Birch Bark question

[jdale]

My father reciently sold one of the hunting camps he has owned since i was an infant, needless to say he was rather sentimental about the place. I took it upon myself to remove a burl and some birch bark from the property before the sale was complete. I am going to make at least one knife from each of the woods and give one to him as something to remember the camp with.

I have seen birch bark handles made from stacking the bark, i was wondering if any one has tried making a birch bark laminated handle. I would like to give it a try but with a limited supply of the material at hand i wouldn't want to screw it up experimenting with it.

[Eli Jensen]

Laminated how so? Birch bark is inexpensive. You can buy it on eBay. I don't know about laminating but stacking it just like leather with a little epoxy inn between each stack makes a very durable handle. It's waterproof and can be hardened to some extent if you soak some oil or wax in it, but you sacrifice some of the grip if you do so. Plain bark handles have great grips if you don't add oil, otherwise it feels similar to leather which is still nice.

[jdale]

Ive seen the stscked handles before, i was wondering if anyone has tried making somthing like the dymond wood usa knifemaker sells. I would think laminating it like denim micarta would work, i just dont want to waste my limited supply if someone has already tried it and didnt like the outcome.

[Eli Jensen]

It would be much more headache than it's worth. Pieces glued together would only be as strong as the weakest bond which in your case would be the bond between the outer papery bark and the inner bark, which is very weak. It would quickly fail there. With that said your might have success if you completely peel the white bark off each individual piece. I wouldn't recommend trying it without some serious experimenting first.

[jdale]

So a stacked handle it is

[Jon Kennedy]

Originally Posted by jdale

So a stacked handle it is

use medium CA to laminate and clamp then after you have it to the size you need stabilize it!
Jon

[Eli Jensen]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think birch bark needs stabilizing unless you want the surface harder so it doesn't dent.

[metal99]

Stabilizing will prevent the bark from peeling away from itself if it's laminated.

[Eli Jensen]

Oh I thought we were talking about stacking. Wouldn't stabilizing change the grip to feel like plastic? In my opinion the way bark feels is kids main benefit.

[metal99]

Stabilizing would change the feel but if it's laminated it would make it a lot stronger I'm sure. I love the stacked look myself and the grip is great too.