How to Make a Knife Handle with Wood and G-10 - CRATEX

Making a knife handle requires some time, and you’ll need some basic materials, but in reality, it’s not that hard at all.

Wooden Knife Handle

Wood is natural, warm to the touch, comfortable for holding, and durable material too. It’s everywhere and therefore is a perfect choice for making a knife handle.

Step #1 Scales’ tapping

Bond wood scales with solid double-sided tape, to feel and move like a single unit. This’s the most important part of the knife handle making since scales need to be stuck together.

Step #2 Scales’ marking

Use a blank sheet of paper and draw a sketch of your knife handle design. Cut the paper using scissors to create a knife handle template. Place knife handle pattern on the scale and trace it with a pen. Rerun it with another scale.

Step #3 Trace the handle slabs

Apply a thin marker and trace the original handle slabs.

Step #4 Shaping

With pattern traced out, cut wood with a hand saw. A hand saw is ideal since this is a slow and repetitive job.

Step #5 Smoothing

Once you make the knife handle shape, smooth it, using a belt sander paper following the line.

Step #6 Drilling

After the shaping, mark and drill the holes for the bolts. Then, sand again the wood. Now, sand it with sandpaper to make an elegant look and feel between fingers.

Step #7 Split the Wood Scales

Separate two wood scales and put bare knife cautiously.

Step #8 Gluing

With a little wood glue on the back of the scales, set them in place. Place them in a clamp and leave for a 24 hour.

Step #9 Final touch

Remove the handle from the clamp. Clean the handle with paste wax or other product if the wood will accept it. Use hardwood since it’s the best wood for knife handles.

G-10 Knife Handle

G-10 is a laminate made from fiberglass cloth layers, and it’s amazingly strong material. So, unlike more traditional materials like wood, it won’t break, chip, crack, or scratch easily.

Keep track of the next few instructions on how to make a G-10 knife handle.

Step #1 Prepare the Scales

Draw the handle design on the paper. Apply paper with handle design on the scales, trace it, and mark with the black magic marker since G-10 won't absorb the ink.

Step #2 Mark the Holes

Mark the holes you're going to drill on one side of the scales.

Step #3 Sanding, Drilling, and Gluing

Drill the holes in one scale, pour a drop of epoxy on the flattened inside surface, and glue the scales together. It ensures the scales will stay perfectly matched up as drill holes and do the rough shaping.

Step #4 Shaping

Shape the front of the scales with the file while they’re attached by the light epoxy bond.

Step #5 Put the Edge of the Blade

If the holes are drilled, and the rough shaping is finished, put the edge of the knife blade on the seam between the scales.

Step #6 Tracing, Cutting, and Gluing

Follow the handle shape onto the material, cut to rough shape, and then glue it using epoxy to the inside of the scales. If the material is dried, clean up the edges and drill through to fit the existing pin holes. A hand drill is great since as the holes in the scales will lead the bit.

Step #7 Assembling

Handle is ready for mounting. For pins, utilize two simple brass bolts. The key is that you can use the pins to clamp the scales in place by adding a nut and putting it down after using epoxy.

Step #8 Flushing of the Pins

Once the epoxy dries, take a file to clean the head of the bolt, the extra length of bolt body on the nut side, and pins will be completely level.

Step #9 Ultimate phase 

Clean knife handle and shape it to fit your hand. Do it slowly and double-check it until it feels as an extension of the hand. Work through sandpaper grits to get that final finish.