Wa Handle Attempt #3

[James]

This one is for the gf again. Wa handle pre-mount. The handle has a blonde buffalo horn ferrule, stainless steel spacer and natural koa.

 

[rick_english]

Gorgeous. Don't know if I'd call that an "attempt."

 

[Johnny.B.Good]

I love dark, tightly figured Koa like that.

Great job.

 

[Matus]

Gorgeous. Don't know if I'd call that an "attempt."

+1

 

[James]

Thanks for the kind words! My first one had a reverse taper and I ended up throwing it out. #2 wasn't too bad, but it was pretty bulky right at the handle. This is the first one that doesn't have any functional issues.

 

[Marko Tsourkan]

This one is for the gf again. Wa handle pre-mount. The handle has a blonde buffalo horn ferrule, stainless steel spacer and natural koa.

Just a small suggestion. I would suggest to try to come up with proportions for a handle that fit a particular knife well - length, width, height at the ferrule, height at the butt. A way to do it is to size the handle to your own hand, and do a few checks while in a process of making it - does it feel too long for a knife, too thin, too thick, etc? If the knife is thin and light, a handle can be thinner, if it's heavy, you need to make it slightly oversize. It's particularly bad when you see a massive workhorse with a tiny handle.

I think this handle could be a little shorter, and a little taller at the the butt, otherwise, a very good result for a third attempt. I like this style and I like natural Koa. How did you finish it?

Marko

 

[James]

Hi Marko, thanks for the tips. To me, it feels a little oversized for the blade (Tanaka VG10s being the lasers that they are). I agree with you on the dimension changes; another mm off the ferrule area and shortening the handle by 10-15 mm would've been a good way to go. As for finishing, I gave it 3 light coats of pure tung oil followed by shellac as a sanding sealer and then a little more tung oil. Post mount, I'm currently putting on a few more coats of tung oil. It's not quite as water resistant as I'd like. I'll report back in a few days.

 

[Miles]

Nice work sir!