a question of guards...

S

SkaerE

Joined
Sep 9, 2001
Messages
428
ok, when you put a guard on a full tang knife, generally the spine of the blade/back of the tang is exposed. do you guys usually just use a metal that matches clost to the blade metal?

or is there some trick i have not yet heard of (and i know there are a lot of them...)

do some of you never put guards onto full tang knives, only bolsters?

thanks
 
You can use just about anything you want and it will not detract from the overall knife. Some folks use brass, nickel silver, 303 stainless, 416 stainless and even micarta. Brass and nickel silver will tarnish after a bit and have a patina. The 303 and 416 SS will not. There will always be some color difference.

Is that what you were asking?
 
Originally posted by C L Wilkins
Is that what you were asking?
Click to expand...

I was confused for a second too. I think the operative word is "full" tang. And my answer is: No I probably wouldn't put a guard on a full tang knife. I don't really like the way it looks. If I'm going full tang I tend to design the blade so that it doesn't need a guard. There's nothing to say you can't put any kind of guard you want on a full tang knife though. You can make the guard out of the same steel you used for the blade if you like. With a perfect fit and a little hammering you could make it look like an integral. Follow your fancy. There are no rules!
 
Every design is different, and I actually have one I'm trying to decide on right now(well, if it isn't destroyed during my attempt to design new heat treating methods for myself). I think you sort of just have to see, as while a guard my look alright with one handle, it may look horrible with another material or design, and the same thing with different guard materials. So you just have to take it case by case.
 
If you have access to David Boye's knifemaking book he details how to do this with brass guards. He notches out the back of the knife blade at the guard and then fills in the notch with brazing rod.

Otherwise, I agree with C. L. Wilkins, a guard on a full tang knife with the back of the knfe exposed does not detract from the knife in my book, espcially if it is fitted very well.
 
Bruce Evans has done a tutorial on coke bottle style handle which may help you out. Alot of knives that look full tang are actually sub tangs with a metal frame the sub tang goes into. The tutorial may be here but pretty sure he has it on his web page.....Ray
 
One of the nice things about 416 is that it matches the color of most stainless cutlery steels pretty closely. But even if you use brass or nickel silver, it will look good as long as your guard fitting is good.
 
The main thing I don't like about a guard on a full tang is that you will always see the solder joint at the back of the guard,the framed handle eliminates this unsightly joint and also lets you make a handle with a butt end bigger than the riccasso area so it fits the hand well.look on my tutorial page to see how to do a framed handle (the coke bottle handle)
But allot of knives were done with guards over full tangs,Just get the fit up as tight as possiable and clean the joint up so it doesn't look bad.
Bruce
 
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