Radiusing handles

Daniel Koster

Daniel Koster

www.kosterknives.com
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 18, 2001
Messages
20,978
I've been pretty much winging it, freehanding, whatever you want to call it, at the belt sander and I got to thinking that maybe there's a better, more efficient way.

I do really good at rounding handles, doing contours, etc. However I see a lot of knives that are simply radiused - and with a very consistent turn.

How do you guys do it?

Dan
 
its kinda like the way you grind a convex blade by making a series of flats. i like to end up with a oval or egg shaped handle. grind 45% at the four corners then eight 45% on the new corners and keep going. hope this helps.
 
Dan I don't know how, but this works for me. I start off squaring the handle, grind corners off at 45 degrees, then just rock it on my grinder. Handles come out evenly round. The 45 degree angles on the 4 corners I usually grind lengthways, and the top round I grind lenghtways, also. It's just the way I developed the feel on my Baldor single speed, But it works good. I think the lenghtway long angle cuts help keep the whole thing in even proportion. The final rough grinding is cross grain grinding, but by the time I start this, the whole handle is evenly proportioned. I end up with an oval shape. If I wanted a true round, I just use my lathe. How's that for organized confusion?
 
I hope I understand the question correctly.

Dan, with a file, knock the sharp edges off the length of handle. Continue to do this in 'draw file' motion watching to keep the line along the length of handle consistant in width. As you go increase the radius along the handle length. Eventually ending up working it that way all the way to the tang. All the filing should be performed in a curving motion; starting sharp and short at first and finally ending up in a long curving draw filing motion, from face of scale to tang.

Just twist your wrist in a short curve as you draw file so as to make the cut curve. Start with a short curve along the the handle length. Increase the distance of draw file and depth of cut as you continue each new pass.

Finish with sanding papers and a rubber eraser used as a sanding block.

Roger
 
Originally posted by pendentive
I've been pretty much winging it, freehanding, whatever you want to call it, at the belt sander and I got to thinking that maybe there's a better, more efficient way.

I do really good at rounding handles, doing contours, etc. However I see a lot of knives that are simply radiused - and with a very consistent turn.

How do you guys do it?

Dan
Click to expand...

yup.. I pretty much winging it, freehanding too :)
 
forgot to say that this is done slack belt, free hand. also 100 grit belts and up i use hermes superflex j weight belts. these really help blend all the angles into a radius.
 
Thanks for the replies and good help.

I didn't do a good job explaining what I'm talking about, I think. Sorry. I'll have another go at it. Maybe pics will help.


3 cross-section drawings:

On left: handle slabs glued up to a full tang

Middle: the way I typically radius my handles

On right: the way I've seen other makers do it - with a smaller radius, the handle left basically the same shape as the tang.

attachment.php




I usually can't get mine to be that consistent, so I end up just radiusing to the tang. Make sense? I'm wondering what tricks y'all have for acheiving an exact, consistent radius.

Thanks.

Dan
 
A local fellow up here does his handles like that with a router table equipped with a roundover bit with a bearing that would ride alond the tang. Seems to me like a potential winner for the "best shop accidents" award but he swore by it and the fact that it was "safe". He did this with the handle slabs attached to the knife.

Hugh
 
I do a lot of "rounding" by using a piece of 1x48 belt. By grabbing both ends of the belt and with the knife in a vise (blade down), I can shape pretty easily and quickly by "sawing" back and forth with the belt. If the belt is good and broken in, you can wrap the belt around the handle and get good consistent rounding cuts on all four corners instead of two. Don't know if that made sense or not.
 
yup.. I pretty much winging it, free handing

it's the same a trying to keep the grinds the same on both
side of the blade. but more like 3 D The slack belt can work for you
with the feel for it..

I do the profile first
then work the sides down going from one side to
the other keeping them as uniform as I can, and at the same time
contouring with the slack belt, rotating the handle.
once I get the sides where I want them,
I'll knock off the corners (edges) and then put the knife in the vise
then I strip up some sand paper about 1/2"x11" from 320 grit to 400
I use mostly the 400 grit.
then I start rounding the profile with one or the other up in the vice
the edge or the back bone then do the other. I use a chain saw file
to contour the finger guard aria then the sanding with
strips at about 1/4"x 11" then
hand sand all over to a fine grit ( grit depending on what I'm
working with.)then I buff (again depending on what I'm
working with for type of rouge )that's it in a nut shell for me..
the strips wrapped over the whole back or bottom will round out
the roughed shape very well.

pulling the strip ends like a stropping motion, if I explained it right. :( kind of like buffing shoes with a rag
 
Originally posted by Graymaker
pulling the strip ends like a stropping motion, if I explained it right. kind of like buffing shoes with a rag
Click to expand...
Yeah...I use this tecnique as well. However, I end up eating away quite a bit of the "shoulder" of the handle slabs (the part right next to the tang.

The router idea sounds way too scary for me. Though, I guess it would work if you did just the handle slabs by themselves, with a hold-down guard installed and using push sticks. Too much work, though. :(
 
Dan
since I posted here last
I took some pictures of one I started this morning
and just now finished, if the pictures came out ok
I'll post a tutorial on handles ,,the way I do them..
this one has 2 mosaic pins and a thong tube
( N/S Guard I made yesterday and one of the slabs I had epoxied on yesterday also.)
the rest I did this morning. less than 2 hours as you can see
 
Don't know if this is of any use to anyone else, but I use the contact wheel.

I use the platen to grinding off the excess handle material down to the tang. Then I setup the 8" wheel and a 120 belt. (If there are finger grooves I use a 1/2" wheel for just that area.)

Like everyone I cut a 45 on all 4 edges. I hold the knife point up and move the knife up and down. Then I split that and make 8 new edges. Then into the vice for the shoeshine treatment.

Why a contact wheel? Against a platen I can't follow the curves without a gouge somewhere. However, on the wheel not only can I avoid that, but I can also see better. Looking down on the knife I can see exactly where I am working. Yes it takes a light touch. Yes you have to keep moving to keep the line smooth. But I can also slow down on the metal bolster and make the lines match.

This is also the only way I know you can do it with palm swells. You can follow about any contour.

Not for everyone, but works very well for me.

Steve
 
Excellent pics Graymaker!

That's gonna be a first rate tutorial.

Dang I wish I'd seen pics like that when I started out!

Steve
 
3/16ths, That guy you talked about, do they refer to him as "Lefty" now? You know, the guy with no right hand and probably no fingers on the left hand? I agree, I would not like to try it his way, either.
 
Dan,

I looked at your drawings. They tell exactly what you want answered. Just as I said before but not so radical. File and move your file a half or little better file width further down the handle and file equally again; repeat. Remain consistant so as to keep the curve width equal. As you progress increase the distance of your curve from scale face to tang. Too keep check on how constistent your line is you can flat sand the scale faces with a fine grit paper backed by a sanding block. The curve line will show and show how consistent it's width is along the handle length.

Roger
 
I pretty much eyeball it like every one else. I finish by shoe- shining with a 1/2" strip of paper (various grits) This tends to blend and average everything out. Be sure to leave a small flat either side of your tang (1/6 to 3/32 depending on size of handle} to act as a guide. The transition from flat to radius is so slight it will disappear when you buff, or you can blend a little more by running 400gt length-ways following the profile.
Hope this helps.
 
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