I'm adding this thread to detail a project I've started. I initially thought it would take a couple of hours, but that hasn't been the case
I wanted a craft knife that had the type of blade that you snap the end off as it gets blunt. The strong or more durable knifes I saw were all only for right handed people, and as I'm left handed I thought I'd buy a knife, use the blade and locking mechanism but make a new left handed handle.
This is the knife I bought. I have loads of Irwin tools, and not only are they good quality but I like the colours they come in. The colour issue has caused most of my problems lol.
The locking knob is in the way for left handed use, plus the handle is asymmetrical in both the vertical and horizontal axis. This stops the blade just being turned upside down and used in the left hand.
It was easy enough to rip the knife open. This model has a yellow holder for a spare blade built into the handle, but I don't need anything like that.
I made a template for the shape of the new handle, and cut one out of hardwood. That took about an hour.
I wanted to paint the new handle the same colour as the original one. This is where the quick job turned into a saga!
I didn't have any spray paint the correct shade, so looked at my enamel paints. Humbrol don't make a shade the same as the Irwin blue, and the closest colours are gloss 14 and 15 but they are too light or too dark.
As I didn't have the correct shade of paint I settled on colouring the wood with dye, and then applying yatch varnish. I used Indian Rosewood dye, that's roughly the shade Irwin woodwork tools come in. This box is something I made recently using the same dye and varnish combination.
When the Handle was dyed and varnished I didn't like how it looked. The finish was good, but a wood finish didn't look right for a craft knife.
I looked at the knife for a while, but then thought 'sod it' and stripped the varnish back off.
I went back to wanting a painted finish so I popped into my local B and Q and took the original handle so they could scan it, and do a custom mix of brush paint (The handle blue areas are too small for a body shop scanner, so I settled on brush paint).
When I got to B and Q they didn't have any 'paint base' in stock for wood/metal paint so couldn't do a mix. I checked out their aerosol cans and Rustolium had 'deep blue' which seemed a good match, but Rustolium swatches or rattle can lids are often a poor match to the actual paint.
This was the swatch above the shelves. This 'deep blue' is a good match to the original handle.
I wanted a craft knife that had the type of blade that you snap the end off as it gets blunt. The strong or more durable knifes I saw were all only for right handed people, and as I'm left handed I thought I'd buy a knife, use the blade and locking mechanism but make a new left handed handle.
This is the knife I bought. I have loads of Irwin tools, and not only are they good quality but I like the colours they come in. The colour issue has caused most of my problems lol.
The locking knob is in the way for left handed use, plus the handle is asymmetrical in both the vertical and horizontal axis. This stops the blade just being turned upside down and used in the left hand.
It was easy enough to rip the knife open. This model has a yellow holder for a spare blade built into the handle, but I don't need anything like that.
I made a template for the shape of the new handle, and cut one out of hardwood. That took about an hour.
I wanted to paint the new handle the same colour as the original one. This is where the quick job turned into a saga!
I didn't have any spray paint the correct shade, so looked at my enamel paints. Humbrol don't make a shade the same as the Irwin blue, and the closest colours are gloss 14 and 15 but they are too light or too dark.
As I didn't have the correct shade of paint I settled on colouring the wood with dye, and then applying yatch varnish. I used Indian Rosewood dye, that's roughly the shade Irwin woodwork tools come in. This box is something I made recently using the same dye and varnish combination.
When the Handle was dyed and varnished I didn't like how it looked. The finish was good, but a wood finish didn't look right for a craft knife.
I looked at the knife for a while, but then thought 'sod it' and stripped the varnish back off.
I went back to wanting a painted finish so I popped into my local B and Q and took the original handle so they could scan it, and do a custom mix of brush paint (The handle blue areas are too small for a body shop scanner, so I settled on brush paint).
When I got to B and Q they didn't have any 'paint base' in stock for wood/metal paint so couldn't do a mix. I checked out their aerosol cans and Rustolium had 'deep blue' which seemed a good match, but Rustolium swatches or rattle can lids are often a poor match to the actual paint.
This was the swatch above the shelves. This 'deep blue' is a good match to the original handle.