Shaping the Handle

I made a little progress on the "Panther" knife over the weekend that I thought I would share with you.  Most of my efforts were put into fitting, shaping, and polishing the handle of the knife.  Up until now, the knife still looks like a couple of blocks screwed together, but after the handle gets its shape, it really starts to look like a knife.  I also get a chance to see how the knife will feel when it's held in the hand.

The next step before final handle shaping is to fit the pivot pin so the blade can be attached.  In order to conceal the pivot screws, pockets need to be recessed into the backsides of the front bolsters.  With the bolsters attached to the liners, I use a black marker to indicate the location of the pockets.

This picture shows the backside of the bolsters where the pockets have been drilled into the steel.  It also shows the barrel pivot that will be used for this project.  The pivot pin has been ground to length as well.

As I shape the handle, I will also be establishing the fit of the blade in its open position.  Therefore, I need to adjust the spacer length so that the blade stops in the proper location.  To do this, I blacken the tip of the spacer with a black marker, set the blade in the desired open position, and scratch a mark with a razor blade.  I then grind the tip of the spacer back to the line.  Simple and easy.

The last thing I need to do before assembling the knife and shaping the handle is to add the thumb notch to the left bolster and scale.  Using the notch already cut into the liner, I use my spindle sander to grind the groove into the bolster and scale.  I also use the sander to shape a small contour around the groove for comfort.

Everything is assembled and I'm ready to grind the handle down to shape.  Remember that I left the bolsters and scales slightly over sized.  These parts will be ground down until they meet with the liners in a seamless fashion.

The handle has been ground down to its final profile and the surfaces of the scales have been ground down to meet in the same plane as the bolsters.  In the photo, I have laid the knife on the pattern to check everything out.  Seems to be a good fit with the lines right on the money.

I begin shaping the contours of the handle with an 80 grit belt on the grinder with a slack belt attachment.  This is when I can check to see how the finished knife will feel in the hand.  This one feels great.

Here's a view of the spine.  Everything gets rounded over for comfort.  Also, notice the complete absence of gaps between components.  Nice!

I progress up through the belt grits up through 3000 grit on the grinder and give the handle a final polish on the buffer to polish out any scratches.  I took this knife up to a full mirror polish.  I might add a hand-rubbed satin finish, but I haven't made up my mind yet.  Also, the Micarta polished up really nicely and looks great.

Since I am going to add some file work to this knife, the blade needs to be filed before it is hardened.  I color in the spine with a black marker and scratch reference lines at 1/8" intervals to help me keep the pattern regular.

For the blade and spacer, I chose a pattern I call the alternating twist.  It's a very attractive pattern that is comprised of four round grooves at 45 degrees, followed by four round grooves at 45 degrees in the other direction.  It's easier to see than to explain, unfortunately my phone doesn't take very good closeup photos.  The above shows the first four grooves filed into the spine of the blade.

This photo isn't too bad.  It shows the second set of groves in the spine.  The pattern will change directions again and proceed down the spine.  I think it's an attractive pattern that, when polished up, really catches the light from many different directions.

The spine of the blade is finished and the spacer gets the same file work pattern to match.

With the file work done on the blade, it's almost ready for heat treatment.  The last thing I do before gift wrapping it is to enlarge the pivot hole with a #14 bit.  After heat treatment, the hole will get reamed with a carbide reamer to 3/16" so that it will accept a 3/16" bushing.  This photo shows the blade wrapped in tool wrap and ready to get cooked.  I hope to get some time during the week to fire up the oven and get this blade hardened and tempered.

Thanks for following along with me on this knife adventure.  This knife is a fairly simple and classic design, but with the file work on the blade, spacer and liners, it should look really snazzy.  Stay tuned.  There is plenty more to come.  Have a great week.

-  Brandant Robinson