Fixed blade handle material removal?

[DaveT63]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this question or not, but here goes. Every year I do a little project as Christmas presents for my work team. This year, I would like to give them all customized carving knives and forks for the turkey or ham I will also give them. I was thinking about starting out with a Chicago Cutlery carving set, removing the handles, and putting on new ones with mosaic pins and exotic woods. Cheap enough I can afford to do roughly 20 sets.

Anyway, to make a short question long, how should I go about removing the original walnut handles without ruining the hardware? Any help on this question would be greatly appreciated!

Dave

[philco]

Dave,

I'm far from a knife mechanic but I would suggest that a picture of one of the knives you are interested in modifying might help those who are steer you in the proper direction.

Phil

PS Wish you were my boss!

[DaveT63]

Good call, Phil, hadn't thought of that. Hope this works....

[Elvis]

When I saw the title of your post my first thought was a Dremel cutting wheel which would still work in cutting off one side of the rivit, but after looking at the picture I think drilling out one side then using a punch might be a good start.

[coffeecup]

Disclaimer: I am most specifically not recommending the following technique, merely offering it for amusement and historical purposes.

I once did 30 sets of these for some crazy project my nephew came up with. Being the lazy man I am, I clamped the handle in a parallel clamp (Jorgenson or similar), with the knife/fork/whatever on edge. Then I just cut the old handle off with a bandsaw, carefully cutting to one side of the tang. Stop as soon as you've cut through the second rivet--so there is still some full-thickness wood--or the clamp will slip.

Took longer to replace the blade than to saw the handles off.

[Darksev]

carefully drill out the head of the rivet on one side, then use a punch. remember when working with sharp knives tape up your blade before you work

[Diligence]

To be clear (and to answer your question), you can't remove the handles without "ruining the hardware".. since these are rivets, with a mechanical connection (ie. press fit) you will need to cut them to remove them.

D

[DaveT63]

Thanks for all the tips, everyone! I tried the drilling method, and the handles came off in about two minutes flat. I was sure they would be glued on for some reason, but I guess that just adds to manufacturing time and costs, huh? Anyway, I will be gluing the new ones on and adding mosaic pins to dress them up a bit.

Thanks again, I'm off to drilling!!!

Dave