Randall Bore No. 8: Pinned handles

[BoBlade]

Well, this Bore is about pinned handles. It?s really going to help if you can follow along with Mr. Gaddis? book (If you don?t have this book and you love Randalls then your sorely missing out!).

I guess the best way to start off is by saying a handle on a knife isn?t much use if it doesn?t stay on (duh!). It has to be secured well enough so all the knife components function as a singular instrument. Bo knew this when he set out to make a knife as close as he could to one he had seen that was made by Mr. Scagel, and Scagel secured his handles with brass pins press fit into an extended tang (see photo page 34).
Modern epoxies were not available at that time, so my understanding is that Bo used pitch to set the tang. Yes, ?Pitch?! Tree sap, the stuff that is called amber after a couple million years of laying around. It readily adheres to most materials and dries hard (but brittle). Every now and then you will see an older pinned stag handle where the excess pitch still remains around the periphery of the pin.