Hi Michael,

The knife in the photo that I attached in the shell guard thread was assembled similar to the method in Harvey's video. I would think that it would be an appropriate way of attaching a D guard to a cutlass as well.

Something that you will want to consider and be careful of, is the fit-up of the threaded pommel piece. Unless it is perfectly round, it will need to index to its correct position when it is tightened. The problem that you can run into is that once you have done the final shaping of the pommel, some things can happen that will mess up the indexing by the time you have the knife finished. If the handle material shrinks, or if you get too much wear on the fittings from assembling and disassembling the knife during construction, the pommel will turn too far when it is tightened.

One thing that you can do to minimize the risk of problems is to delay the final shaping of the pommel as long as possible. And during construction of the knife, do not turn the pommel down tight any more times than necessary, so you don't cause wear on the fittings. Another fix is to use a metal handle frame. This will prevent issues with the handle material shrinking. If you intend to use a solid piece of natural handle material, make sure that it is as stable as possible.

A sure fire fix is to use a threaded nut to attach the handle, rather than an indexed threaded pommel. You can see this used on John White's D guard bowie; in the Galley photos at the top of the Forum main page. If you don't want a projecting fitting at the end of your handle, you could use a flush fit or recessed nut; like Karl Anderson uses for his take-down knives.

I hope some of this information keeps you from problems while building your cutlass!

Thanks Steve! I was planning on doing a framed handle, and the block i have for scales is stabilized, just need to cut it. I was going to use a piece of 1/4x 1 1/2 square and carve a compass out of it. Going for the pirate feel on this one. Maybe i will do it like a take down. I guess i had better figure this out before i do any more cutting on the tang lol. Thanks for the fast reply, much appreciated.

Thanks again

Michael

Use a 10-32 (or similar thread size) threaded end on your tang, swivel or not depending on your style. Make the d-guard line up to the end of your handle with two or four line-up pins and make a pommel nut with a 10-32 threaded sleeve which will hold everything tight to the blade. Or you can substitute the pommel nut for a recessed flush nut of some sort. I would recommend keeping it a take down and set the handle in epoxy so there will always be a tight fit. It would be a good idea to make the frame and handle scales pinned on with four pins, you certainly don't have to use any visible pins though.

Kyle