Forged Puukko With Birch And Leather Stacked Handle Project Part 2

Ok, so after a good while profiling on the grinder and a couple hours of hand sanding, I think I might be happy with the handle.  I applied some leather conditioner to the stacked leather and Tru-Oil to the birch. Once the conditioner was dry, I hit the leather with some Tru-Oil as well. I'll probably do a couple coating over the course of the next few days, letting it dry in-between. Overall I am happy with the look so far.

                                         I ended up adding a finger groove in the front for better grip.

                                          Here is the leather with one coat of conditioner.

                                        

                        Here she is with the Tru-Oil applied, very pleased with how it turned out! 

Forged Puukko With Birch And Leather Stacked Handle Project Part 1

                 For years now, I have been fascinated with knife making. This is more than likely due to my lifelong addiction to knife collecting, usage, etc.. So recently I acquired some Puukko blades of various sizes and figured that this would be a good start to my knife making dreams.


          First up is the little guy with a 2.25 inch blade. This one is getting birch at the top and bottom, with leather stacked in-between. Killing two birds with one stone here, cause I've always wanted to do a leather stack handle on a knife. I used thick 8-9 oz. veg tan leather cut into squares

                                         Test fitting the leather

                                         Cardboard and camo ducktape blade guard

                                         Here it is all glued up with Gorilla 2 part Epoxy, I ended up adding another clamp on to make sure it was good and tight. I let this dry for 48 hours.

                                          Now I get to use my new 1x30 belt grinder, works good for $44!!

                                          Coming along..

                                          Here it is with a basic shape ruffed out. Detail work from here on out and some hand sanding to finish it up.

                      

  To Be Continued......