# Question for fellow Dutch members about rehandling



## erikz (Jul 11, 2014)

Hallo allemaal / Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a Dutchie with rehandling experience. I've recently bought a Kato which I might want to re-handle, but I'm a total novice at it, and before ordering one I was wondering if any of you have any experience with rehandling.

Let me know


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## mark76 (Jul 11, 2014)

Nope sorry. I had a knife of mine rehandled by someone in the States.


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## Richard78 (Jul 11, 2014)

Wish I could do it for you but I have never rehandled a knife. But I think it should not be that difficult. 
Removing the old handle is the hardest part. Just try it yourself, you can barely go wrong.


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Jul 11, 2014)

There's Dan not that far away from you


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Jul 11, 2014)

Richard78 said:


> Wish I could do it for you but I have never rehandled a knife. But I think it should not be that difficult.


That's exactly what I though back when before making my first handle. Not a rocket science by any means, but there lots of nuances and you'd really need a lot of experience before you could produce something like Rader does. 



Richard78 said:


> Removing the old handle is the hardest part. Just try it yourself, you can barely go wrong.


Nope, that's the easy part


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## Richard78 (Jul 11, 2014)

Maybe I was to confident:biggrin:
I understood that changing a WA handle for a western handle was difficult. 
But I thought changing a WA handle for another WA handle is not that hard. You just attach it with epoxy right? And with masking tape you prevent the epoxy to get all over the blade and handle.


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## erikz (Jul 11, 2014)

Not that easy if the handle only has a pilot hole and hasnt been pre-burned yet...

Theres too much room for mistakes for me, so Im hesitant to buy a beautiful handle with a high probability of destroying it beyond repair.


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## erikz (Jul 11, 2014)

icanhaschzbrgr said:


> There's Dan not that far away from you


Thanks for the tip. Id like to buy a handle from Mikey (Honu Mana wa), so Id understand if other makers feel hesitant of mounting a handle not made by them.


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## Keith Sinclair (Jul 11, 2014)

If you buy a handle from Mike, ask him tips on enlarging the tang hole. I am sure he will help. Rat tail flat files are slow going but can work if you have limited tools. If you have a vise careful drilling


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## mark76 (Jul 11, 2014)

O, and someone in Russia made a very nice wa handle for me...


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## Keith Sinclair (Jul 11, 2014)

Also you can use epoxy to secure & fill in the gaps. Say if you have a black horn can buy black dye to add to the epoxy so it looks better with same color.


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## erikz (Jul 11, 2014)

Thanks for your tips Keith. I might be able to practice the re-handling itself (not getting the handle ready for installation), because the Kato currently has a Ho-handle and I'm a lefty, so it needs to be flipped anyways.


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## osakajoe (Jul 11, 2014)

Replacing Japanese style handles is not that hard. If getting a water buffalo ring handle you just need to make sure you have an old blade with a tang similar to your knife. Heat that up and burn in tang so your knife sits in the handle with about 2cm space from the top of the handle. Let it cool down fill with a little bit of epoxy or plastic glue, not full. Heat the tang up on your good knife just a bit, enough to melt the plastic/epoxy Insert it straight and once you can't push it in by hand anymore, use a mallet to hammer the bottom of the handle till the knife is hammered in to its desired spot.


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