Hollowing out wa knife handles

I have started making Wa knife handles. To date I have been drilling the handle out and adding a slotted dowel. I cut the ferrule and endcap separately.

I am thinking of switching to use my hollow mortise chisel to slot for the tang. 1/4 or 3/8 in the handle. The using a dremel router to cut the opening in the top of the ferrule.

Does anyone have an opinion on this method? It might be overkill and too slow.

Ok, I tried this last night. It was a fail. Totally recoverable, but still didn't work well. Back to the drill press and slotted dowel.

Why did it fail? Were there mortise chisels or a powered mortiser?

It failed for a number of reasons. Each one could have been fixed, but it is easier to drill a round hole and fill with a slotted dowel.

1) I have a powered 1/2 HP delta unit.
2) the hold down and fence are meant for wood larger than a 1x1. This ment I couldn't get a clean centered hole easily. It also ment without the holddown, getting the bit out of the wood was difficult.

can you use wood larger than 1x1? I do most of the slot work before trimming the handle to size.

jessf said:

can you use wood larger than 1x1? I do most of the slot work before trimming the handle to size.

Click to expand...

The short answer is yes. I started this as a personal hobby and wanted to keep cost down. On my second order of wood, mostly for friends who we covering my costs. Then out of nowhere a retailer asked me to make them a batch of handles and someone on a cooking forum just picked up two I had made.

There are 15 glued up handles on my workbench ready for trim/shape/sanding.

My next wood order will be 1.5x1.5.

Bensbites said:

The short answer is yes. I started this as a personal hobby and wanted to keep cost down. On my second order of wood, mostly for friends who we covering my costs. Then out of nowhere a retailer asked me to make them a batch of handles and someone on a cooking forum just picked up two I had made.

There are 15 glued up handles on my workbench ready for trim/shape/sanding.

My next wood order will be 1.5x1.5.

Click to expand...

handlestogo.com?

Dave Martell said:

handlestogo.com?

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Ha! I love it. I already have bensbites.net from my food blog days. I will expand the info on the site, the Etsy store is up. I still have to get the Facebook page going. I have had the most success on some BBQ forums where people know me. I also want to branch out into cutting boards and magnetic wooden knifebars.

Bensbites said:

Ha! I love it. I already have bensbites.net from my food blog days. I will expand the info on the site, the Etsy store is up. I still have to get the Facebook page going. I have had the most success on some BBQ forums where people know me. I also want to branch out into cutting boards and magnetic wooden knifebars.

Click to expand...

Cool! Good luck with your new venture.