Hi guys, looking for inspiration here…
I dropped my favorite small kitchen knife on a stone floor, it landed right on the handle end and popped the three pot-metal rivets out in one go…
Three M4 bolts make a good temporary fix, but I’m wondering what to do long term, re-rivet somehow? recessed bolts is the easiest but I’m also inclined to reshape the tang and make + fit a new handle (wood…)
Any cunning ideas or suggestions are welcome
Cheap knife, but it holds a good edge.
My default would be to re-rivet in brass, but it looks like that handle has recesses that might open up another option… Would “chicago screws” work as an easier expedient? You’d have to check diameter, and might need to make/buy bushings if you can’t get exactly the right size. 
I can see a nice little project coming up.
Those existing scales look like plastic, why not replace them with some nice hardwood scales, give your favourite knife an upgrade. Some good options here. and here’s a good youtube video on replacing knife scales.
Duncan
If its a favorite knife then it needs special love. Let us know how it goes.
There are several knife handle screws and rivets that can be used for knife making. A quick web search will provide a ton of different options.
Thanks everyone; I’m going to order some allen-head (hex) chicago screws, brass if I can find them, otherwise RVS .
The plastic is good enough for the moment, and screws will let me swap them for something more tactile later. I’m not sure what the plastic is, there is no mark, it feels like bakolite but this is too modern for that.
Over the summer I’ll grab a suitably large lump of hardwood offcut from the sailclub and see what happens. What I want to do next is get a ‘digital copy’ of the tang and rough machine the new pieces on my little CNC, I want to do some woodwork on it for a change from PCB’s.
edit: RVS == rust vrij staal == stainless steel (thanks @mcdanlj, I’ve gone native after 25 years in Holland)
There are lots of similar thermosetting resins. Phenolics are still common today. Bakelite, a type of phenolic, was just the first thermosetting resin, as far as I know. I have knives with what I believe are phenolic handles made in the 90s, and cookware with phenolic handles manufactured in the past few years.
Lots of folks use micarta for scales, and that’s just some sort of fiber embedded in phenolic resin.
Amazon has some nice G10 scales.
