Damascus Blade WIP Failure

opaul

opaul

KNIFE MAKER
Hey guys. Seems like almost everything that can happen is happening and I'm not getting much shop time :(. But anyway I do plan on getting out a blade this week come heck or high water.
Now on to the Damascus blade failure. The process up to the glue up went well. I dry fitted all the parts and no problems. But this is when things went bad. I used the quick set epoxy (I know), and assembled the parts and clamped it up. At this point I think I used more clamp pressure than I had in the dry set up and I couldn't drive the pin through the tang hole (the holes in the wooden handle did not line up with the steel tang hole). I figured no problem - I already have a pilot hole so I'll just use a drill bit a few sizes up and all will be fine. Well the drill hole was not perpendicular and when I drove the pin through it bent on the far side. I got frustrated and decided to chalk this one up. Here are the pictures.



 
Ugh

That sux.

I know problems are part of the process but they can be very disheartening.

I've had knives that went sideways every step of the way. And I've had knives that went smooth as buttered glass.

Thankfully I have more knives go easy than not these days.

Hang in there. Worse comes to worst, you can always cut the scales off and salvage the Damascus...hopefully.
 
As MC Mike noted, looks salvageable. These situations is/are what makes knifemaking a love/hate relationship.
 
Thanks guys, not so sure I'm going to try and salvage the Damascus. I'll probably keep it as a reminder of what not to do
 
The way I avoid that sort of thing is to leave the handle material in block form prior to glue up, but trace the tang on the exterior of the block. The block is then glued on, and I drill the pin hole through the handle material and tang all at once. Then glue the pin in place, and grind everything down as a single unit....it solves a lot of issues for me.

When you do it that way, it is VERY IMPORTANT that you drill the hole with a series of bits.... because if you try to use your end size only, when the bit hits the tang on it's way through, the bit will "wallow" and you'll get a hole that too large on the side that the bit first enters.

The way around this is to start with at least 3 sizes smaller than what you wish to end with.....in my case I tend to use mostly 3/32" pins. The initial hole is drilled through the handle materials and tang with a 1/16", then "reamed" with a 5/64", a 3/32", and finally a #41. Just take it easy and slow with each bit....the hole will come out "right" on each side, and because the handle is still in block form, it will be much easier for the hole to be "square" with the everything else on the knife. ;)

Likely the most difficult thing to overcome when drilling anything knife related is resisting that urge to "cram" the bit through.....even moderate pressure is often too much, and is without a doubt when drilling through dissimilar materials (such as going through wood handle material, and a steel tang. Take you time. Make contact with the bit, and when you see chips/curls coming out..... let up and let the flutes clear, then do it again, and again, and again....until the hole is completed. It's not uncommon for me to take 10+ mins to drill a single pin hole like we're talking about..... but it's time well spent in that I don't wreck, and have to replace anything. :)
 
Last edited:
Not to long ago I made my first canister damascus. Op,,,, where do you think the small cut up chunks of damascus for that came from. lol,,,, my junk bucket. I cut up 3 blades for that project. Ya got to love it. :)
 
EdCaffreyMS said:
The way I avoid that sort of thing is to leave the handle material in block form prior to glue up, but trace the tang on the exterior of the block. The block is then glued on, and I drill the pin hole through the handle material and tang all at once. Then glue the pin in place, and grind everything down as a single unit....it solves a lot of issues for me. ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks Ed. That's the way I constructed it from the get go. The issue was the misalignment of the handle pin hole and tang pin hole. The tang shifted in the clam up, thus a small section of tang metal which interfered with driving the pin through the wood/tang/wood. If that makes sense.
 
Sounds like I've been doing it the same way Ed has. What Ed is saying is that he doesn't drill any holes in anything (including the tang) until after the handle block is epoxied to the tang. So there's no way for it to shift since it is already epoxied. Once the tang is epoxied into the block of wood and cured, then you drill your hole through both the block and the tang. And since you've traced the outline of your tang on the outside of the block, you can be sure to go through your tang with the hole.

Ed's point about starting small with the drill bit sizes is really good advice, I've had that issue myself many times.
 
Last edited:
Ya think there is an acceptable increase size in the tang hole to prevent this, if epoxy fills in that space.
 
A fix you could use on this knife is to drill out the pin on both sides to a depth that still leaves the pin intact with the wood on each side, then epoxy a mosaic pin or just a larger pin, into the hole.
 
Don't you have a mill? Level it the best you can. Put a 2 flt EM down c/l of the pin. Get new pin. It will center the holes.
 
C. Killgore said:
Sounds like I've been doing it the same way Ed has. What Ed is saying is that he doesn't drill any holes in anything (including the tang) until after the handle block is epoxied to the tang. So there's no way for it to shift since it is already epoxied. Once the tang is epoxied into the block of wood and cured, then you drill your hole through both the block and the tang. And since you've traced the outline of your tang on the outside of the block, you can be sure to go through your tang with the hole.

Ed's point about starting small with the drill bit sizes is really good advice, I've had that issue myself many times.
Click to expand...
I missed that part! Thanks guys. Lessons learned!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top