How to make a knife handle from corks
There is no need to explain how important a sharp knife with a comfortable and non-slip handle is in the kitchen. Also, such a knife is indispensable when hiking, fishing or hunting. You can make such a handle for a knife, hatchet, spinning rod or winter fishing rod from champagne or wine corks. Any adult can handle this job.
Will need
Materials:
- wine or champagne corks;
- waterproof glue (“glue 88”, “Moment”, etc.);
- acrylate glue and acetone.
Tools: microwave oven, sharp knife, sandpaper, household hair dryer, jigsaw file with handle, file.
The process of making a knife handle from champagne or wine corks
Wine corks are suitable, but it is more convenient to use champagne corks. They are larger in size, and the shape can be straightened by placing them in the microwave for 1-1.5 minutes.
On one side of the cylindrical part of the plugs, we cut off segments of approximately equal thickness with a knife along the entire length. To level the resulting planes, use sandpaper. Residual small irregularities are not dangerous, because they will disappear with further actions.
For gluing, we use any waterproof glue, for example, “Moment-Crystal”.Apply it to the flat surface of one cork and rub the second one. According to the instructions, you need to wait 5-10 minutes for the solvent to evaporate. To speed up this process, blow off the applied glue with a household hairdryer.
We connect the plugs along the planes with applied and dried glue. We squeeze the plugs tightly, since the strength of the compression is important, not the duration. We cut off the side irregularities from the plugs on both sides and get flat surfaces, which we process with sandpaper, achieving maximum parallelism.
Using this scheme, we produce the required number of cork elements, which together, after joining, form a blank for the future handle. Moreover, in the center of each element, a slot is made with a jigsaw for the passage of the knife shank. The slots in the elements should alternate: after the longitudinal one relative to the gluing plane, there should be a transverse one.
First, we put a wooden bolster on the shank with glue, then the required number of cork elements and at the end the back plate is also made of wood, and we tighten everything with a nut screwed onto the end of the shank or a pin riveted to it.
We process the handle blank assembled in this way to the desired shape with a knife, file and sandpaper. After final processing, we impregnate the handle several times with a composition of acrylic glue and acetone in a ratio of 1:50-60.
It is believed that a knife is made correctly in terms of the ratio of mass and size of the blade and handle if it has positive buoyancy, that is, it does not completely sink in water. In case of negative buoyancy, you will have to reduce the thickness of the blade, its length, or grind off the spine.
