Misono hidden tang conversion

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.

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

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

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.

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

Danzo said:

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

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It'd have to be real adjustable!

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

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.

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.

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

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

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Cool, thanks

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?

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.

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!

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

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

Danzo said:

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

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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!

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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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/