Making a Puukko Knife - Part 1 - The Knife Handle

that's not word turning dad day I reckon this time I did a bit more knife making well we're gonna make a knife and I've got three blades here which I bought several years ago and they're all from Finland and they're traditional Finnish blades and they were made by a blacksmith in Finland called Pirin Varzi and as his maker's mark on there and yeah these are traditional sort of finished Laplander or sami blades these two are what are known as pouco blades pouco knives and this one is a lucu which is a much bigger so kemp knife i suppose you'd call it we're still in lockdown and there's a limit to what materials i've got and really i can't be the big one because i haven't got enough leather and bits and stuff for doing that one so I might make one or both of these I'll put that one to one side I'll have a look at these pocos handled material I've got two beautiful pieces of curly birch which my friend doles mo in Finland sent me and these are stabilized and if you look at my back through my videos you'll see that I did a video on knife stay blight stabilizing wood for knife handles and these blocks actually featured in there I'm thinking I'll do this sort of medium sized pouco but I'd really like to use this block because I love the grain pattern on that it's absolutely stunning but I think I'll have to save that for the little fella because I don't think there's enough by the time I've got rid of that bark I don't think there'll be enough wood to form a decent handle for that size so I'm gonna use this one I think that's what the starting point the very first thing you have to do with any blade is to make a bolster and that's the piece that goes across here to form us or well to form the bolster and I'm gonna use brass for that and I'm gonna go find a bar of brass and these are notoriously difficult to make bolsters for because they've got a rhombic cross sectional I'm just measuring up marking out some brass bar here I think is eighth of an inch roughly just Center punching for some drilling into the machine voice to go on the drill press I've drilled out a few holes and then joining them up with the scroll saw with a metal cutting blade in and then a bit of filing just to neaten up the home and then lots of test fitting keep knocking the brass on to the tang of the knife and then filing a bit more off and refitting in foiling a bit more off eventually you should end up with something like this you can see our irregularly shaped the the tang is on these burned valleys and that's why they're very difficult to make you have to make them each one individually I'm just gonna hammer this down on the tang now just to get the final fit get it fitting like that so there's no gaps no gaps at the shoulder no gaps around the Tang that's about as good as I'll get on that blade because there are bits of the Tang which are actually thicker than it is at the shoulder and you know further up the stick Tang it's pretty good next job is to polish that front face because one it's fixed on the blade you can't get it to that bit combination of wet and dry and a buffing wheel it's bringing it up to a mirror finish and there it is on the tang here's the stabilized curly birch block which only used for the handle I'm just gonna square it off on the on the baby sander here on the disc the square off all the sides which make it easier for marking on more accurate for drilling for the tang there's my handle block all squared up and this is fiber liner material and I'm gonna put a few layers of this each end of the block just to add a bit of sort decorative interest so that's the next job is just to cut out some rectangles of this that will slot over the Tang back on me record power scroll saw just to cut out the holes in these liners it's the perfect tool for this so that's how it all stacks up I can in draw around the Tang to mark it on the block ready for drilling so I've just center marked where I'm gonna be drilling from because this is all square once it's in my machine voice I should be able to angle the drill to drill in line with these lines and I'll go from the top and from the bottom and then we'll fire them until they all match the tang of the knife so onto the drill press and I'm checking my angles first before drilling and the drill bit is the size of the thickest bit of the Tang they're going from one of the pommel end first and checking my angles before I do the other drill drill holes in the blade end re angling it in the machine voice each time so I'm following the outline of the hanging effect here I'm using a 3d drill bit just to join up these holes [Music] then it's a case of using these tiny little rasps just to go in here and just keep working on it until the tank fits I'll get back to you Alice a very pleasing fit you know it's got to be relatively snug you want to keep glue volume down to minimum but at the same time has got to be a passive fit so that you know it's seats when you're gluing it here I've cut out slightly thick a bit of brass to make the pommel and I've drilled a little hole that will accept the Tang and I'm just widening that with this square file needle file and