Making a handle for my knife

[Mark]

Pran,

You are correct about the holes being filled. You drill all of the holes and then pour it, then shape everything down to how you want the handle to be. And it looks like everything is finely fitted. Just make sure teh handle is dry as I mentioned earlier so you don't get any bubbles.

[Pran]

Mark,
Got the idea.Will post once I'm through with it.
Pran

[sudhakardm]

Pran

I dont know the application of the knife. but as far as my knowledge is concerned, the sharpness will come only when the material is a bit brittle.A stainless steel will not have a good perforamance as a knife. It requires a little tempering. especially an SS is a difficult material to get proper sharpness. I have experienced it.

sudhakar

[Pran]

Pran

It requires a little tempering

Tempered it in old motor oil.A knife(spring steel) that I tempered using motor oil retains it's edge quite well.
Do post pictures of the knife/knives you've made.

Pran

[Pran]

Had a funny experience while tempering a knife yesterday.The oil caught fire as soon as I dipped the red hot knife in it.Could the presence of unburnt hydrocarbons in the old motor oil be the cause?

Pran

PS:The oil was from a bike with leaky piston rings

[Mark]

That sound like a good guess to me.

It is also the reason why they recommend there be a lid to cover the oil pot but to be honest I never had one, the fire goes out soon enough.

A good reason to make a cover for tehm though is they do get a layer of water in the bottom of them otherwise (due to condensation) and the moisture will put little spots on the blade when you quench it.

[Pran]

Mark,
Should I stop using motor oil and shift to 'quenching oil' instead?

Pran

[kragiesardar]

You may also want to consider leather. My brother and myself used to make handles out of it and I have seen several in the US made by diffrent companies. You take a pipe, sharpen the edges, get leather from a mochi and punch out the leather washers by placing the leather on wood and then sharpened pipe on it and giving the non sharpened edge a smart whack with a block of wood or a hammer. You will also need aluminium and brass washers.
On the end of the tang get a bolt with the head cut of and silver solder. Then get a long piece of brass, drill a hole in it, bend it in whatever way you want and slide it on first. This is the the front of your handle so it should be real strong, you can shape it however you like, we used to shape it oblong. Following that slide on the leather and brass / aluminium however you want. Over stack the leather so that you have leather all the way to the end of the threaded portion of the bolt. Then put on a real fat or a couple of washers, these should be metal, thread on the nut and tighten real hard so the leather is really compressed. Now you can use a belt sander or a grinder to shape the handle. The belt sander will give the leather a suede like appearence, the grinder will give the leather a hard surface. you can also have the retaining nut made into a nice shape on lathe.
We used to use carbon steel from roadsprings for our blades and then used to grind them into shape. Never had good luck with a lohar forging them as the temper always was off, either too hard so the steel shattered or too soft.
Good luck!

[TenX]

You may also want to consider leather. My brother and me used to make handles out of it and I have seen several in the US made by diffrent companies. You take a pipe, sharpen the edges, get leather from a mochi and punch out the leather washers by placing the leather on wood and then sharpened pipe on it and giving the non sharpened edge a smart whack with a block of wood or a hammer. You will also need aluminium and brass washers.
On the end of the tang get a bolt with the head cut of and silver solder. Then get a long piece of brass, drill a hole in it, bend it in whatever way you want and slide it on first. This is the the front of your handle so it should be real strong, you can shape it however you like, we used to shape it oblong. Following that slide on the leather and brass / aluminium however you want. Over stack the leather so that you have leather all the may to the end of the threaded portion of the bolt. Then put on a real fat or a couple of washers, these should be metal, thread on the nut and tighten real hard so the leather is really compressed. Now you can use a belt sander or a grinder to shape the handle. The belt sander will give the leather a suede like appearence, the grinder will give the leather a hard surface. you can also have the retaining nut made into a nice shape on lathe.
We used to use carbon steel from roadsprings for our blades and then used to grind them into shape. Never had good luck with a lohar forging them as the temper always was off, either too hard so the steel shattered or too soft.
Good luck!

I guess i have seen such a handle in one of the knives a friend of mine had got from Jodhpur, but that was many years ago.
recently, when I visited an exhibition in Mysore, I bought a cheap knife made of pipe and roadsprings. The sardar who was selling it, also did mention about giving it a leather handle for a couple of hundred bucks more .. maybe he meant something similar