KITH 2019 WIP

Guard looks cool. I could be looking at the pics wrong, but to me the guard looks like its on backwards.

In regards to the quills, shouldn't the top one bend forward over the blade spine and the bottom one curve back wrapping the fingers? It appears you have them the other way.
 
That's nice!! Is there a way to speed up the patina on it? That is gonna get better looking with age. (Like most knife makers)
 
I started to ask how the guard was to be held in place, but figured I was just too dumb and decided to wait and if I could figure the answer. Glad ya'll asked {g}
 
Von Gruff said:
My understanding is that it will be pined/epoxied through the edge of the guard to the tang
Click to expand...
I thought so too, but then I think he said something like it would be too tight... as in too thin to drill and pin. If he goes in parallel to the spine into the front of the scale, do you just peen the heck out of the pins?
 
Last edited:
Being a full tang I woud think the safest thing might be to have a two or three part spacer with brass at the handle end as well, then a pin through from the front of the guard through the spacer material and peened at front and back of the "brass sandwich" woud then allow for a pair of standard tang pins to hold it securly in place.
 
What about a good strong silver solder joint? Pinning guard to a 1/2" wide spacer, then pinning the spacer thru the tang would work nicely.

Be interesting to see what OP has planned.
 
KenH said:
What about a good strong silver solder joint? Pinning guard to a 1/2" wide spacer, then pinning the spacer thru the tang would work nicely.

Be interesting to see what OP has planned.
Click to expand...
I'm thinking the solder is a good idea as well.
 
Gents , I am really enjoying this discussion. As you can probably tell by now , I'm kinda a "seat of the pants " type of builder. All of your suggestions are very helpful , and I think my solution to this conundrum is this: solder the guard ( after putting it on in the correct direction ,thank you very much John Doyle!) , then build a sort of small bolster on top of it , pin and epoxy those together , and pin that assembly to the tang. Does this sound like a viable method ? Or am I missing some other obvious answer? And thanks to all of you for the help , differing opinions and observations on this build so far. I am learning something new every time I sit down at my bench.
 
Last edited:
I have scoured the internet the last six months looking at various pictures of full tang Bowies built very similarly to Bjmac's, specifically of the "rough rider bowie," trying to understand exactly how the guards were fitted. My assessment is many are simply held on by the handle slabs.

I think soldering would be appropriate as well.
 
Perhaps too late now, but what if the tang was made about 1/16" lower on each side than ricasso to provide the "stop" for the guard as it does for a hidden tang Bowie? That 1/16" should be plenty to hold guard in place nicely, but small enough it wouldn't be obvious the handle/tang was a tad more narrow than the ricasso. Of course, solder the guard (or pin). Hmmm, that would be 1/8" total for both sides. Maybe 1/32" on each side? Comments?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top