First knife handle

when i did rivets for my bbq set I used a flat punch and a hammer you just have to be careful to make sure you are on the rivet or it will mess up the wood but when its done it sets them really tight. Nice handle i like how it came out

Why didn't you round (sand) off the edges? It looks like that might make it more comfortable in your hand. I have never tried knife handles but it sure is on the TODO list.

I did ease the edges with sandpaper….I guess I could do a bit more rounding….I'll think about that.

Though, it is pretty comfortable. The edges as-is are not sharp.

I do a lot of cooking and cutting for the wife, also a lot of carving any edge would bother me after a while. But that is my preference Keep posting projects, thanks

Since this will be just for bread serving, the knife would never be in someone's hand for an extended period of time.

I'm getting ready to make some folding pocket knives and the place I ordered them from said you peen the rivets with a ball peen hammer to tighten them. You could maybe try that next time. Overall, a nice looking knife. How did the rivets sand? Fairly easy? Did you just use sand paper and sand them by hand, or did you use a file?

I used a belt sander mounted upside down into my workmate. The rivets sand almost as easily as wood, no need to use a file. They're pretty soft.

For a first handle, I think you did a great job!

It would be nice to see the cutting board and the knife together.

Keep on-keepin' on!

Good looking knife!

Knifekits.com has a ton of kits. Their method, you just set pins in with epoxy instead of rivets. It is fun and easy.

It's tricky to do a lot of fine tuning with these, since any sanding after they're attached will muck up the blade. I found that a couple layers of masking tape on the blade will help if you really need to tweak anything once they're attached.

The best tool by far that I've found for these is an oscillating sander, but I've used the belt sander that way too.

I added a picture of the board and knife together. I think it'll make a great gift set, if I do say so myself

It is a beauty! Where would I get more information about using rivets? How did you use the vice to attach them?

I think next time I'll try a punch with a hammer. I duct-taped a nut JUST smaller than the rivet head to each side of the rivet, then put it in the vice. The nuts being there allowed me to close the rivets below the surface of the wood, then I used a belt sander to get the wood flush.

The rivets I am used to seeing are ones with a head on only one end. The other end has to be peened over, forming the second head and making the connection secure. Are you using a two piece rivet or something? That is why I asked how you used a bench vice to make the rivet secure. I have used a peen side of a ball-peen hammer before to widen out soft steel and brass rivets, but have had trouble doing it. If you have something better than the old style rivet I would love to know all about it.

Yup these are 2-piece cutlery rivets. I got them here.

They basically look like a nail and a tube. The tube is JUST smaller than the nail, so when you squeeze them together it basucally squasshes them together.

I can see clearly now …

Sounds like a song
Thanks. I will be replacing some old wooden handles in the kitchen with nylon (old wood bad, but old steel good) and wondered how to do the rivet thing. Got it. Thanks again.

Wow, that's pretty sawesome!