I just wanna show off! I had this old K-bar knife that someone broke the end of the handle off, been keeping it since I was in the Navy. I have 2 others that are new as issued but they're shorter blades. Anyone know any history behind K-bars? Long blade vs short blade? Anyhoooo I decided to try my hand at making a handle for it and I love how it came out. I used some scrap cherry and bought some brass rod to use as rivets. Didn't actually make rivets tho, instead I epoxied the whole mess together. I would not recommend epoxy tho because the glue line is dark and you can't get rid of it. Anyway for the shaping I used an oscillating spindle sander. Can't say it made quick work of it, but in time it did what I wanted it to do. Oh and did you notice the target? Thought you might! It's the result of neck sizing my brass and shooting 8 rounds from my new .270 at 100yds. The target is upside down tho, as I remember it was hitting low and I wanted it to hit high... Kinda proud of that too.
[img][/img]
[img][/img]
[img][/img]

Suz

Very Nice handle . It came out great

I agree, nice knife!

Nice! I made a few knives from bought blades and you all are working up my interest to do more. I still have a few blades laying around and I think I'll start looking for some old files to try. Like I have time for more activities...

Beautiful! Looks to me as a real handy user. Got you inspired? And such 'work' pays off real quick, doesn't it?
Now I would suggest to put some lineseedoil on the wood (maybe even 10 times or so). It would make the colour somewhat darker, much nicer and far better protected against all nasty things that will jealously try to attack your new piece of art.

And another tip: don't forget the sheet. Leather can also give a lot of satisfaction. You shape a sheet from tick orthopedic leaher (is real cheap) and afterwards you glue some real nice leahter on the outside, fansy indian style...
When you can sand wood in such a nice handle, I'm sure you can make another piece of art with the leathersheet.

Love to see you are such a "busy bee"



And:
- very nice groupe, when do you start hunting with your new equipment?
- I've been told that the short blade K-bar was for the pilots

Actually now that you mention it the blade says Camillus and so I looked up the Camillus knife company and found that they closed their doors in 2007. This knife is a pilot's survival knife, either US Air Force or US Navy. I assume it is Navy because I got it while I was in the Navy. I have a sheath for it with the metal bottom so the blade won't poke a hole in it. I put some wipe on poly on the wood. Since Camillus closed, I wonder if the knife will be worth a few bucks. I found a web site that sell them for about $40 with the sheath. Since I was a parachute rigger I also have the bright orange switch blade with the suspension line or webbing cutter.
[img][/img]

The blade doesn't lock into position but it does work nicely. It's also a Camillus. The K-bar or Ka-bar knife is actually an inch longer (7 inches) than my pilot's survival knife, and my other survival knives have 5 inch blades.
www.knivesplus.com/CAM...-BOOT.HTML
I also have a pair of home made butterfly knives from the Philippines but they're not worth lookin at, rather crude prostitute knives that I'm sure (by the looks of them)met some service.

Suz

I love my K-bar but it has a lot of sentimental; value, it was given to me by little brother just before I shipped out to do my last tour in Iraq. He carried it for 2 tours over there. Since I am on the verge of retirement I will be passing it back to him the next time he deploys. It is a beautiful piece of cold steel that has served both of us during our travels abroad.

Nice job Suz, looks great.

That looks awesome Suz...you done good...and the group size on your target is nothing to sneeze at either.

Cheers, Vince

My God this woman is awesome!