How I made my knife handle out of Cherrywood

Main log

Heres what I started off with, a roughly 4" diameter x 8" log that came from a cherry tree in my backyard. I had originally planned to take up whittling, and was going to turn this into a small boat, but decided against it when I realized how much effort whittling requires. I apologize for the horrible quality of some of these photographs, I didn't spend much time taking pictures as i was too focused on the project.

Bark Stripped

To begin whittling I had to remove all of the bark.

Whittling progress, Knife handle start

what you see towards the top is what took me about 4 hours of whittling. my blade was not very sharp, so it took me a while to make any sort of progress. In this picture, I've already split the long into the small planks i'll be using for the handles.

Knife and templates

Here is the knife I will be making the plates for. This is my first knife purchase, and i just wanted something that would be a good all around knife. I had originally wanted something with wooden handles (I like the natural look of the grains) but was unable to find anything. This project was on my mind even while I was attempting to whittle. I outlined the entire knife (minus the blade) onto the planks just to get a basic shape down.

Rough cut

I used a hammer and chisel, working with the grain to remove small sections to get down to the basic outline.

Rough cut

First rough cut done, on to the next. I used a tree saw to remove the largest sections that were across the grain.

A little more precision

I used my trusty dremel to refine the basic shape and a vacuum nearby to get all the shavings. though I could have gone straight to the next step which is the plate outline, I felt like I needed to see how good these would look.

Not Bad

Plate mock up

Here I have removed the plates from the knife and set them onto my somewhat refined planks as a size comparison.

Thickness comparison

Plate thickness compared to the plank, I've got a long way to go.

Tracing the frame

I decided it would be best for me to trace the frame of the knife rather than the plates. Though there would be little difference, I felt more comfortable making the planks match the frame rather than trying to match the plank to the piece i was copying. I used a fine tipped sharpie for the tracing.

Sanding

I have finished dremeling the pieces to match the frame, now I need to get the thickness down, as well as making the frame side completely flat so it will sit correctly. I used this little piece of scrap and some 100 &150 grit sandpaper (coarsest I had around the house). I also used the dremel to take down much of the thickness, but I ended up finishing the wood flat with the sandpaper.

Assembly

Once the planks were all nice and flat, I drilled the required holes and reassembled the knife to make sure it all fit together. on this side, there is a little groove (the lowest dark spot) that was a natural curvature of the wood. I used this to my advantage, and positioned it so that my middle finger would fall into the curvature.

Not bad

I like this side the most.

How she fits

It's a little small for my hands, but I can handle it with ease.

Overall Thickness

I did not measure anything, but it looks to be about twice as thick as the original plates.

Curvature

Here you can see the curvature that I turned into a finger divot

Staining

I pulled everything apart, sanded everything flat, smoothed it up with some 220 grit and used some "natural" stain to bring out the grains of the wood, and to also protect it from the elements.

Hanging post-stain

Stain coloring

Different angle

Fully assembled

It appears much lighter in these photos than it is in person.

Back side

Overall I'm very pleased with how well it turned out. I spent about 10-12 hours working the wood until I got the shape I wanted. This knife should last me a long time, and I'm curious to see how the plates will wear over the years. In the mean time I've got a very unique blade that fits my tastes!

Thanks for looking!