Knife making questions--assembling from parts.

[Cooter Brown]

I hope this is the right subforum for this.

My sister sent me sort of a "kit". It's a blade, two bone scales, and some screw type "pins". She sent an extra "pin".

My main question is how to go about "registering" the holes I drill in the scales to the holes in the blade handle. These need to be pretty accurate as there is not a lot of play between the barrels of the pins and the holes in the blade handle.

I looked in a knifemaking magazine and saw there are step drills for drilling the thru hole for the barrel of the pin and the counterbore at the same time. I'd rather save the money and use a Forstner bit for the counterbore and a drill for the thru hole.

Using the blade itself as a guide and drilling the through hole from the back side, then flipping it over and drilling the counterbore would seem to be the easiest way, but is there a way I can do it with the Forstner and another bit? If I drill the through hole first it seems lining up the Forstner for the counterbore would be difficult. With the step drill I would think the way to do it would be to drill from the backside using the blade as a guide, flip over and use the through hole to line up the counterbore.

By the way, I'm a cabinetmaker and pretty handy, and have most any tool I would need. I may even use a scrap of ebony or bubinga I've got instead of the bone. That would be easier because I would have two flat sides to work with instead of one irregular side with the bone--but I might use the bone.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Here's a picture of the "kit".

[whitebuffalo58]

Locate and clamp your first slab to the knife. Use a brad point bit or transfer punch the size of the pre-drilled holes in the knife to lightly mark the center point. Use a 1/16" drill bit to drill all the way through the slab. Unclamp the first slab and clamp it to the second slab, aligning the edges. Drill through the second slab with the 1/16" bit using the first as a guide. Unclamp them, from the top side, drill your countersink with the forstner then finish drilling through with a bit the size needed for the shank. The 1/16" hole is small enough to not allow the forstner bits to travel. Use your threaded rivots to hold the handles in place while you mark around the shape of the knife. Rough cut the first slab a bit oversized. Then use your rivets to locate the first slab to the second, mark and rough cut it to shape. You'll want to temporarily pin and clamp the two slabs together, then shape and finish off the forward edges of the slabs before permanatly mounting them to the knife. The rest of the slabs can be final shaped and finished off after mounting.
That's how I do 'em, hope this helps.

WB

[Cooter Brown]

Excellent. Sounds great and thanks for the advice.

Should I use red Loctite on the threaded rivets when I final assemble the knife?

[whitebuffalo58]

It's a good idea to use loctite, yes. One other tip I might add. Some handle materials can compress under the rivet head over the first few hours. To help avoid loose rivets, tighten down your rivets and let them set overnight, then remove them the next morning, apply loctite and reseat.
Good luck and be sure to post a pic when ya get 'er done.

WB

[Cooter Brown]

Thanks WB. Great tips. Will post pics when done.

[orvet]

I usually glue one side to the tang and drill a pilot hole, then glue the other side and drill through the pilot hole.
I like to have the back side of the handles sealed so no moisture gets between the scale and the tang; but Rob's method should work just fine for what you want to do.

Like many things there are different ways to achieve the same result.

Please do show pics of the finished project!

[Cooter Brown]

Thanks for the tips guys--it might be a little bit before I get it done--just picked up some work after a slow period.

I'll post when I finish it.