Renovation of Ruined Knife Into New One With Hand Carved Handle

What ?

Rusty, ruined knife repair into brand new one. Remember however that this instructable shows also how to make a knife from scratch

Why to renovate ?

If You are asking that, maybe You should not read this instructable ;-)
to bring to life something which is broken
to be more responsible and eco
to have a fun
to have a very sharp, quite good looking knife made by own
to have satifaction from watching before&after pictures

I've used the beech tre for the handle. It is because this tree is quite dense, good for carving and very durable. I recommend it for the knife, but You can use any type of wood which is good for carving. One thing - the wood should be dried and without the cracks. Moreover the grain should be along the knife handle not across it (if so, the handle would break).
I recommend birch, beech, walnut or oak for the handle. Those are the cheepest and easy to get materials.

First You need to have a template. Of course You can work without it, but it will be harder.
I made a template with the GIMP (use any kind of pc programm for that) and then printed it on the paper which I've glued to the piece of wood.

Now it's time to make stop cuts along the lines on the template. Without them You probably cut some of the pattern during carving. To make stop cuts use flat chisel or V chisel. To make curved stop cuts use different types of U chsels.

To curve You can use any technique. I recommend to use U chisel for taking the wood and the flat chisel for making the details. Although also the good technique is to use V chisel for making the details.

During work it's crucial to work with the grain not across it. That's all. You can watch on the video attached how I'm carving. It's hard to explain everything by writting.

First thing is to get rid of old handle. It's easy. Just wrap the duct tape around the blade (to avoid damaging it), put it the vise and using the flat chisel and hammer - hit the handle from the bottom. Do not use the much force to avoid breaking the blade.
Now take the sandpapers and start sandpapering. Use grit from 200 to 800 to have a nice shiny blade. If You want it to be mirrror like shiny - end with the 2500 grit.

Tak small drill and drill the holes in the handle. The best for that is professional drill which keeps straight angle, but You can use even hand drill for the task. Just be carefull.

Now using glue (epoxy, poliurethane or other strong one) put the blade into the handle. To hide some inperfection use the wood putty. You can create such putty by own from the sandpapering dust and wood glue.

The handle without the color and protective coat would soon be ruined (ar at last very dirty), so use stain or oil to paint and preserve the handle. I recommend to use terpentine&oil stain and the laquer rather than oils, becouse oils will show every inperfection in the carvings. So use them If You are 100% sure You made a good handle. Oils are also hard to preserve and cannot be laquered.

That's all now take the protective tape from the blade and enjoy Your new knife. It's the best part of the project to see how rusty piece of junk turns into new shine knife.
Thanks for reading. If You enjoyed it, subscirbe me as well as my Youtube channel.