Looking for a little direction

[J. Holden]

Hello, I have a kit knife blade I bought from Woodcraft.  It's their little skinner blade.  I have some gray diamond wood that I've got cut to the general size and shape.

I'm wondering about shaping the handle.  I'm wondering if it's done after it's been epoxied to the blade.  If it is how do you protect the blade from the sanding?

Thanks for the direction...

-Jeremy  

[Bladepeek]

When I'm working on the handle, I like to have the blade heavily covered with tape to protect it (and me). If you use the painters tape, it doesn't stick as firmly and is much easier to peel back off when you are done.

[milehi101]

On a full tang knife I tape the blade well and shape the scales to a close fit with the pins installed.  I then glue the scales on with the pins to align the scales, I finish sand the scales to the blade and I clean up the sand marks on the tang with very fine wet or dry sandpaper sanding the length of the tang.
Hope this helps

[kbaknife]

Welcome to knife making.

[J. Holden]

Thank you for the tips, and for the welcome.  Gonna give it a slow go and see how it finishes out.

Jeremy