Putting a handle on a Helle Temagami knife blank

The son of a friend of mine became an Eagle Scout recently, and I decided to make him a knife. I knew he did some hunting, so I made him a knife equally suited for hunting, and for bushcraft. The Helle company of Finland is famous for quality knives, and recently partnered with famed survival reality show star Les Stroud. Les advised them on bushcraft knives, and helped design their Temagami knife. These knives are bigger than I usually make, with a blade about 4” long. Shown below is the Helle product, which sells for $175 or so.

I found a place that sold the blade without the handle, which sold for more like $25. Its a genuine Helle blade, and the blank looks like this.

I found a nice piece of birdseye maple, and cut a slot on one side for the blade. One feature of the Temagami is that no metal is exposed on the grip side of the blade, which might make it a bit more comfortable in the winter, not having to touch the blade with your fingers. It must have Alaska fur trappers as its target audience. I used Corby bolts to physically secure the blade to the handle, and added some epoxy to the slot to really secure the blade. The brass of the Corby bolts files away easily, so they can be flush with the surface of the handle. The rear hole is a brass tube, to serve as a lanyard loop.

That is one solid hunting knife!