Handling a Helle

[rfd]

Helle 2-3/4" #50B Fjording blade, triple carbon steel that needed to get handled for a patch knife. 

Cut off a piece of elk antler for the handle fore end, then a slice of oak for a spacer, and a cap end of paduak hardwood.

All glued up with slow set epoxy and drilled to accept the blade tang ...


Bandsawed, rasped and sanded to shape, blade tang notched with a dremel for better glue hold ...


Slow set epoxied and clear coated ...


All done, leather sheath built, laced with synthetic sinew ...


Ready for action ...

[rfd]

Another helle blank, this time a #55B Nyling, triple lam with a center of stainless and carbon outside.  Got an elk tine that should work out.

Tang and tine cut to length, tang notched for epoxy ...


Drilled the 1/4" tan hole, marked and sanded the bone end ...


All done, including the sheath ...

[Hawken50]

   Nice blades rfd . Love the way you did the handles.

[William]

Nice work.  I have a question as to the color of the Paduak wood, which doesn't look dark enough to be that type of wood.  Granted, it's been decades since I worked with it but I took a quick look at something I turned on the lathe and finished with BLO that includes walnut, maple and paduak and it's darker than the walnut with more deep red color but far.  Refresh my memory, is this wood subject to darkening over time or is it the type of finish that's used?

[rfd]

a friend gave me about 5# of that wood, and he *thought* it was paduak.  i've seen what was labelled as paduak used in the risers of trad bows that was brighter than the wood i use in that handle, and some almost as dark as really dark rosewood.  there are so many flavors of any one type of wood.  don't matter much to me, if it works i'll use it.   

[William]

It's very dense, correct?  Also smells a bit odd when sanding it?  That's what I remember about it but 5 pounds of free hardwood is too good to split hairs over.  Obviously I miss woodworking and such things but maybe in the future.
At any rate, thanks for sharing your work!

[rfd]

oh yeah, dense.  tough to cut even with a good bandsaw.  dittos when i used the sanding station and rasp.  i use a mask when cutting and sanding, but afterwards i didn't notice any peculiar smell.  free good wood is good! :)

[William]

Free wood is good wood, quite correct.

[rfd]

Free wood is good wood, quite correct.

as long as it's good wood, to make stuff or burn.   

[rfd]

'nother handle, this one on a helle polar blade.  the antler came from a texas whitetail i arrowed a few years back using my longbow. 

now my bud's got his own patch knife.   

[Red Badger]

Nice job on the patch knife, I wold be proud to carry one like that!

[rfd]

last one (for me, yay!).  a helle triple carbon hefty 4-3/8" viking blade.  got a billet of this nice hard wood from a friend, dunno what species but it's nearly as dense as a rock and took hours instead of minutes to cut, rasp and sand.  the sheath was made without a welt strip, but after it was stitched, each of the stitch holes was opened with a filed sharp nail,  a strip of blue 3m painter's tape applied to the back side of the sheath and over the stitch holes, then a drop of quality slow set epoxy filled each hole.