Can You Handle It?

Today I put a handle on that bone blade I made.

I gathered a nice-looking piece of driftwood from Indian Beach yesterday. Driftwood tends to feel light and looks weathered, which may not make it such a great wood for a handle… but what the hell, uh? I did it.

After gathering the wood I cut it down to size with my little saw blade:

Then I took my saw and cut a groove for the blade to fit snugly in:

Don’t forget: SAFETY FIRST!

I tested the blade to see if it fit well:

The I got out my ol’ pine-pitch glue (I totally stole that burn bowl! sorry Al):

I made this glue a while back, mixing dried pine pitch:

…and ground to a powder charcoal:

I held the burn bowl over my tipi fire until it loosened up again. I couldn’t take pictures of this because I had to act fast. I smothered the bone in the pitch glue and stuck it into the groove in the handle, then I dabbed some more pitch onto the handle using another stick to srape it with. As the glue cooled I pressed it into the grooves with my fingers, shaping it up a bit. To loosen it again I just held the knife over the fire for a few seconds.

No pain, no gain:

I may tie some cordage around the handle for more support. I also need to sharpen the knife quite a bit, but I feel lazy about it. It looks cool. For other cool-looking knives, check out what prisoners have made into weapons.

*I wrote this blog in E-prime.*

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