First off, this is more of a knowledge question than anything else. I'm not planning to attempt anything in the immediate future, though I have been toying with the idea of making a knife at some point, when I get some time to devote to it.

The question is about handles. The blade part seems fairly straightforward, and I have an uncle who's learning to be a blacksmith, so I can get hands on instruction and access to tools for the blade.

The handle puzzles me though. The majority of knives I see have the full tang, which is drilled through, and a like size 'rivet' of a softer metal is pushed through the wood of the handle, and the tang, then peened out to lock the handle piece in place. The Sgian Dubh though, does not have a full tang, I'm not sure of the proper name for it, but in my head it's a 'shank' tang. The majority of things I see regarding putting a handle on a knife with this type of tang revolves around the use of some sort of epoxy.

What I'm curious about is, how were handles attached to knives, Sgian Dubh in particular, with these types of tangs, prior to the invention of modern epoxies. I've read several articles on knifemaking on various websites, and even the ones who touted using 'traditional' or 'primitive' methods of forging the blade and carving the handle all recommended using modern epoxies to secure the blade into the handle.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems that there should be a way to attach the handle to the blade that reflects the similar effort put into forging the blade and carving the handle. What did they do before modern epoxies?

I'd be grateful if anyone could enlighten me on the subject. The knifemaking project is still a mental exercise at this point, but I feel it may become an actual project at some point, and want to look at it from all sides.

Thanks,

Casey