Jerry, If this is your chosen method of construction just take your time and you'll get it. You might have to make a tool or two to make it easier. I make some broaches from new sawzall blades. I just grind away all but the last few teeth and taper the whole thing down and epoxy on a handle.

You may try burning the channel in after you drill the primary holes such as you have done. I forge a mock tang slightly smaller than the tang on my blade and put it in the vise (horizontally)and heat just the first 1/2 inch of the mock tang with a torch red hot. Then quickly shove the handle material (wood only) over the hot mock tang and push for a mere couple of seconds and pull it back off. Smoke and maybe some flame will come out so be careful. Gauge how deep the hole needs to be and try your blade. If it still is too tight, decide whether to continue burning or by using the broach, clean out the charred layer. Epoxy should take care of the rest.

You also may consider splitting the handle material and routing the two halves then gluing the two halves back together.

Thank you Lin, The sawzall blades are a good idea. I'll make a few. Jerry

Lin

Using the Sawzall blades is a great idea!

Jerry, there are a lot of questions there.

I first drill a hole with my drill press using a 1/4 inch auger style bit.

http://www.mscdirect.com/browse/tn/?searchAheadTerm=auger&searchAhead=true&hdrsrh=true&typahddsp=Auger+%26+Utility+Drill+Bits&navid=12106183#navid=12106183+4288151734

Drill for almost enough to fit the tang all the way in. If you can find a 3/16 inch bit, even better.

Then I use a plain piece of 1/8 inch steel rod (about 3-4 inches long)that I flattened out the last 1/4 inch or so and ground the shape oval (spade) and sharpened the edges. I put this in my Dremel tool and wallow out what more I need by sticking the spade end into the handle and giving it about 1/2 speed.

As for bedding the tang, to eliminate the slop, once you have the tang fitting all the way through the handle, and your threaded rod or sleeve attached, wrap the tang in teflon tape and smear the tape with vaseline or some oily compound (a glue release agent). Then shove the tang through the hole and clamp it against the guard and spacer assembly. Make sure you coat the guard and spacers first with the release agent before assembling the tang through the handle. clamp the whole thing in a vise and fill with bedding compound (almost any two-part epoxy works) and clean the excess off of where the butt cap attaches. It's critical that you align the handle with the blade in the desired final orientation.

When the epoxy sets up, remove the blade/tang/furniture assembly and any tape. The voids in the handle have been filled with bedding compound and the tang will slide right in after it's cured.

Good advice has already been given-probably can't add much helpful info. Doing those 3 hunters recently meant I got to spend some quality time making the tangs fit nicely in their handle blocks... To drill the tang holes, I started by tracing the tang on the side of the block. Took it to the drill press and put it in the vise, loosely. I tilted the block so the angle of the tang was in line with the bit (hope that makes sense) and drilled the top hole. Then I moved the block to drill the bottom hole for the tang and tilted it the other way, making sure it was more or less in line with the bit again and drilled. This gave me a "v" of sorts and I then drilled out the middle hole.

I tried getting as much out with the drill bit as I could, but ultimately spent a fair bit of time with files and my "broach". I use the sawzall blade method Lin already mentioned. Although I haven't put a handle on it yet... One problem I ran into was getting all the filings and dust out of the holes. I'm guessing it would get compacted when I kept pushing the tang in to check the fit? I ended up putting the drill bit in my drill and periodically "reamed" the cavity out with that (carefully) and then continued with the hand tools.

Lin's mock tang idea and burning it in is something I'm definitely going to be trying. Even if it's just to help clear some of the webbing or annoying little spot inside....should save a fair bit of file work.

As for the extra room in the block, is it side to side or up and down? I always get nervous about grinding into the epoxy, particularly at the finger guard area where it's generally the furthest up into the handle. If the slot is fairly tall, take a look to see if it's going to cause you a problem during shaping. If so, better to get a new block now than after you have more work into it.

Hope your knives are going well, Jerry. Looking forward to seeing them next week.

Jeremy

Guys, burning the channel in is not for the slow moving or the faint of heart. You absolutely have to heat just the end of the mock tang and when you shove it in, you really shove it in. As soon as it stops advancing, you take it back out, quickly. If you heat too far back on the mock up you will burn the entrance hole and it will char and that's not good. This method is just one of many ways to "handle" the issue. I use it some but not always. It really depends on the type of wood and whether I have other construction options. I usually choose the other options but in some cases the selected block of wood is not big enough to allow for sawing a kerf and re gluing or the wood is light in color and I don't like the joint to be contrasted with the light wood. I may then burn it in being careful to stay straight as mentioned. So there are a lot of considerations when deciding how to mortise the handle.

No matter how you make the hole, you have to stay on course and not let a drill wander or the hole swing wide or you will run the risk of exposing it while grinding. Allow yourself some working room but don't get sloppy or it will haunt you later.

Jerry, If you'll look under handles and guards here in the forum, MS Rhea did a great tutorial on making a mortised tang handle. It is a great method to achieve a nice tight fit. I use a mortising bit in my drill press. You can also use small chisels. This method really helps me keep the fit tight and straight. If you make sure your two sides are completely flat before the mortise is done, you'll think it's a single block of wood after it's glued up, and the edges sanded.

The trick is to find the method that works for you.

Bob

Hi Robert, Thank you for your reply, I have done a couple with MS Rhea's mortised method. They turned out quite well.

The wood I have for this knife I wanted to do a blind hole. Jerry

Thank you Jeremy, I got the tang slot made but what a chore. I was looking for some input for better methods. The sawzall blade broach I think is a great idea, I'm going to make one today and one with a jig saw blade. Have to work Saturday, so only have one day this weekend, need to take a day or two off next week. Jerry

Joshua, Thank you for the reply. I like the idea of the 1/8" rod and the teflon tape for the bedding process. I well try it soon. Jerry

I could never get the fit just right with the drilling/scraping method. Seemed like however close, when I glued the handle on it was always a bit off and I'd have to fix it. Some time back I switched over to the mortised tang and it is much easier to get a good fit. Basically, you cut the handle material in half and then chisel out the space for the tang. This way the cavity for the tang can be the exact size and shape of the tang. Lin Rhea wrote a great tutorial, it's posted on the ABS webpage.

Jerry,

I read a while back, here on the ABS forum, about making broaches from the sawsall blades. I did it and it helped immensely. You can use one or two or even three of them stacked together depending on how wide you need the hole to be. they remove more material quicker than I thought they would.

Ed C.