As I mentioned in my opening blog on making custom knives, the tools required to do the job are not very high tech in most cases if you don't make or shape blade steel. Many of the tools listed below are very handy around the home along with being somewhat indispensable for making handles. I am going to list them somewhat in order of importance along with an explanation of  why you need the particular tool and a rough cost, along with where to get them.
Optivsor - This is a brand name for a head mounted magnifier that just about every jeweler in the world uses, along with many other craft users. It provides a hands free magnification for both eyes, and usually comes equipped with a special extra magnifier for the right eye that can be swung out of the way when not needed. I, and my wife, have used this device for many other applications like sewing, knitting, fixing eyeglasses, and many other applications that require a little extra magnification. There are cheaper versions of the brand name selling for under $5 in some catalogs, while the name brand sells for $30-$40, with different levels of magnification available .I go on the theory that if my handle scale materials look well fitted with the optivisor, they will be very acceptable to the naked eye.

Dremel miniature drill/sander/cutter- This has got to be one of the handiest tools around the home ever invented. Dremel is the name brand, and of course there are cheaper copies, but I like the multi speed Dremel because it is obviously well built and parts/accessories are available at most hardware and  home improvement stores. This tool has sanding drums in two sizes, diamond bits, cutting saw wheels, buffing attachments, and various other bits. It is small yet powerful and is just right for many knife handle finishing jobs. You can even get a drill press and router attachment for it, or a 3-4 foot cable extension. The extension allows you to hang the motor overhead and just work with the light cable and bit.

Jeweler's Saw and Dop - These, along with the Optivisor are found, I am certain, at thousands of jewelry workbenches around the world. The saw costs around $15 and is U shaped. The height of the U is about 5” and the length of the blades around that. The blades are extremely small and come in various tooth sizes. These saw blades are a marvel. They cut wood, recon stone, shell, and most metals. They are inexpensive, but you have to learn to use them so you don’t constantly break them. They attach to the saw with friction clamps and the whole frame slides with a friction clamp also. The dop ( I think that is the right name) is a very inexpensive and simple device made from plastic and hard fiber board. It has two identical pieces, hinged in the middle, with one end flat and the other round. It is basically a soft clamp, and holds a piece of work in either end by inserting the plastic wedge in the other end, causing a clamping action. This tool will save your fingers for sure and allows for many operations like sawing and sanding to be done by holding it in one hand and using a tool on the item at the other end.

Adhesives-There are basically two types of adhesives I use. My main adhesive is the Devcon 2 Ton, 30 minute,  2 part epoxy that mixes one to one. It is tough and  strong and you can get it in large plastic bottles or a two tube  push applicator.  There are variations of the basic 30 mintue working time 2 Ton blend, but you usually sacrifice some strength for setup speed. I also use Superglue sometimes for special applications and inlaying setup, but I like the epoxy because it fills all the spaces underneath or alongside adjacent pieces of handle and that keeps water and rust from becoming a problem later. If you make a custom handle for display only, the superglue has advantages in speed. Devcon and Superglue are cheap at wal-Mart.

Power sanding belt- I bought a $69, 4" x36" belt sander with a side disc attachement. This was a cheap version of some more expensive euipment, but I have used it for years so far, without any problems. It is great for rough finishing the ends of pieces sticking out in all directions that I invariably end up with when I glue everything together. It also does a fast job of getting all the pieces to be one flat surface. The only problem is oversanding and gouging parts you didn't wish to sand, so watch when  you get within 1/8" of where you want to be.
Granite block- If someone had told me I needed this when I first started, I would have looked at him a little strangely. However, it has turned out to be invaluable.. I bought a roughly 1 ft square by 4" deep chucnk that  had been surface milled to a fine tolerance. Granite is very dimensionally stable and is used for all kinds of machining applications, so it is a natural here also. It proivides a hard surface for pounding, a smooth surface for sanding pieces, and a nice surface for mixing epoxy. I paid $29 for mine from an internet tool catalog.  If you have some heavy smooth piece of steel or other material, use it by all means, but granite is still the best in my opinion.

Power buffer- You can always finish your knives by hand, but having a buffer helps. I have seen very inexpensive buffers at internet and local tool stores, but you can make your own also. I did that very thing by using two pillow bearing blocks I had, and old pulley, a piece of steel shaft, and an old washing machine motor and belt. Works great and I have multiple buffing wheels all on one shaft. There are various tapered and bolted attachments you can buy to fasten the bufiing wheels.
Vise with rubber plates- very handy for when you are using the  Dremel freehand. You can hold the Dremel with both hands then and not slip. I also use it for holding the knife when applying the handle material and epoxy in some cases.
Small steel ball hammer and files--These everyday tools help flatten metal spacers that I cut and use on my handles from big sheets. I buy brass, nickel silver, copper, and stainless sheets because they are so cheap that way, but I then have to use tin snips to cut rough pieces and pound/file them flat on the granite block..

Masking tape- You must mask off your knife before doing anything with it for two reasons. The obvious one is safety from being cut or pierced by the blade, and also to keep epoxy from flowing to where it shouldn't be. It is time consuming and hard to remove epoxy that has flowed thru some hole or around a corner. I ALWAYS mask the whole knife to the point that only the surface being worked on is exposed. This includes the opposite side handle area and the cavity for the blade. If there are holes from the handle surface to the interior, you must stuff tape of tissue into the  area to stop the epoxy flow. I have found thru long experience that when you are fitting the pieces of handle, epoxy gets all over the knife. It's so much easier to mask the knife first and then leave the masking off until it must be removed for some operation. SOmetimes I strip off the epoxy after I have sanded the applied material to almost finished  status, and  then hand sand to final dimensions. I then reapply tape fo some areas when I am buffing.
Cotton swabs/ small sticks, small pieces of wire, etc. - When you mix the epoxy you need some kind of small stick to mix and apply the epoxy, and you also need some small tool to push and align the pieces you have applied to the knife to get them aligned and centered.

Roll of paper towels neatly separated into a pile and Acetone- Working with epoxy is sometimes messy until you develop a routine. My routine is to have everything I need very handy and to clean up as soon as possible. I always need paper towels to wipe dripping epoxy and clean the granite, and acetone to get the epoxy off completely from where I have mixed it. My waste basket is right there also to drop the paper towels into.
Sandpaper – You will eventually go thru a lot of this.  I use, in addition to the power sander, 100,220,400, and 600 paper. The 600 is wet/dry and is the last step for me before buffing usually.
Safety equipment- You need these items!!  A pair of clear plastic safety glasses, and a simple sanding mask are inexpensive and save trips to the eye doctor and maybe eventually a medical doctor. Several woods are toxic when sanded, notable among them being cocobolo and desert ironwood, but there are others. It’s simply not worth it to not use a mask when power sanding for sure. There are also leather finger protectors that I should probably buy for use with the power sander, but haven’t yet.

I’ve probably missed something that I’ll remember after I post, but I will mention it in the future if I do. Again. many of these items are already around your workshop or are well worth having in any case. If you always cut your pieces close to final sizing you can delete the power sander, and  you can probably get by without the Dremel, but they make life easier.
Making custom knife handles is a lifelong hobby that can be pursued long after other hobbies have been abandoned, and the older you get, the better you get!  And even being in a wheelchair doesn’t hamper the effort.

Dr. K