How to attach scales to Damascus?

Gliden07

Well-Known Member
Well I'm just sitting here and have another question. How do you attach scales to a Damascus blade without messing up the etch on a full tang knife??
 
There are several options......

-Attached the scales as you would for any other knife, then finish everything down and leave the edges satin finished (or polished...as you choose).
-Mock fit, and finish the scales on the knife (attach the scales in a way that they are removable). Finish the scales/handle, then remove the scales, etch the blade, and then do the final attachment of the scales. (lots of variations here.... the easiest method is to mock fit the scales in place, and apply Vaseline to everything you don't want glue to cure on, then attach/glue the scales. Any cured glue can be easily "popped off" with a sharpened brass rod or similar)
-Etch the blade, then permanently attach the scales, finish everything down, then selectively etch the edges. This is hit-n-miss at best because most of the time it's very difficult to get the same looking etch on the edges as the rest of the blade.

I'm sure there are many other ones, but those are methods I use.

Most of the time I simply finish off the edges as I'm finishing the handle scales, and then satin finish all the edges. In cases where I want the pattern shown around the edges, I carefully plan out how I'm going to go about assembly/finishing, based on each individual knife.
 
Well I have my answers! Thank you guys for chiming in. I appreciate the help!

By the way Calvin love the knife. That's the type of knife I like shape, handle etc... Woods beautiful and the Damascus is awesome. Do you forge your own or buy the billets??
 
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