Hello my friends, I am getting ready to make my first attempt at a through tang combat style bowie, I came from a machinist background and a common way to get a solid fit for metal to metal was called swedging it in, heated up to expand the guard a few thousands and placing it on and allowing it to cool to form a very tight fit, will this work for placing the guard on the tang, I guess a downside would be once it is on it would be a bear to get off. Should I just stick with other methods, any feedback would be appreciated.
Brian, It sounds good and also looks good "on paper", but you'd actually have to try it to know for sure.
Some of the issues doing it that way might create:
Gaps opening as it cools and tightens. Conditions have to be absolutely perfect.
Heat coloring the ricasso.
Can I finish into the corners after the fit up? There will be some clean up from the heat.
There may be many more that I cant list. But from what I can imagine, I would prefer to fit the guard tight but not have to heat it. I would call it a mechanical fit. I may even have to press it on after fitting it to 99.5% fit. It's tight and cant move up, down, or side to side.
As a machinist, you may very well be able to use your techniques and do fine. My question would be: Is there any advantage to try to get such an extremely tight grip? After all, a mechanical fit still cant move.
I like Lin's thinking..... make sure you consider ALL the drawbacks before doing it. I can't count the number of times I've gotten myself into a jam building a knife, because I had some "brilliant" idea, and didn't think it all the way through before diving in. Personally, I do all my hidden tang guards via "press fit" (mechanical), but it took me some time to work it all out. I literally changed how I do things all the way from the beginning of a knife, so that each step sets up for the next.
In the not too distant future, I have plans for a series of videos showing how I do it.
Ed Caffrey, ABS MS
"The Montana Bladesmith"
www.CaffreyKnives.net
I believe we had a Topic of The Month about fitting guards........oh yes. Here it is:
Joshua States
www.dosgatosforge.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdJMFMqnbLYqv965xd64vYg
https://www.facebook.com/dos.gatos.71
Also on Instagram and Facebook as J.States Bladesmith
“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.â€
Thanks for the replies fellas, I ended up not swedging but using the practice that was listed, my first attempt was not successful at least not to my standards so that blade ended up in the shame bin but I did make a successful second attempt, what I have come to realize now is that I am just not ready yet for guards, I plan to spend the remainder of the year doing full tang knives with several different styles and trying out new handle materials such as different micartas and such, I am staying pretty busy now with my new website up but I just don't have enough products made yet to make the site look complete, I figure buy years end I will have some hours on the anvil and my confidence level will be high enough to take on gaurds, I am however putting bolsters on certain models and they alone are a challenge for me right now, oh and I did get myself a good ABS shirt to wear at the show as well as Jim Bastons press book, that's going to be a great project soon, and I will also be going to see Jason Knights shop in the next little while, he isn't that far from me and my son is in the Air Force stationed in Charelston so I can kill some birds with the same stone, look forward to meeting you guys at the show, I will the guy wearing a 10 gallon black hat that I known for locally!
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Thanks for the replies fellas, I ended up not swedging but using the practice that was listed, my first attempt was not successful at least not to my standards so that blade ended up in the shame bin but I did make a successful second attempt, what I have come to realize now is that I am just not ready yet for guards, I plan to spend the remainder of the year doing full tang knives with several different styles and trying out new handle materials such as different micartas and such, I am staying pretty busy now with my new website up but I just don't have enough products made yet to make the site look complete, I figure buy years end I will have some hours on the anvil and my confidence level will be high enough to take on gaurds, I am however putting bolsters on certain models and they alone are a challenge for me right now, oh and I did get myself a good ABS shirt to wear at the show as well as Jim Bastons press book, that's going to be a great project soon, and I will also be going to see Jason Knights shop in the next little while, he isn't that far from me and my son is in the Air Force stationed in Charelston so I can kill some birds with the same stone, look forward to meeting you guys at the show, I will the guy wearing a 10 gallon black hat that I known for locally!
I have read as many posts as I can find regarding press fit guards but I am still having issues tapering the tang. Do I taper up to the "hunp"? How do I get an evenly tapered tang? I typically surface grind the ricasso and the tang to parallel. Or should the taper go closer to the ricasso shoulders?
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I typically surface grind the ricasso and the tang to parallel. Or should the taper go closer to the ricasso shoulders?
I, too, surface grind my ricasso and tang parallel. I then mill my guard to fit that dimension.
Then! I lay the knife on the surface grinder magnet turned 90 degrees pointing out at me. I then take off .001" - .002" off each side of the tang up to about 1/2 the thickness of the guard.
That way I can slide the guard off and on easily and I'm only fitting about the last 1/2 of the guard. If it's a little snug it's pretty easy to drive in on and off.
Karl B. Andersen
Journeyman Smith
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I, too, surface grind my ricasso and tang parallel. I then mill my guard to fit that dimension.
Then! I lay the knife on the surface grinder magnet turned 90 degrees pointing out at me. I then take off .001" - .002" off each side of the tang up to about 1/2 the thickness of the guard.
That way I can slide the guard off and on easily and I'm only fitting about the last 1/2 of the guard. If it's a little snug it's pretty easy to drive in on and off.
Thanks Karl! Just needed that confirmation of my technique!
|quoted:
I, too, surface grind my ricasso and tang parallel. I then mill my guard to fit that dimension.
Then! I lay the knife on the surface grinder magnet turned 90 degrees pointing out at me. I then take off .001" - .002" off each side of the tang up to about 1/2 the thickness of the guard.
That way I can slide the guard off and on easily and I'm only fitting about the last 1/2 of the guard. If it's a little snug it's pretty easy to drive in on and off.
Do you mill all 4 corners of the ricasso---sounds like no.
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Do you mill all 4 corners of the ricasso---sounds like no.
Watch this video:
[media] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xR2HxtI_pU&t=718s [/media]
Karl B. Andersen
Journeyman Smith
|quoted:
Watch this video:
[media] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xR2HxtI_pU&t=718s [/media]
Awesome Karl! Just what I needed. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge!
