Thread: Knifemaking photo-essay (6) Fitting the handle slabs

The previous post in this series was: https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....-guard-105186/

Preparing the handle slabs.

I often use Wenge (millettia laurentii) for knife handles. This timber is hard, dense, has good dimensional stability, has a pleasing appearance, and it glues well with epoxy.

1) Cutting an 8.5 mm thick slice from a 250 mm long slab of Wenge.

2) I make my knives with a slightly forward-angled guard. Here, I’m measuring the angle (which was 3 degrees).

Using the drop saw, I make a 3 degree cut at each end of the Wenge slice, then cut it (more or less) in half.

3) The blank and its two handle slabs. Note the top slab has a circled “L” – this slab is for the left hand side.

4) I set up the slabs so the grain will be angled as shown here (the top of the image is the top of the knife). Thus, it’s important to keep track of which slab is for which side!