Made a new handle for my takamura

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kantdooku

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Made a western handle for my takamura r2. The spacers did't align perfectly. But hey. This is my first handle i've made for a knife. So it will do.
 

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Have any shots of what you reduced the tang to before sliding the handle piece on?
Sadly i don't. But the tang was as thick as the blade. And I took down the spine of it to make it a hidden tang. With that said. It was not much of a tang left. Very weak one. But it should hold up for a kitchen knife either way
 
Sadly i don't. But the tang was as thick as the blade. And I took down the spine of it to make it a hidden tang. With that said. It was not much of a tang left. Very weak one. But it should hold up for a kitchen knife either way
You would have had to remove the top part of the existing tang right to convert to hidden right? I recall takamura had only a half height tang to start with
 
You would have had to remove the top part of the existing tang right to convert to hidden right? I recall takamura had only a half height tang to start with
Correct! But I also welded the pin holes to give it some extra sturdyness. Cuz it did't have much of a tang to begin with
 
protip for next time.
find a good clamping solution that works reliably every time and do several dry clampings of the parts to make sure you wont have any surprises when its time to glue it up.

i try to clamp the blade about halfway or lower with a small clamp and some wood pieces. and then i use that clamp to press than handle against (this will press everything a bit sideways). its less risky than pressing on the tip. but that is also doable if you put some wood there (on each side of the tip) and have a long clamp.

i prefer to do the parts a little loose these days to make sure it all goes together well. only the "bolster" part is tight now.
 
protip for next time.
find a good clamping solution that works reliably every time and do several dry clampings of the parts to make sure you wont have any surprises when its time to glue it up.

i try to clamp the blade about halfway or lower with a small clamp and some wood pieces. and then i use that clamp to press than handle against (this will press everything a bit sideways). its less risky than pressing on the tip. but that is also doable if you put some wood there (on each side of the tip) and have a long clamp.

i prefer to do the parts a little loose these days to make sure it all goes together well. only the "bolster" part is tight now.
I think the thing I did wrong here was that I rough cut the handle shape before I glued it on. Which means that there was a very small surface area for the clamp to stick to. Which made it a bit unstable/wobbly. Therefor came in an angle. Which i did't really see. Cuz the glue was oozing out of the spacers. Next time I know what not to do. But I appreticate the tips. I am a newb after all
 
and thats why you need to have a solid clamping solution. you really need to be able to clamp down hard on it to be sure there are no voids and gaps since the the glue is very thick. i made the same mistake myself several times.

you can take it down quite a bit to finished but leave the "bolster" and bottom of grip untouched so you have some material to clamp.

or just do it as a "mora", stack square pieces, and do all the work after gluing.

i prefer to use bahco rasps for the heavy lifting. then coarse files. then fine file. and when you are done with that you can go to 240-400paper or so. and then its done. pure tung oil is a good finish. wont yellow with age.

hornbach has the bahco stuff cheap and in stock. i think they have almost every bahco file/rasp you would want. except maybe the needle files. then you want wallorbe anyway.
 
this was my first one. masur/turkish walnut/masur/titanium. mac aus8 blade.
i made this one 100% assymetrical. you can only use it with your right hand.

10 years now. still not yellow. tung oil, maybe 10 coats. this one was tight though. 100% tight.
i needed to make the first one perfect so i could degrade my workmanship over time. letting decadence and mediocracy win over the strive for perfection. thats how i roll.

first one1.JPG



first one2.JPG
 
some inspiration.

top to bottom

g10 and snake skin cf. made this blade all by myself somehow. 15n20

g10 blue vulcan fiber g10

actic white corian/blue vulcan fiber.

olive/some black wood/masur/ bolster turkish w

black palm/ masur bolster olive

masur/blue g10/blue g10/turkish walnut.





random knives 2.JPG
 
some inspiration.

top to bottom

g10 and snake skin cf. made this blade all by myself somehow. 15n20

g10 blue vulcan fiber g10

actic white corian/blue vulcan fiber.

olive/some black wood/masur/ bolster turkish w

black palm/ masur bolster olive

masur/blue g10/blue g10/turkish walnut.





View attachment 224815
Snus och Rusta
 
and beer... everything you need and nothing you dont :)

masur birch and turkish walnut are my favorites. and also the white g10/white corian. but these are a bitc* to work with. corian doesn't glue well and the g10 is lung cancer ultra (its glass fiber).
 
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