I ordered a chip carving knife blade from Beaver Craft Tools recently. It did take a while for the blade to arrive in the mail, but...considering the mess in Ukraine it arrived in an acceptable time. I bought the blade because I have been revisiting Chip Carving and the knife is different and uses an different technique. Something new is always worth exploring, I think.
I bought the blade without handle for a couple of reasons, I am cheap and can make my own handle being the major one. The other reason, a blade can be shipped through the mail in a flat bubble wrap envelop fast and easy.
Fitting handles to knife blades is quite simple now that the available glues are soooooo good. The sides of the handle are cedar with a hardwood slice in the middle into which the blade is fitted.
The handle is over sized in all dimensions so that there is plenty of scope for custom shaping. For things like this I let the glue dry over night to be sure it is set and curing.
The final knife has a fairly short handle and the front of the handle is wrapped in cotton soaked with 'super glue'. The cotton cord allowed a post assembly taper to be added. I have wondered about how hard and long wearing 'super duper glue' would be, so this is an experiment.
The knife blade arrived very sharp and in a timely manner even given the current situation in Ukraine. I will now have to use the knife for a couple of projects and see if an Old Dog can wants to learn a new trick.
cheers ianw
No comments:
Post a Comment