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Fixing a friend's knife

Hilltopper46

Hilltopper46

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East Troy, WI, USA
First name
Tony
A friend at church has a kitchen knife that he really likes and the handle hand been ruined. He asked me if I would try to make a new handle. After a couple tries, this is what I came up with. If I ever do another I will do some things differently.

I do have a concern that the "balance" of the knife may be different now - the handle is a little thicker than the original (due to the length of the rivets) and I think the wood is heavier than the original plastic.

The wood is cherry burl. I used rivets sourced from Amazon - I would probably try something different for fasteners if I did another one.

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Beautiful burl! Nice work, that is a good looking knife!

Brass, stainless, or nickle silver rod works great instead of rivets. Drill the hole for a snug fit & cut the rod slightly long. Epoxy in place and sand to final.
 
You got a perfect fit on the knife blank. Did you use those two-part rivets, with a male and female end that you have to tap together? I used those on a previous knife and didn't like them at all.
 
There are some soft brazing/soldering rods available at harbor freight and other shops that have welding supplies. Those make fine rivets as well.

Did you epoxy the handle on or just use the rivets? Also is the burl stabilized? I have to stabilize anything I make for my wife. She will drop it in the sink or dishwasher out of habit from years of working in restaurant and bakery.
I finally went back to commercial kitchen knives for her.
 
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DLJeffs said:
You got a perfect fit on the knife blank. Did you use those two-part rivets, with a male and female end that you have to tap together? I used those on a previous knife and didn't like them at all.
Click to expand...
Yes, I used the two part rivets. I didn't care for them much myself. I was too cheap to buy the step drill for them which may be some of the problem
2feathers Creative Making said:
There are some soft brazing/soldering rods available at harbor freight and other shops that have welding supplies. Those make fine rivets as well.

Did you epoxy the handle on or just use the rivets? Also is the burl stabilized? I have to stabilize anything I make for my wife. She will drop it in the sink or dishwasher out of habit from years of working in restaurant and bakery.
I finally went back to commercial kitchen knives for her.
Click to expand...
I did epoxy the handle on along with the rivets. I did not stabilize the burl. You could tell this knife had been in the water because the tang was quite corroded. I shined it up as best I could with sand paper. Also, interestingly enough this knife contains an aluminum anode ring inside the handle where the middle rivet passes through, I did put it back in the tang before I added the rivets. We'll see how it holds up.
 
Nice work Tony! That cherry burl looks fantastic on the knife — great fit and it really pops. The handle is a bit thicker/heavier than the original plastic, but for a kitchen knife it should still feel fine in hand.
 
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