Will Vance
01-02-2009, 11:06 AM
I was making a knife handle for a knife my Dad is making for me, and decided Bloodwood would make a nice, good looking handle.
I bought a 3/8" thick, 3" wide, 24" long piece of Bloodwood - very nice, thinking that if I screwed up a side I would have extra in the length.
Well, I dulled my bandsaw blade cutting out the (2) sides, had to put it on the bench sander to sand it.
Then it came to drilling the holes to mount it, I used a brand new HSS drill bit - knowing it was a dense wood and hard to work with.
I placed the handle on the DP Table, clamped the back with (2) clamps, thinking I should be good to go. WRONG.
I started to drill and the drill press "whined" - a very sharp, quick sound. The Bloodwood handle snapped (more like exploded) in to (2) large pieces, a few smaller ones and quite a few spinters - which were mostly in my fingertips. I had my left hand holding the front of the knife handle down.
I shut the press down and looked at the splinters in my fingers which were starting to swell alittle and stung like the dickens.
I then thought about the noise from the drill press and pulled out the bit - it looked like someone had started to thread the end of it.
What happen? What did I do wrong? :confused:
Any and all advice would be helpful - including if I should try again or use another wood for a knife handle.
Thanks,
Will
I bought a 3/8" thick, 3" wide, 24" long piece of Bloodwood - very nice, thinking that if I screwed up a side I would have extra in the length.
Well, I dulled my bandsaw blade cutting out the (2) sides, had to put it on the bench sander to sand it.
Then it came to drilling the holes to mount it, I used a brand new HSS drill bit - knowing it was a dense wood and hard to work with.
I placed the handle on the DP Table, clamped the back with (2) clamps, thinking I should be good to go. WRONG.
I started to drill and the drill press "whined" - a very sharp, quick sound. The Bloodwood handle snapped (more like exploded) in to (2) large pieces, a few smaller ones and quite a few spinters - which were mostly in my fingertips. I had my left hand holding the front of the knife handle down.
I shut the press down and looked at the splinters in my fingers which were starting to swell alittle and stung like the dickens.
I then thought about the noise from the drill press and pulled out the bit - it looked like someone had started to thread the end of it.
What happen? What did I do wrong? :confused:
Any and all advice would be helpful - including if I should try again or use another wood for a knife handle.
Thanks,
Will