In this part of the tutorial we continue working on the blade then we move on to to the handle.

Go ahead and drill out all three holes. Yes, even the big hole. I started with a 1/8 inch drill bit. Then for the two handle holes I moved up to the 1/4 inch final hole size. The big finger hole is a bit different.

For the big finger hole you use a stepper drill. Keep drilling it step by step, and flip it over often, until it is the right size (one inch). And see the can of WD-40? Keep it all well lubricated while drilling. This helps keep the tools sharp.

Amazon: MAGBIT 851.1125 MAG851 7/16-Inch to 1-1/8-Inch Max Diameter High Speed Step Drill Bit, 12 Steps

Stepper drills are expensive, get one that does at least one inch. You can get them at Home Depot or Lowes too.

The three holes are drilled.

Now you can go ahead and file the bevel in the blade. This takes some time. Use a mill file and only stroke in the forward direction. Never pull the file back over the knife edge. You work one side of the knife as shown. Then you flip the knife over and work the other side. At this point in the knifemaking you shouldn't file it down to an exact edge meeting in the middle. Leave a little bit of flatness there. This makes the heating much easier later on.

Now Let's Work on the handle

Use your handle template to trace out the shape onto your piece of wood.

About the piece of wood. Well, a bit tricky here but you have a lot of options. I used a large piece of buckeye burl wood. You can get various pieces of handle wood on amazon. Here is a link so you can look through some stuff. You need a piece of wood that is at least one inch thick, two inches wide and five inches long if you are making my karambit. But, this cuts it pretty close. Get a bigger piece if you can. (Amazon: Knife Scales)

Use any tools you have available to cut the handle wood down to two pieces of the approximate shape and size of the handle halves. They are each about 1/2 inch thick.

You end up with two slabs of handle wood that look like this. Each is about one half inch thick.

You end up with two handle pieces like this. See how it is the rough shape of our knife handle yet a little big? This is perfect.

Let's Continue with the tutorial

The Complete Bladesmith: Forging Your Way To Perfection

Looking for instructions in bladesmithing that'll put you on the cutting edge of the custom blade market? Then this definitive guide to forging world-class blades is for you. Written by a master bladesmith, this book tells you how to set up your forge, select your materials, fashion grips and hilts, grind edges and much more!

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