What is the minimum hidden tang thickness at the guard connection? I forged a 4" hunter out of 1" x 1/4" and had some hammer strikes to clean up on the ricasso. After cleaned up my tang is about 0.170. Since I don't own a mill I assume the goal is to keep the slot as large as possible for easier filing. Thoughts?
Hello Thomas, and welcome to the ABS and forum.
I'm not sure how to answer your question on minimum tang thickness. I'm not sure there is a minimum, as it really depends on the size of the knife and the thickness of the blade at the guard/bolster junction. Typically, we are talking about the thickness of a ricasso area in that location. The tang will either be the same thickness or slightly less to produce a "shoulder" for seating the guard against.
Here are a couple of threads on the subject of hidden tangs and guard fitting. Give them a good read and see if they answer your questions.
Joshua States
www.dosgatosforge.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdJMFMqnbLYqv965xd64vYg
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Also on Instagram and Facebook as J.States Bladesmith
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How you accomplish the final assembly will be just as important as the dimensions.
There are a lot of knives thinner than .170".
Karl B. Andersen
Journeyman Smith
|quoted:
Hello Thomas, and welcome to the ABS and forum.
I'm not sure how to answer your question on minimum tang thickness. I'm not sure there is a minimum, as it really depends on the size of the knife and the thickness of the blade at the guard/bolster junction. Typically, we are talking about the thickness of a ricasso area in that location. The tang will either be the same thickness or slightly less to produce a "shoulder" for seating the guard against.
Here are a couple of threads on the subject of hidden tangs and guard fitting. Give them a good read and see if they answer your questions.
Thank you I will check it out.
well personally my feeling is mills are not needed for a bladesmith, they were invented for cold work in the machining trade, and frankly, the new ways are not nessasarly the best ways, and i find they can take a lot of time to do when compared to hot work. we are not trained all trained precision machinists, we are specialized trained blacksmiths so we have or can make the tools to do hot work. we can heat up copper, iron, steel bronze, and brass and work it hot to punch a hole then drift it to the right size before hot fitting it to the guard. the ricasso takes a long time to heat up, the vise acts as a heat sink and a soft tang is not a bad thing, so you can hot fit the guard to the blade without ruining the temper. I made some drifts form railroad spikes which are a staple of the bladesmithing arts and honestly would not go back to machining a guard to fit my tang other than to create a step using my rotary tool, the reason being if you drill the hole instead of punching you can get that guard fitted to your tang in 5 min complete instead of 10-15 min or more. I'll admit I cheat and use my drill press instead of punching the slot, however, punching does use up less material then punching.
i took a picture of the drifts i made to share.
