Hi There
I am a newbie too and from your description it seems that you want to do, just what I did with my first one (
http://knifedogs.com/showthread.php?14706-My-1st-knife-built-from-scratch). As explained by Doug, it is fairly easy. I think the instructions are fairly explanatory, unfortunately I don't have any pictures to show the process.
I used a piece of brass from an old sliding door hasp. The process of making the guard itself was fairly straightforward
1) cut the piece of brass to size (I cut a rectangle and finished the rounded edge afterwards)
2) mark the centerline of the brass
3) measure the tang thickness (X) using vernier caliper
4) divide the tang thickness measurement in two, and mark a line either side of the center line to correspond
5) measure the width (Y) of the tang from front to back using the vernier caliper
6) measure from the rear edge of the brass (the tang width- Y) and mark the end of the slot
7) drill a hole in the tang at the end of the marked rectangle (use a drill bit slightly smaller than the width of the slot - to allow filing to shape
8) put the brass in a vice and using a hacksaw cut a slot open from the rear edge down to the edge of the drilled hole (NB! - cut at least 0.5 - 1mm inside the marked lines to allow you to file the guard mounting slot to the correct thickness for a tight fit.
9) using a small flat file with a blind side (no teeth on one edge) (I used a small flat file and a couple of needle files) file the slot open slowly, and then file the end of the slot square to match the tang edge). Go Slowly and measure regularly with the vernier, until the tang will fit in the slot relatively tightly (side to side and front to back)
10) Once the guard fits nicely - fit it to the tang, clamp it and drill the pin holes (as described by doug)
When you are ready to fit the guard permanently you have a couple of options - either to solder / pin the guard in place, as described by Bob Loveless in his book (I was originally going to do this, however obtaining the low temp solder was difficult and expensive) and as a beginner I didn't want to risk affecting the blade's heat treatment by soldering, so I opted to use JB Weld to "glue" the guard to the tang, with the pins peened into the slightly oversize holes.
When you sand and finish the handle and guard, the peened brass pins are no longer visible, they merge into the brass of the guard.
Hope this helps
Rick
12) when I filed the