tostadas
Senior Member
This is my second attempt at a wa handle, this time trying to stick to a more traditional octo design. Similar to my previous handle, this one was also just using primarily hand tools (saw, drill, sandpaper on an atoma block, and various hand files).
I decided to go with a cheap piece of maple I got and african blackwood.
And the knife for this one is a fun little 170mm Kyohei Shindo.
Holes drilled and dowel sized for the tang.
Glued up and sanded the edges to be roughly square. Then measured off on both ends for sizing. The lines drawn on the sides of the block were my guides for sanding.
Cut/sanded it down to size and also shaped the facets. Tapered 19x23 to 21x26, 120mm. I dislike really small handles, so I made sure this one had enough thickness to fit my hand comfortably. And I simply adjusted the length to maintain the balance of the knife.
After fine sanding, rounding all the sharp edges, and with a few layers of hardwax oil, now the detail in the wood really pops.
I also did all my fit and finish improvements on the blade itself. Rounded and smoothed spine, choil, and reshaped the pointy heel. Then removed the sandblast finish and vertical grind marks, polished the core and applied a smooth kasumi finish. Balance is right in front of the choil
Choil shot for good measure.
I decided to go with a cheap piece of maple I got and african blackwood.

And the knife for this one is a fun little 170mm Kyohei Shindo.

Holes drilled and dowel sized for the tang.

Glued up and sanded the edges to be roughly square. Then measured off on both ends for sizing. The lines drawn on the sides of the block were my guides for sanding.

Cut/sanded it down to size and also shaped the facets. Tapered 19x23 to 21x26, 120mm. I dislike really small handles, so I made sure this one had enough thickness to fit my hand comfortably. And I simply adjusted the length to maintain the balance of the knife.

After fine sanding, rounding all the sharp edges, and with a few layers of hardwax oil, now the detail in the wood really pops.


I also did all my fit and finish improvements on the blade itself. Rounded and smoothed spine, choil, and reshaped the pointy heel. Then removed the sandblast finish and vertical grind marks, polished the core and applied a smooth kasumi finish. Balance is right in front of the choil


Choil shot for good measure.