I'm also forming a funnel shape a slight taper so the top size is gonna be wider than the bottom side because it's gonna be pinned over there tang is and it needs something to engage it's just about ready for assembly we got the brass bolster that's been a pock seat into position we've got three fiber liners black red black we've then got the wooden handle blank which is all shaped I've put an extra hole in there which I'll tell you about in a minute that goes on like that with the tang coming through this is a rat tail tang that's gonna be pinned so it comes right through rather than a hidden Tang which stops inside they wouldn't handle we've then got the brass pommel and the other thing I've done with this brass pommel is I have drilled a hole and threaded it m5 to take this m5 brass screw or bolt and that so that is fixed in there and that passively sits in this hole this extra hole I've drilled in the end probably totally unnecessary but it just means that even if the painting over of this end doesn't work as well as it could it will never come apart because this will be locked into epoxy resin inside the handle this will all be cut off and polished over eventually well that's the plan the other thing I'm going to have to do is just anneal the end of that tang just to make sure it's soft to peen over I suspect the blacksmith had done that but I've got to make sure I don't want to get it all together and find that my hammer is not touching it so I should get the blowtorch to that get it red-hot and then let it cool down and I'll clamp on some mold grips just to act as heat sinks that's the pommel ready I've counted something out a fraction and screwed that welding tight taking the head off on the sander and so that's all fixed now and that should just all slop together there no extra bolt there stops that twisting and will help retain that the pommel on the end using a blowtorch to heat the end of the Tang heating up so it's really you know glowing and then let it cool down and hopefully it's softened it a bit then it's time for the big glue up using a slow set epoxy it's west systems G flex epoxy which is incredibly strong stuff and very slow setting so it's ideal for a job like this where the glue up takes a bit of time making sure every layer is thoroughly coated and the tang and I'm filling up the inside of the wood block the hole down the middle I'm using a syringe to fill that up with epoxy I'm just get squidge down onto the tang filling up the hole for the brass plenty more epoxy between the liners and the handle as I say building up in layers then he son goes the pommel making sure that that brass screws thoroughly coated in plenty of epoxy in there you get plenty use out but you're better off having too much than not enough then I'm painting over with a ball-peen hammer this was difficult it's not ice not something I've done before hold it all together overnight in a knife making clamp here is the knife making voice will clamp all glued up 24 hours later it's a very slow set epoxy very strong epoxy I'm now gonna sort of sketch a rough design of the knife on the side here and then I can start trimming the edges on the sanding machine and the bandsaw here it is after cutting out on the bandsaw this is just a very rough cut this won't be the finished shape or profile should I say I've just got a note that I shouldn't go any deeper at this point because otherwise I'll hit the brass screw that's in there but so that's the sort of stop point almost and mr. case of profiling it now start off by doing this on the disc sander and I shall rock it backwards and forwards and just run around on the dish just to smooth it all that and then we'll start taking the corners off from the on the belt I use this softer part of the belt for some of it and a little bit give just there difficult to film while I'm using the disc so there but tell them I'll get back to you once I'm just neatened up the edges beginning to look more like a knife now I've got the salt side profile right and you just see the liners are beginning to show their colors and that's looking good I think I've got the bolster to roughly the length I wanted I've got to sort out the width next beautiful there patents in this one but when you're doing this particularly with their thick bits of brass just a little bit at a time because you don't to start cooking the epoxy and it does build up a lot of heat for the next job we'll be I'm just gonna tape her where the bolster is get a nice even taper both sides now whenever you're doing this always be aware of where this is you don't to clip it on the disk or on the belt when you're shaping there's one flip of that and you ruined the very expensive blade so always have in mind where that is keep it taped up for safety so I've got this all rough profile this will change slightly I'll take a bit more bulk off here but we're gonna start taking these colanders off these edges off 45 degrees and I try and keep it as geometric to start with as possible so that I'm removing an even amount from each side to keep a nice profile just remember when you're doing this you can always take off but you can't put back on so take your time just do