Hey folks,
In an attempt to learn more about different knife styles and fabrication techniques, I have asked my friends and family if they had any projects I could do for them strictly for broadening my knowlege. Recently, I was asked to do a handle restoration on a USMC style fighter. As I'm sure you guessed, it has a stacked leather handle that looks like it got left out in the rain and the leather disks have warped and cracked. I have never done a knife restoration or a leather handle before, so I decided to tap into the wealth of knowlege that this forum has to offer. If you know of any books, threads, or articles on the subject of stacked leather handles or on knife restoration in general, I would greatly appreciate it.
I'm assuming that you essentially have a bunch of 1 1/2 inch square pieces of leather with a hole cut into them in the middle to slide over the tang. Epoxy is added on both sides of each square and then slid onto the tang and then clamped to make a tight fit. Then it's sanded to shape after the epoxy cures.
My main questions are:
1.) What is the ideal leather thickness/weight to use?
2.) What epoxy would you recommend?
3.) How would you remove the buttcap? The tang is peined to the cap. Remember, this is a restoration project.
4.) Would a small chainsaw or needle file be good to make the groves? And after the groves are in place, is the darker color dyed or burned in?
5.) Is it better to have the leather disks cut into a circle before stacking or is square fine?
If you want some pictures, I'll be happy to post them. Any suggestions or feedback are welcome.
Thanks,
Patrick
Patrick, I want to recommend you go to YouTube.com and type in "Leather Stacked Handle". Or "Stacked Leather Knife Handle". Stuart Smith has a nice video that covers most of what you're wanting to see.
There will be some things you're going to have to figure out in real time since the project you'll be on is unique to that design.
Patrick,
I've done more than a few stacked leather handles, and I'm in the process of restoring an old Ka-Bar myself, so maybe I can help you.
1.) What is the ideal leather thickness/weight to use? I'd go with 8-9oz
2.) What epoxy would you recommend? I've used 5 min epoxy before with great success- just know you'll have keep mixing more
3.) How would you remove the buttcap? The tang is peined to the cap. Remember, this is a restoration project. Cut it off, Weld on more tang. Re-opeen when you're done
4.) Would a small chainsaw or needle file be good to make the groves? Thats fine. And after the groves are in place, is the darker color dyed or burned in? Dealers choice here- these handles are mass produced, so the color is probably a result of heat from machining. I'd leave it, and allow it to darken naturally from sweat and use.
5.) Is it better to have the leather disks cut into a circle before stacking or is square fine? Square is fine- you're going to grind it off anyways.
I hope this helps.
-Evan
Evan L. Cihak
|quoted:
Patrick, I want to recommend you go to YouTube.com and type in "Leather Stacked Handle". Or "Stacked Leather Knife Handle". Stuart Smith has a nice video that covers most of what you're wanting to see.
There will be some things you're going to have to figure out in real time since the project you'll be on is unique to that design.
Thank you for the advice. His video left a few questions unanswered but it was a good help to see his process. He uses a custom punch that looks like it'll save me a lot of time. I didnt think of making the holes for the tang different sizes, but just one -size-fits-all kind of deal. It's probably stronger to do it his way. Do you think his way of sealing the leather by heating it and applying beeswax is the best method? It could be the video, but it looked like it left uneven coloring on the leather.
|quoted:
Patrick,
I've done more than a few stacked leather handles, and I'm in the process of restoring an old Ka-Bar myself, so maybe I can help you.
1.) What is the ideal leather thickness/weight to use? I'd go with 8-9oz
2.) What epoxy would you recommend? I've used 5 min epoxy before with great success- just know you'll have keep mixing more
3.) How would you remove the buttcap? The tang is peined to the cap. Remember, this is a restoration project. Cut it off, Weld on more tang. Re-opeen when you're done
4.) Would a small chainsaw or needle file be good to make the groves? Thats fine. And after the groves are in place, is the darker color dyed or burned in? Dealers choice here- these handles are mass produced, so the color is probably a result of heat from machining. I'd leave it, and allow it to darken naturally from sweat and use.
5.) Is it better to have the leather disks cut into a circle before stacking or is square fine? Square is fine- you're going to grind it off anyways.
I hope this helps.
-Evan
This was a huge help Evan. It cleared up a few questions that weren't clear on the videos I've seen. Thank you. Do you treat the leather after it is shaped and sanded or do you prefer to let it to darken naturally with the oil from the user's hand?
Patrick, Stacked leather has been used for decades and I would imagine there's a lot of differing opinions on the sealing methods. This is one of those things where you should observe several methods and decide which will suit the use of the knife for you. Or suit your available resources.
Ernie Grospich has a stacked leather stabilization method on his site where you stack it into a block and then drill and fit it like wood. I think you can type in "Blue Lightning stencils" and find it.
Much appreciated, Lin. I found his site without any problems and it looks like it's just what I need. Thank you.
