Bowie Work In Progress

I thought if you squared up the shoulders you risked stress risers and cracks on or near the tang?? Nice looking grind!!
 
Gliden07 said:
I thought if you squared up the shoulders you risked stress risers and cracks on or near the tang?? Nice looking grind!!
Click to expand...
I hope not! I used a small jewelers file and relieved the shoulders. But maybe I didn’t do it enough?
 
Great WIP OP. The Bowie is looking good. Never heard of using a honing stone in the hand sanding efforts. Good tip. I may have to give that a try.
 
opaul said:
I hope not! I used a small jewelers file and relieved the shoulders. But maybe I didn’t do it enough?
Click to expand...

I did one similar and someone pointed it out to me. Of course I didnt know anything about stuff like that at the time!
 
Gliden07 said:
I thought if you squared up the shoulders you risked stress risers and cracks on or near the tang?? Nice looking grind!!
Click to expand...
You're right, you don't want any sharp square corners - those sharp corners can give rise to stress cracks. Always put a small radius in the corner to prevent this. The radius will be hidden by the tang so isn't a problem.

I hope I'm talking about the same "squared up shoulders" as ya'll are.
 
KenH said:
You're right, you don't want any sharp square corners - those sharp corners can give rise to stress cracks. Always put a small radius in the corner to prevent this. The radius will be hidden by the tang so isn't a problem.

I hope I'm talking about the same "squared up shoulders" as ya'll are.
Click to expand...

Yes you are! Opaul said he did relive it with a small jewelers file. Maybe I didnt look good at the pics?
 
Here are a few more pictures of the Bowie work.
I was using a Jorgenson clamp for holding the blade but I made one that will be a little more user friendly out of birch plywood that I found on sale at Woodcraft yesterday. ( I decided to get large granite surfacing slab.) Anyway this is the sanding process - I sand in opposing directions (watched Nick Wheelers videos) and will take the finish up to 800 grit.
 
I'm using 1084 for the guard. Next time I do this I'm going to using thicker blade material. At this point the blade is a little less than 1/8" and that doesn't give much room for filing in the slot opening.

Finally finished the slot. Also the blade with the Hamon pattern has been sanded to 800 grit.
 
More work on the Bowie. I decided to use antler for the handle of this Bowie. This photo is after drilling and then hand reaming the slot hole.


After fit and try, fit and try the fit was good. I used the granite surfacing slab to flatten the front of the antler/guard interface.


Preliminary assembly shot. I sanded the rounds near the guard flat to the ricasso, leaving some for fine finishing later. I haven't' decided what I'm going to do to the butt end of the antler. I'm thinking a nice piece of micarta cut and fit with a radius around the intersection.
 
Wow that coming along nicely...….. for the but end(pommel) I would use the same material you used for the guard. That's just my thought
 
Op,,,,, you live in the wrong place. We don't have a problem with weeds here. Nice knife!!
 

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If that’s 6 degrees - i’m grateful for the mild NC weather. We sometimes see that as a low but not very often thank goodness.
 
Got more work accomplished on the Bowie today. Took the handle down flush with the guard and got the pommel epoxied/screwed on. I used 1095 for the pommel and tapped for a 8/32 screw. I cut the head off flat after the final fit up. I'll finish up the fine grinding and finish work up tomorrow.


I also honed the edge to razor sharp today. This knife has more secondary bevel than most my knives.
 
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