How do I remove handles from full tang and stick tang knives?

G

Grapevine

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Mar 5, 2002
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I have a handful of good quality production knives that I've loved using, but don't really like the handle material in terms of looks. I'd like to see if I can replace them myself. I realize that I would need to destroy the old handles but don't know how to efficiently go about it. I'm just a minor knife collector but I do have some equipment. I have a small 1" x 30" belt grinder from Harbor Freight, a Dremel, various ubiquitous tools like drills, saws, files, and other hand tools. What do I need to do to get the old handles off and the blade down to the bare tang on these:

1. A full tang knife with micarta slabs, epoxied and held with flush pins, no guard.

2. A hidden tang with wood handle and one pin, finger guard up front.

3. A full tang with epoxied cord wrap. (I'm thinking just soak the handle in acetone?)


Thanks.
 
Depending on the epoxy,you might be able to heat it to the point that it looses its adhesion. If you have an old toaster oven you could try that. Do it outside as some of the gases that are given off might be toxic and I wouldn't heat above 350 fahrenheit as you might soften the temper on the knives. I'd keep others away and stand upwind of the oven.

You could just grind them down. The wood handle is probably glued on with epoxy.
 
99% of all handles I remove are done with a spcial "Handle Removal Tool" .
A photo of this tool is below:
 

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I would drill out any pins. Have a bucket of ice water ready. Heat the handles with a heat gun and get it very hot around 300 *+ and dunk in the ice water. This can break the epoxy bond in many cases. If it does not then hammer will do it as Stacy suggested.
 
Thanks guys. I was going to get all fancy and buy a heat gun, having read through one of Nick Wheeler's wip threads where he had to remove a handle he'd epoxied on because something was off with the wood and he used a heat gun. But if boiling would do it then all the better.

And I never knew the hammer was used in cases like this. It makes sense but for some reason I thought you guys used more finesse.
 
Water boils at 212* and many epoxies release in the 300-350* range. Some weaker epoxies will soften with boiled water, stronger epoxies often will not.

If you do choose to boil it, dunk it in ice water directly from the hot water. Hot then cold can break epoxy bonds.
 
And I would add a wood chisel to the hammer. Slide it close to the tang and gently tap with hammer to seperate scales from tang.
 
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