a little bit at a time you better off undercutting and going back and doing a bit more don't overheat the brassicas very hot very quickly with friction and be careful what you're doing with this end don't cut yourself don't let the machine launch it at you and don't catch this on the disk or you'll spoil the blade the only discs I've got for this at the minute are these one 20s and they're a bit fine really I could redo with an 80 grit on here Here I am on the sanding machine like I say doing it bit by bit taking me time and trying to sort of remove the same amount from each side to give it a nice profile created angles first which I can then round off I do that by adopting this of a rolling action on that softer bit of the the belt where it's unsupported but do it bit by bit you can always take off but you can't put back on and keep checking it you don't over cut isn't the end of the belt sander to get in the comb cavities and then rolling the pommel around to give it a nice profile are they all nice and round it on to me vice and news in strips of Emery cloth or cloth back term abrasive and this gets it nice and round I want to get rid of any flat spots or any angles on it all beautifully round and you're also getting rid of the deeper scratches from the sanding belt and sanding along the handle as well and sanding it all by hand and gone right up to 1200 and there is all beautifully smooth and I'll tape off the handle because I don't to getting black when I polished the brass and this is what I'm gonna polish it with Hulk Pooh Smurf Pooh and Vaughn necks so I've got the buffing wheel fixed on my lathe and starting off with the Hulk Pooh on a very coarse wheel and this removes the scratches from the sanding keep it moving don't let you overheat and keep a really firm grip you do not want this flying off when you're buffing it because it'll do you serious damage there we are after going through the grades and I'm now taping off the brass so I can finish the wood and I'm getting you to be of LeBrons finishing oil doesn't need many coats because this is stabilized it's got nowhere to soak in really really is just to treat the surface layer there's the finished knife finish being the operative word finished bucco knife with finished curly birch stabilized curly birch handle brass pommel brass bolster red and black liners absolutely delighted with that piece of wood the Osmo were sent me i will put a link to his channel in the description oz Barry his channels called the topic Carla very pleased at how it went the pommel is all polished up nice you can just see the tang and the brass bolt there it's all polished little bit disappointed in that there's a slight gap between the shoulders and the bolster which is a no-no in knife making terms really it's very disappointing because when I made the bolster and actually epoxy dit on to the tang there was no gap at all there was one of the best fitting bolsters I've ever made and I'm a real perfectionist when it comes to things like that I was really pleased it was like a brilliant fitting bolster on a difficult shaped blade but summer at some point probably when I was very badly peening the end over I suspect the I broke the bond on the epoxy and the bolster moved I did clamp it all up for the epoxy to set but I only clamped between the bolster and the pommel to keep all together if I brought up the third layer of my clamp they were to stop that happening it would have compressed it all together again and it would have seated which is very disappointing it's still annoying it's still a good knife and I'm pleased with it but I am disappointed there little gaps appeared no it's not much but it should be nothing I'll show you the clamp here it is I had it clamped between these top two layers with the blade coming through here I should have brought this bottom layer up and compressed it into the tip of the blade and that would have pushed the bolster up against the shoulders of the blade but I did thank you very much for watching please like share and subscribe and I'll be back soon with part 2 where I'll make the sheath for this knife there's a few stills many thanks for watching you won't have to wait long for - I've already made the knife sheath I've just got to finish editing the video so I'll get that up as soon as I can it was just getting a bit too long to do it all in one video here's some pictures just showing off that beautiful curly birch and I enjoyed doing it great project if you haven't ever made a knife it's well worth doing it's very satisfying very pleased with the pommel and the liners they look great more rubbish coming soon please like share and subscribe my daddy needs all the help he can get as I said I won't keep you awake waiting long for part two where I make the knife sheath back very soon as soon as I finished editing

Channel: Jim Overton - Jimson's Stuff

Views: 53,661

Rating: 4.8771119 out of 5

Keywords: Jim, James, jimson, Overton, stuff, Woodturning, wood, turning, lathe, Milliput, epoxy, putty, acrylic, Camvac, maker, making, Easy Wood Tools, Yorkshire Grit, Puukko, Puronvarsi

Id: q8iDQAOfp2o

Length: 21min 53sec (1313 seconds)

Published: Fri May 01 2020