How I grind a distal tapered full tang

[Chris Railey]

I was asked by a friend to post my process for grinding a distal taper in a full tang knife. I do not do this on all knives but I do it on most. For me, it is how I control the balance point of the knife.
I start by making three marks on the spine of my knife in the tang area. It also helps to copy the lines on the belly side too.


Then I start grinding at the line closest to the pommel end of the tang. The knife gets three short pulls in the direction of the pommel end. Take no notice of my belt not being centered on my platen I did not adjust it before the pictures. I do this with the belt running center.


I move to my next line and do three more pulls to the pommel end of the knife. It helps to use a push stick of some sort to push the tang flat against the platen.


Finally I move to the third line and do three more pulls all the way to the pommel end. Flip the knife and repeat the entire process on the other side. Make sure to grind both sides equally. I find it helpful to vary pulling left to right then right to left for the next set. It helps keep everything symmetrical.


Then you end up with a nice taper.


VERY IMPORTANT TIP: Because you are pulling perpendicular across your platen on a tool rest make dang sure your tool rest extends past your platen. If it does not the belt WILL SNATCH YOUR TAPERED TANG INTO THE GAP VIOLENTLY. This causes injury and may break expensive stuff...trust me.


My tool rest did not extend behind my platen so I had to grind a little slot.

 

[SS369]

Thanks for this Chris.
Do you finish vertically?
Scott

 

[Chris Railey]

Thanks for this Chris.
Do you finish vertically?
Scott

No, It would not hurt anything I just have never done it..

 

[MTBob]

Do you finish vertically?

I'm sorry, I don't understand - could you explain what this means?

 

[Chris Railey]

I'm sorry, I don't understand - could you explain what this means?

I took it to mean do I Change the scratch pattern on the tang from perpendicular to parallel with the spine.

 

[SS369]

Yes, that is what I meant.

 

[Brad Walker]

Great stuff. Thanks for sharing. Hope you are enjoying the knife!!

 

[MTBob]

Do you grind the taper before or after heat treating. And, why.

 

[Chris Railey]

Great stuff. Thanks for sharing. Hope you are enjoying the knife!!

Immensely enjoying sir, it is great.

 

[Chris Railey]

Do you grind the taper before or after heat treating. And, why.

I do it after HT. In fact, I do it after finish grinding so I can accurately judge the balance point of the knife.

 

[MTBob]

Is weight reduction the primary purpose of tapering the tang?
This is a really helpful posting, thanks!

 

[Chris Railey]

Its my primary purpose. I just prefer it to drilling a bunch of holes in a tang. Plus, a tapered tang is more of a custom feature in my opinion than drilling holes no one can see. The result is the same though. I am glad the post helped someone, ask all the questions you need I will not promise to know all the answers though.

 

[Greg Rice]

This is great info - thank you Chris.