How to make a bread knife handle

I have had this bread knife for about 20 years and it still has a sharp blade.
The wooden handle started to rot awhile ago (left in the kitchen sink too many times), so it was time to make a new handle.
I used a leftover piece of laminated pine board about 1.5 cm (7/16") thick for the handle.
Pretty well any wood that is not too soft or porous could be used (or deer antler for example).
(Click on the [i] at the top left of photos to see an enlarged version.)

Materials used
- One piece of 4 x 10 x 1.5 cm laminated pine
- Approximately 3 mm thick copper wire (possibly 9 gauge, not certain)

Tools used
- Hammer (with a rounded head, ball peen is best)
- Small anvil (or a solid metal surface)
- Handsaw (for wood)
- Hacksaw (for metal rivets)
- Files
- Sandpaper
- Electric hand drill
- Countersink bit

Step 1 Remove the old handle and rivets

The old handle on my bread knife had partially rotted off, and I had wrapped it with temporarily with packing tape.
I removed the pack tape and the rotten wood. As you can see in the second photo, there are four metal rivets.
Two of the rivets are female (hollow), and the other two (male) are inserted into them from the opposite side.
I cut off the rivets with a hacksaw (this can be tricky so be careful*). If you're lucky, the rivets may pull apart, so try that first.
*Note: Throughout the entire process I handled the knife with the blade taped up to prevent any accidents.

Comments

[emanuelli]

With your experience in making handles, could you tell me what kind of handles would best work for these blades I'd like to work with? Thanks.

[nkhalsa]

I was surprised about the pine. I have not seen it used for handles. Hardwoods like ash or hickory are typically used. My favorite is Dymondwood, but it can be hard to work (tends to be 'chippy").

[canuckinjapan]

I had actually planned to use a harder wood, but my main objective was "recycling", and I happened to have some chunks of laminated pine left over from a bookshelf I made awhile back.
I liked the way grain looked, it reminds me of tiger's eye quartz.

[The Rambler]

That's a very interesting knife. I don't think I've seen a double sided bread knife before, are both sides of the blade actually usable?

The handle looks really good. I'm working on my first knife handle right now. It's made out of an antler, but this makes me want to do another one out of wood.

[canuckinjapan]

The blade is about 19 cm (7.5") long, and both sides of the blade are indeed usable.
The serrated edge still cuts soft bread easily, and the scalloped edge would probably work on tomatoes etc.

[popewill]

Wow! Looks good. I wish I had some wood that nice just laying around.