# please help with handle



## icanhaschzbrgr (Nov 14, 2013)

I was trying to make a new WA handle to replace poorly made handle of Tanaka petty. But I'm struggling to create perfectly flat surfaces for glueing. 

Here's a picture to illustrate my problem:





You can clearly see the gap between two parts. No matter how hard I've tried, from one or the the other side there are still small but visible gaps. At first I just used sandpaper wraped over some blank of wood. Later I tried flatting surface with DMT coarse plate but still can't achive gapless surfaces between 2 pieces of wood.

Another unrelated question  how can you cut a really thin piece of wood to be used as spacer? I saw a lot of custom handles where wood was used instead of metal of horn. But I can't even image how to cut such thin and even pieces in home environment.

I have zero woodworking experience so any advices are highly appreciated


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## pitonboy (Nov 14, 2013)

A vertical disc sander with a miter table is an easy way but only if you plan on continuing to make handles. Freehand is almost impossible. As far as cutting thin wood spacers, a bandsaw would work best.

Now you see how people end up buying a garage ful of power tools to do this


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Nov 14, 2013)

Thanks pitonboy! That's a pretty good news for me, since I was afraid the main problem was with my hands and lack of skills. Gonna search for some second hand disc sander here.

I wood love to fill garage with different woodworking tools, but for that to happen I would first need to buy garage  One day maybe who knows.

Again thanks for advice!


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## mkriggen (Nov 14, 2013)

I flatten my joints by hand with a sheet of 80 grit sandpaper stuck to a 30cmx30cm piece of granite countertop. The granite stays stationary and I move the wood. Works better for me then the disc sander. I also mix some of the sanding dust with the epoxy, helps hide any tiny gaps that might remain.





Be well,
Mikey


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Nov 14, 2013)

pretty persuasive photos I must admit (much better than anything I could achieve so far) but still there's a visible small hole on the last photo. Will it became invisible after glueing with dust+epoxy and reshaping?

And pretty cool shape of holes you drilled in those handles. Was it a series of smaller round holes that you combined later with some files or smth?


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## mkriggen (Nov 14, 2013)

Actually that's just a little tearout on the edge of the ferrule, not a gap in the joining surface. It'll disappear when I resand the blank after glue up. But yea, if it was a gap, that's the kind of thing the sanding dust in the epoxy would hide for you.

As to the holes, yea, I use a forsner bit to make the oval mortices. It's something new I'm trying on this batch.

Be well,
Mikey


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## CPD (Nov 14, 2013)

mkriggen said:


> I flatten my joints by hand with a sheet of 80 grit sandpaper stuck to a 30cmx30cm piece of granite countertop. The granite stays stationary and I move the wood. Works better for me then the disc sander. I also mix some of the sanding dust with the epoxy, helps hide any tiny gaps that might remain.



+1. I use a disc sander but a truly flat surface plate with some adhesive backed sandpaper is a failsafe for me too when it comes to getting a true/level/flat surface. I'll often do a couple passes on that AFTER getting them close on belt/disc sander. 

You can buy a granite surface plate which has been machined for accuracy from lots of woodcrafting suppliers or from some science/tech shops. You can also get by with a piece of leftover countertop slab.... or, even a porcelain tile from Home Depot etc. 

The trick to the surface plate sanding is to be really conscious of the pressure you're putting on your pieces. If you push just from the side and your grip is high, it wants to tilt. 
I clamp a C-clamp on to the blank and use that as a push handle....with my other hand, I push down from the top. Works like a charm.


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## CPD (Nov 14, 2013)

Side question to the OP -- are you butt jointing your pieces together or are you joining them with a hidden dowel in the middle? A dowel will a stronger joint but will also make it easier to keep things aligned and clamped while the glue dries. That clamping pressure during the glue-up may help "close" any micro gaps you have too.


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## NO ChoP! (Nov 14, 2013)

Try sandwiching the blank between two blocks and sand them together. Helps with the inherent wobble from hand sanding.


