Question on guards.

dereklee12

dereklee12

Well-Known Member
I just finished up my first hidden tang piece. To be honest I am not really happy with it. The handle is a bit thin and long but you have to start somewhere. My question is how do you guys clean the solder off the guard? I couldn't clean it off without scratching the blade against the "grain" then had trouble with keeping the guard scratches looking uniform. Anyways, any help would be much appreciated.
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Derek
 
The short answer is don't use solder. Speaking for myself, I've not used solder in over a decade, for the very reason you mentioned. To explain....at one time solder was about the only thing available for sealing a guard, but with the advent of modern adhesives, it's just about become a thing of the past in custom knives. The whole idea of solder is nothing more then a moisture seal. With things like acraglass, or JB weld being readily available, there's no need to torture yourself by using solder.

Note: Some folks insist on using solder, either because it's traditional, or moreso because they use it as an attachment method (if solder has to be used as an attchment method for a guard, it means the guard fit isn't correct. IE: too sloppy)
 
I totally agree with Ed on this one. Although, if you insist on soldering make a copper chisel. It's harder than the solder and softer than the brass guard. It won't be able to scratch the brass when removing the solder.

I also haven't soldered in a very long time. Just make sure your guard fits properly and you'll be fine just using an adhesive as the vapor barrier.
 
I press fit as I was taught by Jim Rodebaugh, MS in my Handles and Guards class. Bruce Bump, MS has a WIP currently running that shows his method of press fitting a guard in the WIP section of the forum. It is different than what I was taught and very simple to execute. Neither of these methods use solder. They rely on the epoxy for the handle for the moisture seal. I use G-Flex 650 as my epoxy. I was introduced to it by Jason Knight, MS.
 
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