leather handles on knives

[kyote]

I was wondering the life span of leather used as knife handle.if there is a new techneic you all are using like impregnating the leather under pressure with epoxy are something else.
I am interested in buying a knife,and hit has leather spacers on it with stag and micarta..
My dad had several marble knives and some others that had the leather handles.at the time we live in the tropics.as a kid they looked new.he took them hunting in the jungles a lot and took good care of his tools.then later on when I started hunting and went to the gun cabnit to grab one of the knives.while using it, the leather just crumbled off rotted I reckon.so, I guess that is my concern.

[Joel]

I've two Ka-bar leather handled knives that are 52 years old and still going fine.  About all they've ever had done to them is a bit of wax now and then.  Have to watch them when it's humid out, since mold will start to grow on them and needs to be wiped off.  I had the same problem with leather in Vietnam as your Dad's knives did.  You had to constantly keep the leather clean and waxed or oiled or it would either get moldy and  rot, or pick up a parasite that just loved the taste of leather.  A lot of folks, when they're building leather handled knives, soak them in epoxy as they're adding the leather washers to the tang.,,,then sand the whole thing down smooth after it all drys.  You could probablly apply epoxy, or super glue, to an already completed knife handle, coating it well and letting it be absorbed as much as  can be absorbed by that method, as long as you haven't already waxed or oiled it.  If the surface is wax/oil free you would then have to basically re-finish the whole handle when you go to smooth out the e;poxy coated surfaces.

[willysjeep134]

I used Sno-Seal on one handle. It's just beeswax paste with some kind of mild solvent in suspension. The handle turned out really dark, but it was dark leather to begin with. Looks like a well worn handle now, even though it's only a few moths old.

PS, if you ever need to rebuild a leather handle and need some nince white spacers, the lids of plastic buckets make nice spacer material.It sands and cuts pretty easy too.

[kyote]

thanks for the info,I live out in the desert now,but I want them to be able to be handed down with out having to redo the handles.
I am hoping they have made improvements from the leather washers from way back.as I was heart broken when the leather on the others rotted off.I don't know what pop did with them.I hope they are still in his guncabinet some place.when I get them, I will see about fixing them.and waxing them, I will be doing..

[Will52100]

I love leather handles, and do a few, mainly with crown stag rear.  Haven't done a full leather handle yet, it's on my to-do list.

The way I do them now is to cut into squars, soak with accureglass epoxy, stack 6-8 at a time and compress in a 20 ton shop press.  Let sit for 24 hours and it's basicly a epoxy laminate.  I have tried soaking with water and compressing and letting dry first, but finaly figured out that that was a wasted step, unless I wanted thinner layers.  I then drill out the center slot for the tange and true everything up and use the blocks like there wood.  If I need a thinner block I trim off what I need on the bandsaw.  The leather does get a little fuzzy where you saw and grind it, but I epoxy it together with accureglass and haven't had a problem with shirnking or expanding.  After grinding to shape and finishing to 600 grit I soak the leather down with Zap super thin super glue to fill any pores and then sand back to smooth.  It makes for a glass like finish, but I loose some of the gripyness of the leather.  Not as bad as polished mycarta, but not as good as oiled leather.  Of course it's a lot more stabile than natural leather too.  I still wax afterward too.

Untreated leather like your father's knife, and my fathers Vietnam kabar for that matter, I think rotted from sitting unused and uncared for.  Even if you don't use it some materials like natural leather, horn, ivory, stag, and such need an oiling or waxing every six months or so just for preventative maintance.  Sounds like the leather dried out from sitting in the gun cabnet.