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## apicius9 (Nov 14, 2013)

I do the same thing as Mikey, only with much more dirt and dust on the table... :whistling:Before gluing, I usually pull the pieces over coarse sandpaper, turning them 1/4 every time to maintain the evenness. Mostly a mater of practice, I guess.

Stefan


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Nov 15, 2013)

NO ChoP! said:


> Try sandwiching the blank between two blocks and sand them together. Helps with the inherent wobble from hand sanding.


Really nice idea! Gonna try that today. 
Granite reference blocks are pretty expensive here, so for now I would keep trying freehand method and get used disk sander.

Really appreciate all the advices, thanks a ton! :beer:


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## Lefty (Nov 15, 2013)

I was going to say that Mike's workspace is the neatest I've ever seen. I'd be embarrassed to show mine. Fortunately, I've noticed that my shop space is only slightly more cluttered than Pierre's an roughly on par with Will C's.


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## mkriggen (Nov 15, 2013)

Lefty said:


> I was going to say that Mike's workspace is the neatest I've ever seen. I'd be embarrassed to show mine. Fortunately, I've noticed that my shop space is only slightly more cluttered than Pierre's an roughly on par with Will C's.



Thanks guys, but I'm guessing that that the volume and variety work has something to do with it. I'm just making handles for myself and a few friends.

Be well,
Mikey


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## Dave Martell (Nov 15, 2013)

Tip - When using a disc sander with table make sure that the wood blocks are squared up along all sides BEFORE squaring up the ends. Trust me...


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## Burl Source (Nov 15, 2013)

Sometimes to true up a small piece I will use an adhesive back sandpaper disc for my palm sander and stick it on a piece of glass.
Just use light pressure and be careful not to rock the piece of wood.
The mention of clamping between a couple pieces of wood sounds like a good idea.


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## mkriggen (Nov 16, 2013)

Dave Martell said:


> Tip - When using a disc sander with table make sure that the wood blocks are squared up along all sides BEFORE squaring up the ends. Trust me...



lus1:


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Nov 16, 2013)

Guys your input really helped! I was able to sand it even enough.





Sorry for photo quality and thanks a lot!


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Nov 18, 2013)

Decided to post an almost finished handle pictures just as a "thank you" message for all your advices.











Karelian birch and walnut mounted on 150mm Tanaka petty. The stock handle was waaay to bad so I just had to replace it.
Since I haven't any woodworking skills prior to starting this handle, it was a completely new universe for me. Obviously I've made quite a few mistakes with this handle and gonna try better next time.


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## NO ChoP! (Nov 18, 2013)

Looks great!


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## Dave Martell (Nov 18, 2013)

Nice! I bet you're happy as can be.


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## mkriggen (Nov 18, 2013)

Looks great bro, and they get better every time you make another one:doublethumbsup:

Be well,
Mikey


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Nov 20, 2013)

Dave Martell said:


> Nice! I bet you're happy as can be.


Actually I cheated a little bit had to choose angles very carefully while taking photos, otherwise you could easily spot that the shape isn't even and it's too big for this blade :biggrin:
Yet my wife seems to like it as is. She grabbed it and didn't allow me to fix shape and make it smaller. So now it rests on magnetic rack.





 the only thing that I REALLY like about this handle is how 2$ Karelian Birch looks after polishing.

And there's another Tanaka knife that I'm trying to rehandle now. This time it's 180mm Nakiri in blue &#8470;2. Will try to finish shape tomorrow if I get enough time.




 man, it took me an hour and a half or so to make a hole for tang with small files. And the wood was soft I wonder how much hours it would took with some dense wood.


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## mkriggen (Nov 20, 2013)

icanhaschzbrgr said:


> man, it took me an hour and a half or so to make a hole for tang with small files. And the wood was soft I wonder how much hours it would took with some dense wood.



