how do you guys make a stacked leather handle?

D

DaQo'tah Forge

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Hi this is DaQo'tah...

well,,,Now it is time for me to learn the tricks to a stacked leather handle....

I dont have a clue....

The reason I want to learn how to make this type of handle is,,,,well,,,I got a ton of left-over leather from making sheaths for the last 15 knives I have made...

So,,,as far as I understand how to make this type of handle,,,,I need to first cut a bunch of leather sections,,,like 1 and 1/2 inch square right?

then use the drill press to make the holes in each leather for the tang, correct?

Now about the tang,,,I need to weld on some type of bolt to the tang so that I can use a but-cap nut to make the stacked leathers real tight...correct"

does the bolt have to be brass if the nut is brass?


(is there a website where this is all talked about?)
 
The way I make my stacked leather is first get some heavy weight tooling leather and of course make SQUARE washers. 2. Cut the holes, or drill. 3. Get them wet and stack. While wet, run a bolt with a washer through them. 4. Put a washer and nut on the other end and tighten down, compressing the washers. 4. let dry. You can stack these on a regular tang and attatch any type of pommel/buttcap. I always place the stack on the tang in the same order as they were stacked on the bolt. Use contact cement for each leather contact surface, let dry, and stack them on the tang. I have a slightly over size tang hole and use Acra Glas Gel on the tang and fill in the extra room with the 'Glas as I stack the leather washers. The washers will hold great with the contact cement. The tooling leather washers are compressed by the wet forming, so with the contact cement between the washers, the washers don't move around and form gaps with the weather after sealed and finished. Some leather washer handles are made with uncompressed washers and tend to shrink and expand with the weather, but the wet forming eliminates this. you will like the way the leather washer handle grinds during the profiling. I start out with a course belt and LIGHTLY finish with a medium grit belt. Be careful, the belt really eats the leather, and go slow enough not to burn the leather. Go light with the belt. I make oversized SQUARE washers and use them; this gives you an easier reference for profiling. Seal and buff, as desired. That's it in a nutshell.
 
okay John,,,if I have this right,,,,I do this:

1- cut square leather spacers
2-drill the tang hole a bit over size in each spacer
3- wet all the spacers
4- slide spacers onto a long type of bolt and tighten nut down
5- let dry
6- take off bolt and start to place on tang with some type of cement between each spacer
7-fill tang gaps with cement
8- tighten end cap

sand to shape....



okay?



question...I am going to be welding a bolt onto the tang for the butt-cap/nut to go on,,I need to know if the bolt and nut should both be brass?
 
What I normaly do for the but cap is to take two steel nuts, one that has the threads drilled out, and weld together useing a bolt for an alighnment tool. Then I grind the resulting mess roughly round and silver braze, thread side up-drilled side to butcap, to the but cap, be it nickle silver or brass. The silver braze has more than enough strength for this aplication.

I thread the butcap onto a bolt silver brazed to the tange. I prefere silver braze because it can actualy be stronger than a weld, due to the extream heat of welding. Especaily with 52100 and 5160. Even with silver brazing I do a couple of normalize draws to the tange/braze area, with a blue heat draw or two. Just wrap a wet strip of cotten around the gaurd juntion on both sides and you should be fine.

The extra space on the nut is just so I can beasured of getting a full nut of threads on the tange. Not realy necisary but thats how I do it.

The nut and bolt I use is just standard grade 5 steel nut and bolt, no reasone brass wouldn't work though.

Hope this helps,

Will
 
I handle the tang the same way Will does, but I drill and tap my pommels to the same thread pitch as the bolt on the tang. I use the pommel itself to cinch down the handle. A good prefit is essential with this method so that everything lines up when glued and torqued into place. I sand the bolt off flush with the pommel and polish. The pommel has the "birds eye" effect of the Loveless style bolts. I typically use a stainless, fine thread bolt on the tang.
 
I've never made 'stacked leather' handle but when I need a butt cap I silver braze a connecter nut (just a long nut) to the butt cap and eather thread the tang or braze a bolt (without the head, of course)to it. Haven't had one come off with actors using them. That means the hardest use possible!
Lynn
 
You are welcome, and no, they don't both have to be brass or steel. For the contact cement I use Ross brand contact cement in the 3 fl. oz. bottles. What is nice, the bottlcap has an application brush that works good. And the stuff really sticks! About every store sells it, cheap. Actually, the leather handles are not hard to do, at all.If you use metal spacers or another material for spacers, I would use the 'Glas for those joints, but the contact cement would probably work OK in a pinch. Just let the surfaces pretty much dry before you stick them together with the cement.It dries pretty quick, and still tacky is ok, too. Another advantage with the wet formed "washers", you don't need near as much pressure when cranking down the stack on the tang, and the leather won't tend to wash out; they will keep their shape.
 
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