Question for knifemakers

[Nomad]

I have some Warren blades I'd like to mount permanently in a handle and I am curious how carving knife makers cut the end slot for their blades. Do you drill in and then widen the slot or do you use a special tool?

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

with warren blades you could use a coping saw, make a slit in the end and put the blade in with some epoxy...if I remember right the warren blades have holes in the base....drill a hole(s) in your handle and put some brazing rod, bamboo skewers...something thru the holes and handle....it will stay!

[dennybell]

Somewhere I saw a method that sounded very simple and looks good. You drill a hole in the end of the knife handle to accept a dowel. You take the correct sized dowel and remove wood equal to the blade thickness. Coat the dowel and the blade with epoxy and insert in the handle. You have a very secure blade and it looks good as well.

I have tried a number of ways to use the Warren blades, but the result was less than satisfactory. The blades are wonderful, but the joint looked bad. I think the above method would work well, although I haven't tried it.

Denny

[TreeWizard]

My grandson made knifes for his brother and dad for Christmas last year using warren blades. We took 2 thin pieces of wood, we used cherry, set the blade on one side and traced around it then used a small gouge and cut the handle deep enough for the blade to set even with the wood.

Next we drilled a hole to put a brass rod through one side of the handle, we put the two sides together and drilled the hole through the second side.

Next mixed up some epoxy coated the blade and both halves of the handle and put them together then inserted the pin, and let it dry.

When dry we clipped off the excess brass, put masking tape on the blade and shaped the handle to suit.

When you shape the handle make sure you leave some wood above the blade because if you make that part too thin, the blade can pop the wood out when you carve some hard wood.

[Dicky]

I have mounted a dozen Warren blades in my own handles using the dowel method. I bore the hole in the handle the size of the dowel I will use, cut a slot in the dowel to match the thickness of the blade (not all the way to the bottom), butter the blade with epoxy and place it into the dowel and then butter the dowel with epoxy and place it in the hole in the handle. Now for a couple of tips that I learned the hard way. 1. Drill the hole in the stock beefore shaping the handle. It is much easier to shape your handle to the hole than to try and drill a hole in an irregular shaped handle. 2. Either drill a tiny hole in the handle to intersect with the dowel hole or make a small groove in the dowel. This allows excess epoxy to escape and eliminates the tendency of the dowel to push out of the hole from hydraulic back pressure. If you have access to a lathe, and you can make the dowel from the same wood as the handle, your dowel becomes almost invisible. Esthetically brass rivets would be nice but I have never had problems without them.

[Nomad]

Great ideas! I never would have thought of the dowel method. That is super. I also make knives from saw blades. I might have to try that method for that as well and make a carver from a sawblade.

The coffin tang is another super idea. Thanks!

My sawblade knives are not carvers though. Handy for leatherwork sometimes and other chores.

[CarverFromNoWhere]

Here is an older thread of mine this is how I handle the warren blades I buy.

starting some knives

Carl

[Ron T]

Hi Nomad,

That's a beautiful knife. Very nice shape and handle.

[Nomad]

Originally Posted by CarverFromNoWhere

Here is an older thread of mine this is how I handle the warren blades I buy.

starting some knives

Carl

Excellent photos on that pinned coffin tang Carl! Thanks for the link. Those knives look superb!