That my friend is the biggest challenge when making wa handles. I'm guessing it's the reason Stefan doesn't mount his own handles (he even sends his personal knives to Dave):wink:


Be well,
Mikey


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Nov 20, 2013)

mkriggen said:


> That my friend is the biggest challenge when making wa handles. I'm guessing it's the reason Stefan doesn't mount his own handles (he even sends his personal knives to Dave):wink:
> 
> I would probably also ask Dave to mount handles for me if it wasn't the other half of globe
> 
> Btw Mikey, are the any galleries with your handles?


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## jgraeff (Nov 22, 2013)

How do you guys make it octagonal? 

Anyone care to explain in detail the whole process I have been thinking of trying this for a few knives around the house for fun.


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Nov 22, 2013)

jgraeff said:


> How do you guys make it octagonal?
> 
> Anyone care to explain in detail the whole process I have been thinking of trying this for a few knives around the house for fun.



Have a look at the following thread http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/showthread.php/14591-Wa-Handle-WIP-(PIC-HEAVY)


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Dec 22, 2013)

Only one month has passed since I made my first handle, but it feels like a very very long ago. So finally I convinced wife to allow me tweak that first handle a little bit. While most of guys here thin their blades, I thinned handle 
















Now it feels some much better in hand. And that shape when it's not squared but a bit of squished starts growing on me. Actually I liked shape so much that finally felt ready to use some really fine Hawaiian Koa from Mark to build a new handle for Konosuke gyuto. Everything looked good until I started making a shape. 




When I drilled slot for the tang it was pretty straight but then I spent a lot of time widening it with needle files and probably wasn't paying enough attention. That was quite an expensive lesson to learn and I'm really sorry for wasting such a nice piece of wood.


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## orangehero (Dec 22, 2013)

That birch is very attractive.

It's hard to tell, but you might be able to fill the hole with epoxy/wood dust. Maybe cut that slice out and replace it with another spacer or just shorten the handle? It looks nice still, I don't think I would scrap it.

If you are going to be making more handles you might consider buying or making a broach. It should help the slot-making process go much faster.

http://www.riversidemachine.net/ecommerce/riverside-handle-broach.html


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Dec 22, 2013)

orangehero said:


> That birch is very attractive.
> It's hard to tell, but you might be able to fill the hole with epoxy/wood dust. Maybe cut it out and replace it with another spacer or just shorten the handle?


I was considering the second variant with replacing end of handle with some other wood. But I'm still thinking I've got about 10 more wooden blocks (mostly Karelian Birch), but none of them seems to fit here :-\ 




orangehero said:


> If you are going to be making more handles you might consider buying or making a broach. It should help the slot-making process go much faster.
> http://www.riversidemachine.net/ecommerce/riverside-handle-broach.html


I have ran out of unrehandled knifes, but the remaining wood blocks demand being turned into handles  So I'll keep practicing. 
It's hard to tell from the pictures and I don't really understand how those broaches works. Currently I'm using a small file and a small fretsaw blade that I shaped to my needs: 




Does those broaches works differently from fretsaw blade I'm using?


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## apicius9 (Dec 22, 2013)

Haven't read bac through all the posts, but do you drill them before of after gluing pieces together? Much easier to first drill all pieces and then glue them. More care needed to line them up but less work with getting the slot right. It can be a bit fiddly and tedious to get the perfect fit, especially with hard woods. As Mike said, I prefer to delegate this to Dave because he has more patience than I have... Also, because I am a slouch and have a hard time sending stuff back within reasonable time frames. Ask some people who sent me stuff months ago.... But I'll get to it eventually, next year...

Stefan


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Dec 23, 2013)

Stefan, with the quality of your handles I hardly think people could complain even if they have to wait for a few months 

As for drilling, no I didn't drill this handle before glueing. At the moment I predrilled only 2 prototypes with metal spacers and dowel and can't drill anymore, as I need to buy another drill bits (broke 2 bits from the crappy cheap set of drilling bits I bought locally).

I wish I could find someone like Dave here to do installation for me


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