dafox
Senior Member
Update on a handle project that involved sanding the buffalo horn ferule.
I've been sampling the Sakai lasers, looking for a knife that works well for me and feels just right in the hand. Turns out I like longer thinner handles with a gentle taper like those found on the Konosuke W#2 lasers but I find the blades to be too light weight. I lucked into a Gesshen Ginga 240mm W#2 that I bought on BST that has the older style thinner handle-just right for me, good weight in the blade and shorter at 235, blade forward balance, and the handle is just right, not too bulky. So, I turned my attention towards a 210, same wish list, but I couldn't find what I wanted so I decided to get an Ashi Ginga and modify the handle, hoping I could make it smaller in diameter , hopefully not destroying it in the process, and have something that felt good in the hand and met my standards for looks. Well, it turned out great, very satisfied with the outcome and with my work.
Thanks to all for the pointers! See the thread "sanding buffalo horn"
I taped the blade for safety with blue masking tape then used a small sanding block with 150 grit sanding paper following the flats of the handle on the top, bottom, and 2 sides, removing about 1.5-2.0mm of wood at the butt on all sides and about 1mm of buffalo horn at the front of the handle. The horn is harder and didnt sand as easily as the ho wood so I needed to spend extra effort on it to get an even removal of material on the entire handle. I left the corners4 of them, alone until I was satisfied that the sides that I had sanded so far were even in width, then I sanded the corners until the handle had the same shape as the original one. After the 150 grit paper I moved on to 600 which loaded up with wood very easily and took some time to get the previous sanding marks in the horn out. When I was satisfied with that I thought I might be done so I treated it with JKI handle and saya wax, it was presentable but the horn was rather dull so I made a trip to ACE hardware to get buffing supplies. Got a medium cloth buffing wheel, arbor adapter for my drill, and some white rouge. Then went to work buffing the horn and it developed a great shine. I touched-up a few sanding mark spots with the 600grit a few times and then buffed again. If I were to do it again I would use some 1000 grit on the horn before buffing.
Now I have a knife thats just right for me, and looks great, very pleased.
https://imgur.com/9kTwSKH
https://imgur.com/P5rFh33
https://imgur.com/72Mu1Ns
I've been sampling the Sakai lasers, looking for a knife that works well for me and feels just right in the hand. Turns out I like longer thinner handles with a gentle taper like those found on the Konosuke W#2 lasers but I find the blades to be too light weight. I lucked into a Gesshen Ginga 240mm W#2 that I bought on BST that has the older style thinner handle-just right for me, good weight in the blade and shorter at 235, blade forward balance, and the handle is just right, not too bulky. So, I turned my attention towards a 210, same wish list, but I couldn't find what I wanted so I decided to get an Ashi Ginga and modify the handle, hoping I could make it smaller in diameter , hopefully not destroying it in the process, and have something that felt good in the hand and met my standards for looks. Well, it turned out great, very satisfied with the outcome and with my work.
Thanks to all for the pointers! See the thread "sanding buffalo horn"
I taped the blade for safety with blue masking tape then used a small sanding block with 150 grit sanding paper following the flats of the handle on the top, bottom, and 2 sides, removing about 1.5-2.0mm of wood at the butt on all sides and about 1mm of buffalo horn at the front of the handle. The horn is harder and didnt sand as easily as the ho wood so I needed to spend extra effort on it to get an even removal of material on the entire handle. I left the corners4 of them, alone until I was satisfied that the sides that I had sanded so far were even in width, then I sanded the corners until the handle had the same shape as the original one. After the 150 grit paper I moved on to 600 which loaded up with wood very easily and took some time to get the previous sanding marks in the horn out. When I was satisfied with that I thought I might be done so I treated it with JKI handle and saya wax, it was presentable but the horn was rather dull so I made a trip to ACE hardware to get buffing supplies. Got a medium cloth buffing wheel, arbor adapter for my drill, and some white rouge. Then went to work buffing the horn and it developed a great shine. I touched-up a few sanding mark spots with the 600grit a few times and then buffed again. If I were to do it again I would use some 1000 grit on the horn before buffing.
Now I have a knife thats just right for me, and looks great, very pleased.
https://imgur.com/9kTwSKH
https://imgur.com/P5rFh33
https://imgur.com/72Mu1Ns
