Wanna see one come to life?

[savagesicslayer]

I recently ordered a Lauri little leuku 145 and fixins.
My plan is to make a little leuku with a birch bark handle. Now, I have never attempted this on a large scale before (I just added bark spacers to other handles) but this time it was big league stuff.
I went to my parents farm to source my bark. My folks still burn wood so seasoned hunks of birch bark weren't too hard to come by.
I chopped them all up roughly equal and assembled them in an old basket my Mrs had and set to work.
The people on YouTube make it look easy. Experience and skill help with that a lot. I knocked mine together as best as I could. I used a little epoxy between the layers because this wasn't a looking at knife, it will be a user.
Then, to my utter horror, I realized I was short on bark! Damn rookie mistake. I supplemented it with a hard ol hunk of moose antler to augment the gap.
Later, I set to shaping the handle with my band saw and then I set upon the works with my trusty half round rasp and a dremel with sanding drums.
Alas, I had to abandon the project temporarily as I had to go to stupid work. I'll get right back to it this weekend when I'm free again.
Thanks for making it this far. Here's some WIP shots of this little beast step by step as a reward.

 

[savagesicslayer]

Thanks mods. I knew you'd set me right.

 

[Mitchell Knives]

Looks good so far.

Interested to see how it turns out!

 

[oldmanwilly]

Wow, that looks great so far! Out of curiosity, did you wait for the epoxy to cure before peening the tang?

I ask because I've always been curious how to effectively peen a tang such that the pommel and stacked handle stay nice and tight. Do you have to compress the handle materials while you peen the tang, or does the peening process provide enough compression to bring it all together?

 

[savagesicslayer]

Wow, that looks great so far! Out of curiosity, did you wait for the epoxy to cure before peening the tang?

I ask because I've always been curious how to effectively peen a tang such that the pommel and stacked handle stay nice and tight. Do you have to compress the handle materials while you peen the tang, or does the peening process provide enough compression to bring it all together?

I filed and softened the tip of the tang beforehand. I used the tiniest ball peen hammer ever made to peen the tang.
I did wait for the Epoxy to set before I added the pommel. The antler i added provided the initial compression. I stuck the tip into a hunk of 4x4 and and tapped lightly for a long time.
Even with the set epoxy, the peening did snug up everything up well especially between the antler and the pommel.

 

[oldmanwilly]

I filed and softened the tip of the tang beforehand. I used the tiniest ball peen hammer ever made to peen the tang.
I did wait for the Epoxy to set before I added the pommel. The antler i added provided the initial compression. I stuck the tip into a hunk of 4x4 and and tapped lightly for a long time.
Even with the set epoxy, the peening did snug up everything up well especially between the antler and the pommel.

Thank you for explaining! Sounds like you took your time and did it right. Well done!

 

[savagesicslayer]

Thank you for explaining! Sounds like you took your time and did it right. Well done!

I sure hope so. It was a lot of work.

 

[jfk1110]

Looks great..... Ill be waiting for more on this...

 

[savagesicslayer]

As promised, more on my leuku.
It's complete. Not perfect, but complete.
Here she sits with only 2 light wipe downs with boiled linseed oil. It really made the handle dark but made the bark really stand out.
A few things I learned? Never abandon your soft jaws. I marred the blade slightly. Sanding isn't fun but very worth while.
Thank you for following. I appreciate your interest.

 

[oldmanwilly]

Excellent! Thank you for following up with pics of the finished product, this really looks great. I particularly like how the handle flares outward as it approaches the blade, making an elegant little guard (whereas most leuku handles taper straight down to the edge).

Thanks for sharing, I hope you have fun putting it to use!

 

[SharpBits]

Nice project! Thanks for taking us along.

 

[savagesicslayer]

Excellent! Thank you for following up with pics of the finished product, this really looks great. I particularly like how the handle flares outward as it approaches the blade, making an elegant little guard (whereas most leuku handles taper straight down to the edge).

Thanks for sharing, I hope you have fun putting it to use!

Thanks.
It may be a leuku, but it's my leuku. I designed it to fit my hand. The grip is superb.

 

[oldmanwilly]

Thanks.
It may be a leuku, but it's my leuku. I designed it to fit my hand. The grip is superb.

Well, actually, it's not a real leuku unless it comes directly from Lapland. Therefore, your knife is just a sparkling bushcraft knife.

 

[savagesicslayer]

Well, actually, it's not a real leuku unless it comes directly from Lapland. Therefore, your knife is just a sparkling bushcraft knife.

The blade, bolster and pommel are all laurin metalli so it's soul hails from scandinavia.

 

[savagesicslayer]

I was fooling around with a small digital microscope keeping my girlfriends grand son entertained and I decided to have a closer look at the knife I just completed.
The first pic is of the bark layers.
The second is of the peened tang ground flush.

 

[jfk1110]

I was fooling around with a small digital microscope keeping my girlfriends grand son entertained and I decided to have a closer look at the knife I just completed.
The first pic is of the bark layers.
The second is of the peened tang ground flush.
View attachment 2876937View attachment 2876938

Great job!!!! Nice work....Enjoy it now.....