welding a stick tang HELP
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EdCaffreyMS
"The Montana Bladesmith"
Personally I discourage "welding" a tang to any blade, UNLESS its going to be an actual forge weld. Using Arc or MIG you are welding one type ot metal to another, and then using a third as the filler material (the arc rod or the MIG wire). It just a good reciepe for failure, whether it be during the heat treat process, or later. The chances for longevity would be much greater with soldering then with arc or MIG welding.
TacticallySharp
KNIFE MAKER
I also would not do it. I just make my tang longer and with a file round it off, then thread the actual tang. If the tang requires a bend I do that before threading and HT.
As an "ex-welder" who's familiar with weld testing where the weld has to pass bend and x-ray tests, I tend to forget that the typical home welding most likely would not pass a bend test. With that in mind, please allow me to retract my above recommendation of welding..... UNLESS the person doing the welding is confident of passing a certified welding test. A quick 'n dirty test would be to use a piece of scrape blade steel, weld your bolt to it, then test by doing a 90º bend to be sure there are no cracks showing. If that passes, then do a HT 'n temper and try it again to see how and where the tang breaks.
Ken H>
Ken H>
EdCaffreyMS
"The Montana Bladesmith"
Thats the key....TIG, provided you use the correct filler rod (if you use filler rod)..... In the past, when I owned a TIG, I experiemented with welding tangs of the same material to a "stub tang" on a blade with no filler rod..... it can be done, but all the proper steps need to be followed afterward to ensure its longevity. Utimately, I decided against using the method on blades, simply because the odds of success are much better with the blade/tang being made from a single piece of steel.
(Yep.....I'm not much of a risk taker) 
Fred Rowe
Well-Known Member
Thats the key....TIG, provided you use the correct filler rod (if you use filler rod)..... In the past, when I owned a TIG, I experiemented with welding tangs of the same material to a "stub tang" on a blade with no filler rod..... it can be done, but all the proper steps need to be followed afterward to ensure its longevity. Utimately, I decided against using the method on blades, simply because the odds of success are much better with the blade/tang being made from a single piece of steel.
It has to be done right, no short cuts. I've done quite a few damascus pieces if the tang couldn't be drawn far enough with out making it too thin.
Making big knives especially, its nice to make the tang of one continuous piece.
cliffrat
Active Member
There's always brass or bronze brazing, if you're only adding a short stub of threaded rod to the end of the tang so you can put a threaded finial or butt cap over the end. Tim Hancock does this with his dog bone daggers and has a great set of photos in his book The Western Bladesmith. The most difficult part of that is getting the whole thing lined up correctly. With a straight handle, it's not too difficult to do, but if the tang is curved to fit inside an arched handle (like a stag antler) it is probably best to use either a forged and threaded tang end (as George suggested), or a mechanical attachment with a flexible joint that can move to accommodate the angle. I think Steve Culver once posted a few photos of the second method on the ABS forum, but I can't be sure about that. It is basically a ship lap joint between the threaded rod and the tang with a pin though both parts that is peened over, but not tightly so the joint is left loose and the threaded rod pivots a little bit. That allows for easier positioning of the end cap assembly. Ed, do you remember Steve posting that somewhere?