Apparently I can make a wa handle now.

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Working on #4 right now and it's really kicking my ass.
 
Yeah I was living in a dream world. #4 was a failure. While drilling the extremely deep tang hole it must have gotten too hot and the epoxy failed at the ferrule joint. Sucks because I had that wood planned for this project for a few years. It was to go on my Gesshin Hide 210mm kamagata usuba. Going to have to be on the lookout for a new block. Kind of a shame but it's a learning process so I'm surprisingly not upset.
 
ThEoRy said:
Yeah I was living in a dream world. #4 was a failure. While drilling the extremely deep tang hole it must have gotten too hot and the epoxy failed at the ferrule joint. Sucks because I had that wood planned for this project for a few years. It was to go on my Gesshin Hide 210mm kamagata usuba. Going to have to be on the lookout for a new block. Kind of a shame but it's a learning process so I'm surprisingly not upset.
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Sorry to hear that. Quite often you can just take the pieces apart again, clean them up and start over - wouldn't that work here?

Stefan
 
apicius9 said:
Sorry to hear that. Quite often you can just take the pieces apart again, clean them up and start over - wouldn't that work here?

Stefan
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Yeah I had a change of heart, dug it out of the trash and am giving it a second go. Not sure whats going to happen but it's worth a shot.
 
Dude, that has happened to me more than once. At the very worst, I ended up with a smaller handle then planned, and I used it on a smaller knife.
 
Back at it again today. Everything glued back up last night and waited for it to cure before drilling again. I wasn't happy with the shape so I re belt sanded it first to fix some wonkiness then I started drilling the tang hole again. Things started getting warm so I've backed off and am letting it rest before I continue. It's a really deep tang hole mind you. Longer and wider than the one on my kono hd and that's saying something as that sucker was long.

Next problem is going to be filing out the tang slot so the tang can fit. The last one took me over an hour. I must need some faster needle files or something. I've ordered some from amazon but they have yet to arrive. Hoping they do and that they work well.
 
Needle rasps are the way to go. Woodcraft had them in the US but they only sell the set now, not the individual ones which is a shame. With the flat one and the square one you can file what you need. I am still looking for a new source myself, maybe I have to consider Brisa. A for the drilling: Have you thought about predrilling pieces before gluing them? Even if you only do smaller starter holes, it should be easier and produce less heat. I always predrill the deep tang slots, makes it much easier.

Stefan
 
Needle rasps are my preferred method as well. Only problem is metal spacers, they kill the rasps quickly.
 
I ended up taking taking a 1/4" chisel and taking it down to 3/32" then taking it to the stones to clean it up. I got tired of working with needle files that just didn't do the job well.

https://flic.kr/p/KLjGzC
 
Well I'm slowly filing away now. A long process for sure. Though I think some tang modification will be in order. Needs to be a few mm shorter length wise and a few mm shorter height wise. I have to do this because if I widen the tang slot as far as the tang currently is I'm afraid its a little too close to the edges. This is because the horn ferrule had a crack in it that I had to grind out making the ferrule a little bit slimmer than it should be. One problem at a time it seems with this project. Hope it's all worth it in the end.
 
**** you handle, I win!

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Yeah I'm really glad this one is over. Think I'll take a break for now.
 
I've made a couple of those already. One for my Martell 240mm wagyuto and one for my Tanaka 300mm sakimaru takobiki. Both from walnut. Came out really nice.
 
Here is my fifth wa handle made from koa, buffalo horn and fiber spacers. This one is mounted on my Yoshikane 90mm semi stainless pairing knife.

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Please feel free to comment or ask any questions.
 
Very nice handle there, Rick. Not much to improve on from my perspective. Refined, clean and great material choice.

Cheers

J
 
Nice handle Rick! In addition to really liking Koa handles, I really like the profile of that Yoshikane parer. :knife:
 
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