for this job specifically, it would be incredible to be able to do this so easily.


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## Danzo (Jan 23, 2018)

How would that work since each knife is a different size?


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## Dave Martell (Jan 23, 2018)

Danzo said:


> How would that work since each knife is a different size?




It'd have to be _*real *_adjustable!


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## Danzo (Jan 23, 2018)

So my cheap bit broke off in the tang slot, dirty whore took a half hour to get out. Anyway, progress continues.


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## Danzo (Jan 23, 2018)

Heres the glue up. Black and ivory spacer with Purple Heart. No pins in this one. 
Im thinking of going for a Kramer Meiji style shaped handle but we will see






Also another question? Everyone seems to like g10, Ive used it and like it enough, Im not crazy about the texture that you can see. How come nobody uses acrylic? It comes in a million colors and its CHEAP! Seems similar to the rest of the polymers everyone uses, Do yall avoid it for a reason? We will see how it goes.


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## Dave Martell (Jan 24, 2018)

Do you have a link to the acrylic sheets you're talking about? Or some more info? I've never used it myself just because I've never seen it really. 

I know what you mean about G10 texture though. The thing that bugs me about G10 is the lack of colors, or rather, what's seen from the edge side never matching the face color. Example - blood red G10 shows pink at the edge.

I'm for using anything that is stable - that's my #1 requirement.


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## Danzo (Jan 24, 2018)

I bought my stuff from TAP plastics. Its a little fragile, and chips easy, but once its glued in place I dont think it will give me issues, Ill let you know when I shape


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## Dave Martell (Jan 24, 2018)

Danzo said:


> I bought my stuff from TAP plastics. Its a little fragile, and chips easy, but once its glued in place I dont think it will give me issues, Ill let you know when I shape



Cool, thanks


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## Danzo (Jan 27, 2018)

Well the acrylic works great, feels the same as g10 but about 5% the cost, plus many more thickness and color options.
















Getting that line on the right side was a challenge but it makes the knife look great.
One question, I think some areas of the knife may have been burned from dulling belts. Will theres areas sand out? Or am I stuck with these dark marks?


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## Dave Martell (Jan 28, 2018)

That looks great, seriously, awesome job! 

Thanks for the info on the acylic spacer material, I'll have to give it a try.

The burn marks will sand out but you've got to go deeper than they exist and that can be problematic in some instances. FWIW, I kind of like the handle as it is.


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## Danzo (Jan 28, 2018)

Here she is complete. Polished up nice, acrylic works A-okay, just wants to chip when drilling. Theres a little blemish that didnt epoxy up perfectly but oh well. Thanks for the support Dave!


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## Dave Martell (Jan 28, 2018)

Looks great. How many handles have you done? You better not say this is your first.


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## Danzo (Jan 28, 2018)

This one is number 7. First one with a hidden tang.


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## Dave Martell (Jan 28, 2018)

Danzo said:


> This one is number 7. First one with a hidden tang.




I knew it wasn't the first! But still that's really damn good for #7 and when you add in the hidden tang to bolster conversion it's really really damn good!


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## Danzo (Jan 28, 2018)

Thanks. Using a black spacer against the bolster hides imperfections :whistling:


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## TheCaptain (Jan 29, 2018)

Just got to this Danzo. Looks very nice and that line on the handle is striking!


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## milkbaby (Jan 29, 2018)

Really nice job! Thanks for sharing the wip pics.

Please update in the future how the purple color holds up. I have a cutting board that has purpleheart that was purple but is now brown... Seems to be common from what I've read.


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## woodworkcan (Jan 29, 2018)

I like your spacers selection and handle design. It looks sleek. It's more pieces than the traditional design, but not "too much" IMO. I prefer them minimalist


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## Danzo (Jan 29, 2018)

Thanks yall.
Thats interesting milkbb, the guys at my local woodworker store told me that Purple Heart turns more purple over time. But seems they were wrong. It certainty is more brown now than the original cut of wood. Keep you posted.


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## woodworkcan (Jan 30, 2018)

Danzo said:


> Thanks yall.
> Thats interesting milkbb, the guys at my local woodworker store told me that Purple Heart turns more purple over time. But seems they were wrong. It certainty is more brown now than the original cut of wood. Keep you posted.



Generally, all woods tend to turn darker brown with age. Some quicker than others and this is no exception for the purple heart.

http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/keeping-purpleheart-purple/


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