Kitchen Knife Handles

[Sundog57]

Hi
I have several kitchen knives that have handles that are coming to the end of their working lives. Rivets are loose, the wood has eroded (after thirty or forty years of service) etc.
They're stainless and still have lots of good steel.
Is it difficult to put new scales on them?
Can someone direct me to where I might purchase rivets, material for scales, micarta (or something else if micarta is not a good choice) and where I might find good info on crafting new handles.
and... is this a worthwhile endeavour from a practical point of view, or should I just retire them - Grohmann's has lots of new ones LOL
Thx

[Sundog57]

Originally Posted by Sundog57

Hi
I have several kitchen knives that have handles that are coming to the end of their working lives. Rivets are loose, the wood has eroded (after thirty or forty years of service) etc.
They're stainless and still have lots of good steel.
Is it difficult to put new scales on them?
Can someone direct me to where I might purchase rivets, material for scales, micarta (or something else if micarta is not a good choice) and where I might find good info on crafting new handles.
and... is this a worthwhile endeavour from a practical point of view, or should I just retire them - Grohmann's has lots of new ones LOL
Thx

PS - lots of info on Youtube (of course...duh)
Any suggestions though on preferred type and pitfalls on choice of fasteners, Corbys, rivets, screws, right type of epoxy, and how to avoid the dumbest of rookie mistakes, much appreciated

[Phil McCracken]

If you have adequate tools, replacing scales is not too hard. All you really need is a small belt sander, band saw or a simple scroll saw, drill, and lots of sandpaper.

Tempting to purchase supplies (handles, etc) from the larger knife supply retailers from the US. However, the shipping will kill you.

I recommend the following:

https://www.knifemaker.ca/

They have a decent inventory of handle materials, along with fasteners (ie. brass pins).

I recommend epoxy for securing scales to the metal. Lee Valley has excellent products, and free shipping if order is over $30.00. Gorilla 2 part epoxy will work, and available at CT.

One thing you need to remember: if you use hardwood, or some other composite, you may not be able to wash your kitchen knives in the dishwasher. Research that.

Lots of good YouTube tutorials available.

This is a fun project, Good Luck.

[Dean2]

Putting handles on knives is fun and pretty easy. I would guess that you have been putting these in a dishwasher, otherwise the blades would wear out long before the wood handles gave up the ghost. If you are going to continue to use the dishwasher I would suggest you put synthetic handles on them this time. Depending on the tang arrangement you can do one piece or two slabs then shape them with rasps, files and sand paper if you don't have the electric tools for it. Good way to fill some of the extra Covid basement time. You will have to post pictures of the project as you go along.

[creeky]

Some good tips already, if you do synthetic (micarta etc),then wear a mask (sanded dust is nasty/toxic).

X2 on Lee Valley's epoxy.


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[CNP]

Amazon has micarta scales, corby bolts, brass pins, mosaic pins, etc. I use LePage Professional Speed Set Epoxy.

Micarta is fairly expensive......but it is bullet/dishwasher proof.

I'm in Edmonton for a while and I haven't been to Lee Valley for a long time so I'm going to see what they have along the line of knife making supplies.

The tangs on these knives are covered with micarta scales purchased off amazon.ca ($20 for a pair of scales)

[raised by wolves]

Lee Valley has a selection of cutlery rivets available here in Canada. Most knife making supplies are available south of the border. I make a few knives in my free time. Drop me a note if you are in the Edmonton area and I can give you some guidance.

[Sundog57]

Thanks for the invite
If they ever let us travel again I'll take you up on it.
Any preference functional/personal? between Corby screws, straight pins (peened or not) and cutler's rivets ?

[cccan]

Princess auto has the corby bolts and micarta..

[CNP]

I’ve never used corby
bolts, just pins. I don’t or wouldn’t peen them either. The scales are epoxied on and the pin holes will have epoxy in them also. Just sand the pins off smooth to the scales.

[Savage Bacon]

Great time, and excuse to customize those knives.

[hilt134]

Originally Posted by Sundog57

Hi
I have several kitchen knives that have handles that are coming to the end of their working lives. Rivets are loose, the wood has eroded (after thirty or forty years of service) etc.
They're stainless and still have lots of good steel.
Is it difficult to put new scales on them?
Can someone direct me to where I might purchase rivets, material for scales, micarta (or something else if micarta is not a good choice) and where I might find good info on crafting new handles.
and... is this a worthwhile endeavour from a practical point of view, or should I just retire them - Grohmann's has lots of new ones LOL
Thx

Do it just for the knowledge then buy new ones if you like. It cost barley anything but time. For wood material I would just buy knife scales from a wood shop like Black Forest in Calgary. For every thing else home depot and alberta knife supply should have you set. Goodluck!!

[raised by wolves]

I really dislike Corby attachments. With their large diametre, I feel they become a clutter on the handle and distract from a burl or grain in the scales. I prefer using 3/16 pins in most of my knives but I also use different styles of rivets. I love the nickel-silver rivets from Jantz Supply as they are very reliable and have clean machining. The rivets I mentioned previously, from Lee Valley, are also good but they are made for very thin handle scales so I usually only use them for leatherwork.