creating tang hole in bolster

Lerch

Lerch

Well-Known Member
I have only ever done one hidden tang knife and i used black buffalo horn for the bolster. to create the hole i drilled a couple of pilot holes with a smaller bit and then used diamond finishing files to remove the rest, it took a long time

Well i am wanting to do some brass bolsters and do not have access to a mill so i am looking for ideas. i was planning on using my drill press again for pilot holes and then hand files but those diamond files would take forever so i would need better files that i cant seem to find. The tang on the knives are .630" wide by .188" thick

any ideas ?


thanks
lerch
 
I would say cheat and call Bill Kennedy up at Yukon. He would take you to the shop and mill you some on his mill.
 
Drill your pilot holes, get a rotary tool with a carbide bur and carefully connect them then use the diamond files to slowly enlarge the slot through the brass bolster until the tang just fits. Did I say to do this carefully and slowly? Or you could make yourself a punch just sightly smaller than the tang, heat the brass up to a glowing red and hot punch the hole for the tang and then carefully and slowly enlarge it until the tang just fits. Without a mill I just don't know of any other ways that don't require great care and slow progress. Even with a mill you can only feed the work so fast.

Doug
 
After drilling I remove the excess with a jewelers saw, with careful layout you can get very close before breaking out the needle files. If the guard-stock is thicker than 3/32" or so, you can use a rotary tool to remove material from the backside so less material needs to be removed with a file.

You can also close up gaps by using a small round punch around the slot, either re-flatten or incorporate it into the design....
 
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