Re-handled a cleaver...pic heavy

[tonydahose]

NOTE: I know i went through way too much work for this but it was a learning experience for me.

I bought this knife awhile back. I like it alot but i hated the cheap handle. Unfortunately i didn't take a before pic so this is the stock one.



So i decided to take the handle off. i bought a guard to put on the knife, not to protect your fingers but just for asthetics. This one had way too much of a gap.




so i started looking up knife making sites for some steel. for the thickness that i wanted and having to buy a minimum of 12" X 12" and being the cheap ^*&&)% that i am i bought this instead




with a little help from this 3-phase buffer we have at work



i sanded most of the threads off of the bolt and then put it in the drill press and gave it a whirl to round off the edges




so after a little elbow grease i end up with a nice round piece of steel



you will see in the finished pics that the steel isn't this thick anymore. that was just me trying to get it perfectly flat on the buffer which is almost impossible. i finally figured out just to finish it off on my sander at home...lesson learned.

[tonydahose]

step whatever: drill some holes into the slug and then square it off with some hand files. one thing i did figure out is that i had the steel almost red hot when it was against the buffing wheel. i let it cool off nice and slow which helped drilling the holes since the steel wasnt as hard, at least that is how i think it works.



here it is on the knife




i wanted to try and get a "D" shaped handle similiar to the shun in the picture.



i soddered the guard on and found a piece of cocobolo that was in a box of scraps that i bought off of ebay. it didn't look that nice when i glued it on

[tonydahose]

here it is almost finished, i put a coat of linseed oil to see how it looked. i need to get some higher grit sandpaper and get rid of the scratches but for the most part it is done.

[David Lowry]

Dang Tony that looks great. I had seen that Cleaver on that same site and was considering buying one as I have seen good reviews on it. Nice handle mod.

[tonydahose]

i like the knife David. i think i could have gone with the smaller one but too late for that. i just bought a knife like this one. it is a bit on t the smaller side and i am really starting to like it. i bought the damascus one but it is pretty much the same knife minus a few fancy waves in the blade.

[Pinetreebbs]

Nice! The color in that cocobolo is great.

[The Deacon]

That's a major improvement, Tony. Looks great!

[Gunslinger]

Wow, awsome job. I love that knife.

[Pneumothorax]

Nice job, Tony! How did you secure the tang to the handle?

[tonydahose]

thanks everyone, the handle is epoxied with some of the sawdust mixed in.

[224477]

Great job Tony, the cleaver jumped a couple of levels up with the coco` handle.

[BAL]

Awesome work Tony, thanks for sharing. It turned out great.

[wsdavies]

Sweet

[SkullBouncer]

Tony that is excellent; I hung on your every word and image.

Every much an art as a skill; color me inspired!

The more I hang around these forums the sooner I believe I'll try my own hand at a mule or two... see where they take me.


Man, those final pix of yours are most impressive.



Stay Sharp --
-- Bruce / SB

[araneae]

Very cool Tony.

[SolidState]

I really like that guard. Nice work, that's a huge improvement.

[tonydahose]

thanks