Repairing/replacing a round knife handle

[SpruceMoose]

Hello

I recently acquired a w.rose round knife that I'm going to have to repair, most likely completely replace the ferrule and handle. I've scoured the forums and have read quite a bit by folks here who have restored many a knife. 

That said I am looking for more information and detail on making a handle(once I figure out how it is attached/assembled). I have no experience in this department though I have always been able to learn new skills adequately enough to do a functioning, half decent looking job, more utilitarian wise, maybe not so much finesse with carpentry or wood working in general.

Though I would love to, I am not able to send it to be professionally restored currently, though it may be something I could do in the future if anyone knows what an approximate range might be in cad. 

I have much for hardwood(ash, maple, birch), I found some curly maple, thought that might be nice though it is not kiln dried, just a hunk of seasoned wood yet to be fondled.

 

 

Any links to videos, previous threads I might have missed, etc would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

-Cheyenne

Edited December 16, 2019 by SpruceMoose

[chuck123wapati]

Handles like these were installed by having a hole or notch cut in them the same size as the shank, tight fit!  then the brass piece would be slid on the shank as far as it would go and then the wood would be pressed or hammered on and the resulting expansion of the tight fit would fill the brass piece and it would tighten up. As you can see over the years the handle loosened up and it was driven on deeper causing the brass to tear and the handle to split, to bad whomever didn't soak the handle so it wouldn't have dried out.  You can shape the handle with a draw knife, or cut out with a saw and use files, rasps to shape it. You can, once you take it apart and see the shank either try to make a one piece handle by taking another piece of metal the same size and shape as the shank heating it and burning in the slot, then repair the brass and pound it back on with a hammer and finish it . Or you can drill it out, cut some grooves in the shank, so the glue will hold  and fill in any extra space with epoxy. Or you can drill  a hole in the shank, if its not to hard, drill out the handle wood and epoxy then drive a brass pin through the handle and hole you drilled to better hold the handle.  These two thing can be done with basic hand tools. and none would require the brass piece but you can hammer it back into shape and solder the torn edge and put it back on if you like. Curly Maple would be beautiful handle indeed I use it a lot just burn it a bit with a torch to get the grain to stand out, rub down with steel wool then BLO for the finish. Hickory would be good also Cool old knife!!!

[zuludog]

Making a new handle will be straightforward enough. I have made skiving knives and a Japanese style leather knife from shaped & sharpened plane blades and industrial hacksaw blades, that use a similar type of handle

Take off the old handle  to reveal a spike called a tang that fits into the handle. Clean up the blade; roughly shape your wood & drill it; fit the tang into the hole, not forgetting the ferrule; glue it all together with 2 part epoxy glue; finish shaping the handle

Search YouTube for 'making a hidden tang knife handle' - there are lots of them. Watch a few to get the general idea. They will be mostly for fixed blade/ hunting type knives, but the general construction techniques will be the same. 

I suspect the tang will be fairly short, so you probably won't want to make anything fancy with lots of spacers

Cover the blade with tape as this will protect the blade from scratches; protect your fingers from the blade; and provide a better grip in the vice

I used a piece of copper water pipe for a ferrule

It's a nice idea to make a fitted sheath or cover for the blade.

[chuck123wapati]

did I say shank instead of tang? Freudian mistake on my part doh sorry. I think you will find a flat tang, its very hard to get a flat ferrule over a round tang so the hard part is getting a slot in a piece of wood, the way I do it is I take a piece of over size rectangular stock and use drill bits the same thickness as my tang and use my drill press to drill a line of holes the right thickness to the right depth, then clean out in between the holes as best as I can with a hand drill and the same bit. then I heat my tang and burn out the rest of the crap in the slot but you don't want to heat your tang its already been tempered and you could easily ruin it so I would take another piece of metal and make it the same size and shape and use it to burn out the slot .  After that  I would file or grind some notches in the tang to better hold the epoxy and glue it up and tap it on with a hammer from the butt end of the handle. You can either shape the handle after final install or before  but you have to cut the groove in first so you can shape the handle correctly, true and straight with the blade.

Or you can do like I did this blade with two pieces of maple, its easier to cut the groove in both pieces but much harder to get it centered to look right as well you have to pin it to the tang, as shown in the pic,  and that may require hardened bits if the tang has been hardened and tempered also, I use the above method much more often than this way.

[SpruceMoose]

Thank you both for the information,  I look forward to fixing up this round knife!

-Cheyenne

[dikman]

Another option. Get two pieces of wood that are flat so they fit together nicely, lay the tang on one, draw around it and then chisel out just enough to lay the tang in. Glue the tang and both pieces together with epoxy. When dry saw/file/sand etc to the shape you want. You won't have a ferrule but it's not needed anyway as it's only there for decoration. Later on you can always break this handle off if you decide to fit a ferrule and "traditional" bored handle.