Ergonomic X-Acto Knife

Make a sleeve for your X-acto knife quickly and easily. These are super fast projects and use simple scraps. These make excellent gifts for the crafty person you know.

Update:
I made a few more of these. The stubby olive-wood X-acto is by far the most comfortable. The way it fits in my hand seems perfect. If you remove the red handle from the X-act you are left with a stubby little blade holder. you could also cut down one of the regular sized X-acto knives for this size blade holder.

I used some curly maple scraps I had in the bin for mine. The X-acto knives I have are around 5-6" in length, so make sure your scraps are long enough. once you have them cut square, mark centers on each end.

Mount the blank between centers on your lathe. Then, using a gouge rough turn it round. Next, remove the drive spur and install the chuck. Now mount the blank in the chuck.
Remove the live center and install the Jacobs chuck in the tail-stock.

Using a 1/2" drill bit and the Tail-stock drill the hole deep enough to accept the knife up to the line on it nearest the blade. Use tape on the bit to mark the stopping point.
Once the hole is drilled, squirt some superglue inside the hole. and using the tail-stock as a press. Press the Xacto barrel into the hole as deep as it will go. If your hole is too deep stop at the line on the knife. DO NOT GO TOO DEEP, YOU WILL LOSE YOUR KNIFE IF YOUR NOT CAREFUL.

Now remove the chuck and re-install the drive spur and re-mount the piece with the open end toward the tail-stock with the live center.
Finish shape the piece to your liking.

I sanded thru 800 grit and then applied Tung oil. I let the tung oil dry completely and sanded once more with 800 grit.
I then used friction polish to finish the piece.
Finally hand polished with some wax and re-assembled the knife to complete the project.
The wife stole this one, so now I need to make another for myself. Doesn't matter though. These are quick and easy!

Thanks for looking!