Latest handle work

[Darkhoek]

Here are a couple of my latest rehandles. The western ones were also total regrinds of some e-bay blanks I bought. VG-10 raindrop damascus blade and Seki made, but that's another story. The western handles are African blackwood with brass and mosaic pins.

The octagonal handle is a cocobolo handle with buffalo horn and pewter-silver and red fiber spacers. On the octagonal handle you can see a white line in the horn on the rear bolster. It's not a crack, but a natural occurence in most buffalo horn.

DArkhOeK

http://darkhoek.blogspot.com

 

[JohnnyChance]

Did you thin those ebay blanks? they look different than the sellers pictures. how do you like them?

 

[Darkhoek]

Did you thin those ebay blanks? they look different than the sellers pictures. how do you like them?

Yes. The edges were deeply hollow ground and deeply etched like the blade body and had the worst factory grind I have seen! I thinned and flattened the blade roads to a Heiji like geometry and gave the blade roads a Japanese natural finger stone finish. I kept the thickness of the spine to keep the etching in the damascus for the good looks, but rounded and polished the spine and rounded the choil to a more Pierre Rodrigues shape . I have kept the blade roads flat all the way to the edge and only given it a very light secondary bevel to make the edge a bit more resilient to chipping. Both knives perform really good. The cutting feeling of the gyuto is the best I have experienced and compares to the Shigefusa gyuto. Really amazing blanks these. I can recommend them if you need a blank for a project like this.

DArkHOek

 

[Dave Martell]

Nice

 

[ecchef]

Hey Dark, what's the country of origin on those blanks?

Oh, and, nice work on them handles too!

 

[Darkhoek]

Hey Dark, what's the country of origin on those blanks?

Oh, and, nice work on them handles too!

Thanks

The ebay store states it is Seki-made, Japan. The knives get exceptionally sharp and performs very well, so the VG-10 core is very well hardened and tempered anyhow. This is where I bought the blanks from.

http://cgi.ebay.com/San-Mai-Chef-Knife-Blank-Seki-City-JAPAN-VG10-Damascus-/220720015234?pt=AU_Hunting&hash=item3363f02782

DARKHoeK

 

[Marko Tsourkan]

We need to form hanle-makers guild.

 

[apicius9]

I'm in

 

[Darkhoek]

And our punchline will be "We can (re)handle everything"

DarkHOeK

 

[kalaeb]

Have you ever dinged the bolster while rough sanding or shaping? How are you guys shaping the piece of wood right before the bolster? I have done a few handles of my own, they fit very well and look great, but I will be darned if I can get the bolster to look shiny as new. Any thoughts?

 

[Darkhoek]

Have you ever dinged the bolster while rough sanding or shaping? How are you guys shaping the piece of wood right before the bolster? I have done a few handles of my own, they fit very well and look great, but I will be darned if I can get the bolster to look shiny as new. Any thoughts?

That happens all the time. My trick to get it back to factory finish or a high gloss polish is to use gradually finer sand paper (up to #2000) tightly wrapped around a flat piece of cork on all parts of the handle including the bolster until all scratches are gone. Do NOT hurry this process. Your lazyness will be revealed when polishing!! Then I use an electric drill with a cotton polishing disc with aluminum oxide and 0.25u diamond spray polishing the steel bolster and a special wood polishing compound on the wood and/ or horn parts.

DArKHOeK

 

[riverie]

awesome handle

rio

 

[Darkhoek]

Thanks, Rio.

DarkHoeK

 

[SpikeC]

How are you forming the hole in the wa handles?

 

[kalaeb]

That happens all the time. My trick to get it back to factory finish or a high gloss polish is to use gradually finer sand paper (up to #2000) tightly wrapped around a flat piece of cork on all parts of the handle including the bolster until all scratches are gone. Do NOT hurry this process. Your lazyness will be revealed when polishing!! Then I use an electric drill with a cotton polishing disc with aluminum oxide and 0.25u diamond spray polishing the steel bolster and a special wood polishing compound on the wood and/ or horn parts.

DArKHOeK

Thanks, I will give that a try on my next day off.

 

[Darkhoek]

How are you forming the hole in the wa handles?

I start out with drilling 2-3 full depth holes in an angle so they meet at the tang length inside the handle. Slowly and with little speed on the drill emptying the holes often. Then I use a small square shaped rasp file to get rid of what is between the holes. Depending on the wood I either continue with the rasp (burly or knotty woods) or use a 3mm Jp chisel to slowly scrape out material. Occasionally I use the drill to empty the holes for whatever clogs up in the hole. The magic is to use time and go easy. A lot of woods just love to misbehave.

DarKHoek

http://darkhoek.blogspot.com

 

[SpikeC]

Thanks! I'm just starting to fit a handle to a blade that I'm making- ebony and maple burl so far...........The tang is 3/32" thick. I have an aircraft drill bit coming in today that is 6 inches long.