I am an idiot!

Dennis Morland

Dennis Morland

KNIFE MAKER
I hate myself for doing stupid stuff. When you think just one more tap, don’t do it. I am an idiot and now I start over.

3-BD56086-3-F17-483-A-8999-DC4-F8-A74-E9-F9.jpg


All cleaned up for a second attempt.

21CA2698-830F-411F-BE0D-543A9F26CA30.jpg
 
Oh man that’s an oops for sure. From the photo it looks like that pin is mighty close to the end grain. Have you considered going back with micarta scales?
 
Ouch! You might see if you can go a little larger on the holes with a # drill bit or sand your pins a little. I’m hind sight though, if those pins were that tight that scale may have cracked at sometime in the future just from humidity changes.
 
Completely changed the handle material. Going with yellow g10. These will be tough to crack. Still mad myself. Lost a couple of hours starting over. I am still an idiot!
 
I'll get looked at askance for the old school thoughts but tapered holes and annealed pins help avoid that a bit. That said, it's straight grain wood and too close to the end, like @opaul said.

Live and learn. A good portion of making knives is error correction. Don't agonize, just look at is as a mistake you'll never repeat if you've learned your lesson.
 
That sucks Dennis. Sorry to see that.

Curious.....have you considered not peening the pins anymore.

I haven't peened a pin in years. And I've had to remove scales twice. It was a HUGE pain. Basically took a hammer, bandsaw and grinder.

Just sayin'.
 
I also never peen pins in anything with a flat surface.........just roll them in the epoxy and grind them off smooth.......never had a problem ever.....I do like to peen antler scales with the bark still on but they are epoxied first .....left about 3/32 high and peened to leave a dimpled surface that looks good with rough surface antler.....I always support bottom side of pin against a solid surface when peening and use a 12 oz max ball peen with polished surface.....if you take your time you get a nice domed pin head that looks great when buffed
 
Yeah, no need to peen on wood. In fact, if a pin is too tight on wood scales it will cause the wood to crack later (ask me how I know! ruined a beautiful set of amboyna scales). Now I have the pins so they can easily slide in holes through both sides. Then lotsa epoxy!
 
Dennis Morland said:
Here you go Sean. A yellow g10 bolster with stag scales knife.

ED9-ECD91-5-A83-427-B-BCFD-615157-F4-F50-B.jpg


28-C5-D615-4-A53-40-DC-BE2-F-0-BCC5-A04-D5-D3.jpg
Click to expand...
Dennis, I'm still a newbie, so is there a tutorial somewhere explaining how to make a layered bolster like this? I can think of several ways this might be done, but something tells me there's one right or best way. Is it simply a matter of gluing up the layers and then shaping them?
 
KentuckyFisherman said:
Dennis, I'm still a newbie, so is there a tutorial somewhere explaining how to make a layered bolster like this? I can think of several ways this might be done, but something tells me there's one right or best way. Is it simply a matter of gluing up the layers and then shaping them?
Click to expand...
I am not sure if there is a right or wrong way to make a layered bolster. The way I made this one was attaching the biggest/front part (yellow) to the knife. I let the epoxy cure overnight. I made sure to clean off all the epoxy from the back of the bolster so the black/yellow would rest tight to the big yellow bolster. I then attached black/yellow/black x2 to the big yellow bolster on the knife. Again, one side and I let the epoxy cure overnight. Next day, I did the other side. Then the stage on one side. Then the stag on the other side. Took me a week to epoxy the handle together. I missed by a wee bit getting them perfectly lined up.

1-C078-C57-9-AC0-46-D0-A134-8-E0-E49-D0-B63-F.jpg
 
Dennis Morland said:
I am not sure if there is a right or wrong way to make a layered bolster. The way I made this one was attaching the biggest/front part (yellow) to the knife. I let the epoxy cure overnight. I made sure to clean off all the epoxy from the back of the bolster so the black/yellow would rest tight to the big yellow bolster. I then attached black/yellow/black x2 to the big yellow bolster on the knife. Again, one side and I let the epoxy cure overnight. Next day, I did the other side. Then the stage on one side. Then the stag on the other side. Took me a week to epoxy the handle together. I missed by a wee bit getting them perfectly lined up.

1-C078-C57-9-AC0-46-D0-A134-8-E0-E49-D0-B63-F.jpg
Click to expand...
Many thanks. That helps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top