about finishing a knife

thanks guys

i bought white-ish masking tape yesterday, i did see it before but wasnt so sure if it was IT. so tried it and didnt leave any adhesive layer or stain. so im set on the tape side

today will attach two handles and then will see how the whole proces goes

another question, you guys said to finish the spine and tang THEN attach handle, if we factor in that i need to use coarse grits so handle wont burn, wouldnt that be redundant? (i mean i would scratch the already finished parts of the tang then have to go up in grits to finish anyway) or do you all shape(i mean profile) handle scales seperately then attach? what i did so far is preshape and leave roughly 1-3mm to profile after gluing

i read what i wrote several times, not sure if it makes any sense, but think i can rephrase it differently
 
I think I understand exactly what your question is and will try to answer as best I can. On a full tang knife the only part of the handle I will as completely as possible finish are the two fronts (that mate up to the ricasso). I will pin the slabs together and shape and sand up to my finished grit before they are epoxied onto the blade. Then will use a brand new 60 or 120 grit belt to bring the slabs down very close to the tang then switch to a 220 the up to 400, etc... I try to always use a new belt with wood handles because they cut better and can still be used on steel afterward. But usually a belt that has been used on steel isn't a good choice to use on wood as it is no longer sharp. Of course at this point the blade is taped up and you can see the tape being chewed up as you get close to the tang while shaping the handle, don't worry about it. Later when you take the tape off all you'll have to do is run spine of the knife against the belt to clean up the spine and blend in all the scratchs to a consistant pattern all the way to the tip.

Hope this helps!
 
I pre-shape my handle material before glue-up so it's just a little larger in profile than the tang. This way I'm not "searching" for the tang while grinding the final profile.

After glue-up- Use a rough belt (36) to grind the scales down to just a few thousandths from the tang then switch to a 220 and bring the scale flush to the tang. hand finish from there.

I hand finish the spine on the blade section before glue up but don't worry about the handle section until after glue-up because it would be redundant to do that twice.

If you get into the tang a little with the 36 just clean it up with the 220. A little caution though and you shouldn't have any problems.

This is of course for permanently assembled handles. Getting into removable scales, full takedowns, allignment pins and such will necessitate a different process. I'd recommend getting this process down pat before getting into the more advance stuff.

Don't worry.... You got this !

-Josh
 
ok NOW it makes sense!

i think i worded my question wrong before or something with using 'profile'

thanks a lot guys

Josh, so far i'm sticking with pins and adhesion, rest as you said is bit advanced, and actually corby's don't make sense to me, why use a screw then remove the part that is used to unscrew?! and i wont worry about that until i get there :)

thanks again
 
FWIW, I think corbys are GREAT fasteners. However they are not meant for takedown construction.

The main benefit IMHO of corby's, Loveless bolts, flared tubing, or properly peened pins are a mechanical joint that doesn't rely on adhesive for the strength of the bond.

Don't wish to open a can of worms but I personally like that and think it's important.

-Josh
 
Josh, too late, can open, worms everywhere! :p

i think i would like to attach handles without adhesion, but that as you say is probably advanced stuff

Laurence, i liked the bolts and they do seem fairly simple, but pricey for a guy who will buy online, ship overseas, and doesnt even make money yet :)
 
new challenges popped up. (they really keep coming dont they?)

when hand sanding the bevel the fine line (becel border) seperating it from the flat gets... unsharp, how fix that? so far after finiahing hand sanding i touched it up on platen, but i knw sooner or later i will mess up. so hand sand flat? (tried it but didnt look so good, or maybe i did something wrong?). same goes for ricasso btw

the width-of-push-stick scratch line, i think that happens when i get in to do the plunge the side nearer to me makes the scratches

i REALLY cant thank you guys enough for all the help!!
 
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