Finished up my third knife last week, and fourth knife yesterday. Apologies in advance for bad cell phone photos.
This is the third, it is 1/8" 1084 from Aldo. I used maple for the scales, and black paper micarta for the bolsters. Blade is 3 3/8", sanded out to 1000 grit and buffed
Now that leads me to the fourth, and my question. I think I know where I went wrong, but better to be safe than sorry for next time. This one is 180 layers of 1084 and 15n20, random pattern, drawn out to 1/8" thick. I used a chunk of quilted maple I found in my wood box, brass bolsters and pins. Blade is 2 5/8"
As the pictures show the bolster pins on the right side of the knife hid pretty well when polished up, but one the left they are still visible. I did try to force visibility of this as much as possible in the camera angle of the picture, so you can clearly see the ring around the pins. The holes through the bolsters were drilled with and 1/8" bit. I trimmed the pins, 1/8" brass round, to be exposed 1/16" either side before peening. Hammered until the heads were about 3/16" round, all four. My thought is that I made a beginner mistake and must have gotten some epoxy on either the pins for in the holes when I was clamping up the bolsters, and therefore didn't get a good expansion of the pins on the left side. Should I not use epoxy to seal under bolsters, or just be more careful next time about not getting any around the pin holes? Thanks for any advice.
This is the third, it is 1/8" 1084 from Aldo. I used maple for the scales, and black paper micarta for the bolsters. Blade is 3 3/8", sanded out to 1000 grit and buffed
Now that leads me to the fourth, and my question. I think I know where I went wrong, but better to be safe than sorry for next time. This one is 180 layers of 1084 and 15n20, random pattern, drawn out to 1/8" thick. I used a chunk of quilted maple I found in my wood box, brass bolsters and pins. Blade is 2 5/8"
As the pictures show the bolster pins on the right side of the knife hid pretty well when polished up, but one the left they are still visible. I did try to force visibility of this as much as possible in the camera angle of the picture, so you can clearly see the ring around the pins. The holes through the bolsters were drilled with and 1/8" bit. I trimmed the pins, 1/8" brass round, to be exposed 1/16" either side before peening. Hammered until the heads were about 3/16" round, all four. My thought is that I made a beginner mistake and must have gotten some epoxy on either the pins for in the holes when I was clamping up the bolsters, and therefore didn't get a good expansion of the pins on the left side. Should I not use epoxy to seal under bolsters, or just be more careful next time about not getting any around the pin holes? Thanks for any advice.
Last edited:
