Aluminium handle on hand-made knife.

[Gezzer]

7 hours ago, SUP said:

 Thank you  chuck123wapati. That is a great article.  I especially like the ones which use thicker strips!

I like the idea of split or roughout veg tan -  for friction - but suede might absorb things on my hands. Are splits and roughout  veg tans as absorbent as well? That is my  concern. 

I am of the opinion that any leather you might use will absorb things , but I may be wrong . After seeing your knife  I would look for a local knife maker and see about maybe trading out some work ( ie he shapes and scales your knife and you do some leather work in  return ) being located in Georgia there should be one near by 

[Tugadude]

Yeah, that puppy needs a little work.  You want a bit more thickness as well.

[SUP]

Thank you for that input,  Gezzer and Tugadude. What you say makes sense  but I am so new to leatherworking, I will probably have to pay the knife maker. Not skilled enough yet to trade leatherwork.. I will look for someone and see how it goes. That knife is so sharp and a pleasure to use I don't want to just keep it aside.

New to Georgia too for that matter so a bit of a search for a local knife maker is in store for me. LOL

 

[Gezzer]

https://forum.gon.com/forums/hobbies-crafts-and-homebrew-discussions.41/

[SUP]

Thank you Gezzer! Appreciate that.

[dikman]

Another possibility is to glue a couple of pieces of hard leather to each side of the handle, to bulk it out, shape the corners with a knife or file then glue a wrapping piece around it, using thinner leather. Or just glue a piece of wood each side and file to shape, finish off with linseed oil, or wax or polyurethane.

[chuck123wapati]

15 hours ago, SUP said:

Yes. I had to resize the photographs before I could upload them. Here they are now.

 

It has a flat, straight handle -  a rectangular piece of metal which is only shaped at the area where it is screwed into the blade.

not what i pictured from a knife maker. interesting design. 

I take it you may have limited tools for wood working or metal so...

I would do this get two pieces of wood of some type about 3/8ths " thick  glue them to the sides of the metal and shape them and the metal with a file to a shape pleasing to you and your hand then wrap them with flat leather strap or flat paracord. You pull out the inside of the paracord to make it flat. You could even make the handle interior out leather if you have no wood.

[SUP]

That's a good idea dikman and chuck123wapati. Actually the handle is quite thick (not visible in the photographs) and I can hold it but because of the angular faces, it is not too comfortable. My concern is that it might slip. So the wood or leather on either side -   I can certainly do that. 

How do I get hard leather though? Is it available? Will soaking and drying make it hard - like when wet molding? I have found a bag that is absolutely hard - like cardboard and there is nothing needed to stiffen it. So something similar.  I could not find anything like it in Tandy though, even when I asked, back in January. They could not even explain how to make leather hard in a similar way.

I am thinking of gluing wood or leather on either side and then covering it with something waterproof - wood and leather can both rot if wet and it will get wet when sharpening the knife, since I use water on my whetstones.

On top of the waterproof layer, I can wrap thinner leather of any sort, to get it to a shape that is convenient to hold. At the most if it gets mold, I can re-wrap and do not have to do the entire thing.

[AlZilla]

@SUP I've got some 1911 grip blanks that claim to be coco bolo. I'll have to dig them out, but if they'd fit for you, I can mail you a couple on Monday.  Just flat pieces of wood, no holes drilled or anything.  PM me a mailing address, if interested.  No cost and not worth messing with the small cost of postage - I've been on the receiving end of enough things like this.

[AlZilla]

5 hours ago, SUP said:

How do I get hard leather though?

Wetting the leather (veg tan) and letting it dry hardens it, usually.  Hot water makes it even harder in my limited experiments.