First western handle attempt

[RoanRoks29]

So I bought this kit for $20 bucks off Of Jantz supplies it came with a block of diamond wood and Brass pins and the full tang 16" fish knife. It gave me a little direction to follow and basic idea of what to do, which was pretty good to get me started but the rest was a little trial and error. I had alot of fun making it and now I have a sweet little Fish knife!! (not really little) I know the flaws I have in it and I think it was a pretty good attempt!

[wsfarrell]

Nice work! Reminds me vaguely of an old-style Snap-On screwdriver handle. I'll bet it's incredibly comfortable.

[bieniek]

Yeah, the blade and the handle both look very nice! Good work

[apicius9]

Looks good, and I know how the camera picks up little things that wouldn't bother me at all in real life. So, what's next?

Stefan

[knyfeknerd]

Looks good. That seems like a great place to start. Full tang is the way to go for your 1st westerns. I've got a partial tang I want to work on, but I'm still kinda working it out in my head.
Why don't you look on ebay to try and find an old knife with a full tang to do next?

[RoanRoks29]

Thanx guys! I have a russel International that I found years ago and thinking about doing that one as my next western project, but in progress I have a Chinese Clever that I am putting a wa style handle on. the handle in together just being shaped hopefully by the end of this week if i get some time to do it!
Curious to know what is a good polish to use on handles or compound to really make them shine?

[jklip13]

I find diamond wood way too hard to work with compared to stabilized wood, how did you cut it?