Great work Lin! Thinking outside the box is good. I agree with the fear of doing something unknown. There is still that little voice that goes, can I do this, and will I screw it up. Like you said thinking it through will help considerably. If you do not try new things you tend to become stagnant. Besides that thrill when you pull it off is great and you learn a lot every time you go outside the comfort zone. Excellent bowie and observations.

Brion

Thank you Brion.

As you seen in the photo of the forged guard, it's in one long piece. At some point I realized that the section just below the handle (bottom lug on ordinary guards)was too long by 1/4 - 3/8 inch. So I had to make an executive decision. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//blink.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':blink:' />

So I cut the guard off the loop section, just above that little cylinder shape where the flowers are. I milled a slot (mortise) into the upper barrel of the cylinder at about 2:00 o'clock. I then filed a tenon onto the bottom of the guard lug that would almost fit but was still too big by a small margin. I then heated the lug and drove it into the mortise till it fit. Not only did the lug have to fit but the outer shoulder had to take the shape of the barrel so it would look seamless.

This is the side view of the tenon.

This was early in that fitting process, but you can see that it is taking on the barrel shape and is upsetting the lug just a little, which is fine. That extra upset material allowed me to peen the edges to fit and have plenty to finish the piece.

I have things to do but I will get back to this asap. With pictures. Thanks

Here's a picture that I enlarged and marked to show the joint.

The joint is under slight pressure from the rear attachment. It pushes forward and upward directly into the connection. The loop's length and curve absorbs the very slight spring tension.

While this is not hard to understand, it is very difficult to achieve a good fit at all of the necessary points of contact. There has to be some means of adjustments built into the design. Again, to my way of thinking, this is the real accomplishment of the old way of approaching the subject of design.

The blacksmiths of the 19th century often designed objects to be adjustable solely for his sake during the build. If this adjustable feature could improve the looks, he has accomplished two things. An example of this is when a blacksmith made a Traveler, the spokes were usually curved into the shape of an "S". After the serious high heats of welding the pieces together, the S shape allowed the centering of the axle to the wheel. If they were just straight spokes, there would be no adjustment and it would likely be a failure. The design took into account the adjustments plus added a bit of aesthetics.

An example in knife making is the cut out on the inside of a folder's back spring. While not readily seen, this feature allows the maker to adjust the tension during the build.

Thank you Lin! Beautiful in every way, thank you for the detailed pictures.

Awesome! Thanks for the details, Lin!

Extraordinary as always Lin. Your work is always inspirational and it also typically comes with words of wisdom and encouragement. I truly appreciate these posts of yours.

I assume that the last two photos show three pieces total: the heel of the guard, an escutcheon plate, and a finial nut?

Yes Joshua, that’s right. Thank you!