In this part of the tutorial we finish off the knife by gluing the handle on, repinning it with brass pins and polishing it up.

Part 1 of this tutorial is here

Now we are going to assemble the knife by gluing the handle pieces and the guards to the blade. Start out with the pins. We are replacing all the temporary wooden dowel pins with brass pins. So use them as a gauge to cut yourself the brass pins, all six of them. And make the brass pins a little bit longer (about 1/16 inch) You can easily file them down once installed on the knife.

To glue the pieces together I am using Gorilla epoxy glue that sets in five minutes. It is a two part epoxy that you mix together.

They have a variety of types. For example they have a type that sets in fifteen minutes and one for thirty minutes. If this is your first knife you might want to get one of those just so you have more time to tinker with this stage of the process.

BEFORE GLUING

1. With sand paper you should scuff up any of the wooden parts that will be glued. Just scuff the actual surfaces that will get glue.

2. Put all the pins in one half of the handle pieces. If you lay the knife down put the pins in the three wooden pieces that would be touching the table. The pins will be sticking up.

Dispense some of the glue into a container and mix it up according to the instructions.

Install the two pins in the first wooden piece. This is the one inch piece right up against the guard. And it is the underside piece. Put a liberal amount of glue on that wood.

And slide it right onto the blade.

Then apply glue to the matching handle piece and push that right onto the pins and the blade.

Ok, there we go. Press it firmly by hand. Check those pins and make sure they stick out on the other end too. We want those pins to protrude past the wood in every location. If the pin is sunk down we can't fix it once the glue dries.

Ok, repeat the process with the center pair of wood pieces.

Now apply a liberal amount of glue in the channel between the wooden pieces and slide the sub guard right in there all the way flush.

Ok, finish it off by gluing the last set of wooden pieces in.

It is all glued up. Clean up the excess glue with turpentine or paint thinner and clamp this down to the table or in a vise so all the wooden parts are firmly clamped flush against the knife blade. Avoid clamping on the pins. That would not cause a tight clamp.

Okay, one more page. Let's finish this knife off

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