How to Make Leather Disc Handles for Knives
Leather disks compress into a lightweight, comfortable knife handle that you can custom-fit to the shape of your hand. A leather handle will fit on any knife blade which has a tang that extends the full length of the handle and that has threads for a nut or a small end which you can clinch over. You can cut all the disks from the same leather to match or make a few from contrasting colors to create decorative stripes going around the handle.
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Things You'll Need
- Metal hilt
- Drill
- File
- Ball peen hammer
- 1-inch by 8-inch pipe
- Leather
- Knife or heavy shears
- Leather punch or chisel
- Vise
- 2 pieces of wood, 1/4-inch by 2-inch by 4-inch
- Leather cement
- Metal butt plate
- Nut for tang (optional)
- Rasp
- Sandpaper
- Sanding wheel (optional)
Instructions
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1
Cut or purchase a metal hilt and drill a hole in it so it slides snugly down the tang (where the steel protrudes on the handle of the knife). If the tang is rectangular rather than round, file the hole into a rectangle. Start the hilt onto the tang, then place a pipe over the tang and tap it with a hammer to seat the tang firmly against the back of the blade.
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2
Weld or epoxy the hilt in place if it has any play. If it's fitted firmly in place, pressure from the leather handle will hold it in place by friction alone.
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3
Cut enough leather circles 1/8 inch or more in diameter than you want your finished handle, so that when they're stacked and pressed together, they'll be as long as the handle you're planning. Use a knife or heavy shears to cut them. Punch a hole the size of the tang in the center of each with a leather punch or drill or a small chisel for a rectangular tang.
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4
Slide the leather disks onto the tang, gluing each to the one before it with leather cement. When the tang is full, place the knife blade handle-upward in a vice between two pieces of wood to protect it. Fill the tang as far as possible with the discs, since the butt plate will compress them when you add it.
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5
Drill a hole in the center of the metal butt plate the same size as the tang.
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6
Slide the butt plate onto the tang. If the tang is threaded for a nut, screw the nut down tightly, forcing the butt plate against the leather disks and compressing them. If the tang is designed to be peened over, tap the butt plate firmly down against the disks and use a ball-peen hammer to bend the tip of the tang over to hold the butt plate in place.
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7
Rasp the edges of the leather handle to begin smoothing them down to their finished size and shape. Switch to a finer file, then finer grades of sandpaper, either working by hand or using a sanding wheel. Smooth and shape the hilt and butt plate too, as needed.
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Tips & Warnings
Protect your eyes and hands when sanding on a wheel.
References
- Photo Credit Knife "Fox". image by filosof from Fotolia.com
