Donation knife build along

[Rancid Crabtree]

I rough shaped the maple scales to fit the blank. I held the sides in place with two scrap pins.



Next, I roughed up the handle portion of the blank as well as the glue sides of the scales. Epoxy does much better with a rough surface than a smooth one.



I then drilled a shallow pocket in each scale for the WBH medallion.





To prevent scratching the blade, I pre-shaped the front end of the scales before attaching them to the blank.





The final prep work for the scales was to epoxy the medallions in place.



Once the epoxy that holds the medallions in place was cured, I attached both knife scales to the handle of the blade blank. I masked off all the areas of both the blank and the handle that I did not want to get epoxy on. This epoxy has a 3,500 pound holding strength and the wood scales and the knife blank are now forever joined.




Next up, shaping the handle.............