Hello All!
I recently finished a 1084 full-tang hunter with hamon (see pic), and thought I should tap the knowledge base on the Forum to see if I can improve my efficiency & effectiveness. Here's the situation:
I like to add a level of corrosion resistance to my 10XX series knives by doing an Ferric Chloride etch on them, and this particular knife also had a hamon. It was a full tang (exposed) knife, by request. What I did was to shape the handle scales before attaching them, clean-up the tang, etch & polish, and then epoxy on the handle scales. I would prefer to attach the scales and then shape them, but that would remove the oxides / etch finish from the tang area. This required much more time, and work. Does anyone have a more efficient way of doing this or is this the only way? Also, on n10XX high carbon knives with no hamon, how would you finish the knife/tang to reduce the likelihood of corrosion? Or, would you just recommend using a steel with a little chromium in it and go with a sanded finish? I'm thinking about longevity of the blade and the level of care a user might actually provide...
Thanks for any input!
Ed C.
Great job Ed.
My first inclination is to use temporary pins and go through all of the steps of shaping and finishing, remove the temporary pins, etch the blade, and put the scales on using your mosaics pins touching them up just around the pins. The same steps as if it were Damascus.
Thanks Lin. That's pretty much what I thought <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//cool.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='B)' /> And now I know what to do with damascus too!
Really good information. Appreciate it.
Ed, On a full tang knife like this (or even one with bolsters) I finish the profiles on the knife completely with sacrificial pins, and no glue. Then I finish the blade by hand. Then I make a mock up of the knife handle area and finish the rest of the handles on the mock up. I remove them from time to time to check fit on the real knife, but mostly everything gets done on the mock up using the 9 inch disc grinder and slack belt. Final finish by hand. When everything is ready to go, I do the final assembly. The mosaic pins are cut very close to final length before gluing and finished with 600 grit and up sandpaper on a stick after the glue cures.
Joshua States
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Thanks Joshua!
when I was new, things like making mockups, or tools shaped like a sword's tang and forte in order to drive the right shape into the guard for the fittings to be just right, or other shaping jigs, seemed like too much extra work.
Now, they don't take long at all to make, and they really improve the flow and quality of the work. Especially jigs for holding things so I can hammer or file them more easily.
So, as a general thing, I have found it really helpful to look for ways to:
1. hold guards and spacers together (like with threaded rod, washers, and nuts)
2. provide a base for shaping, hammering, filing, polishing, like with pommels (metal shapes that have the right size/shape to use for constructing a pommel around it. Sort of mini-anvil/swage tools)
3. swage/forming dies to hammer things into.
I know, I wandered a long way from the original bolster question, but I think it is all part of the same issue. Watching older guys with more knowledge, see them doing this sort of thing all of the time. So, I started imitating. It makes a big difference is efficiency and repeatability. Take the time to make the jigs when they become obvious as something that would help.
Hope you don't mind the ramble. The knife you posted looks very nice, too.
