Bolster experiment

chris609

chris609

Gold Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2003
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274
Been thinking about peening bolsters and sealing the joints with solder. I have a paring knife i made and prepared the bolsters in the usual way (shaped and polished the front, flattened bottoms, drilled the holes ect. Then i milled about .005 around the outside edges of the bottoms (Like the shaded area in pic) I left the back alone because the handle with epoxie will seal there.

View attachment 153304

Knife is ready for soldering i will post my experience with pics when i get a chance.
 
Have not got around to soldering this yet but i have a questions for the more experienced. I have a heat gun and propane torch which method would you recomend for a first timer? Im very nervous about this.
 
I usually peen pins on metal bolsters, and seal with epoxy.
But if you are going to solder with silver solder, I think you'll need to use the torch.
There is only one way to get good at it...practice.
Dan
 
So if I understand you right, the center of your bolsters is in contact with the tang of your blade (and you've pinned and peened them to the tang already), and you relieved around the edges of the bolster to allow space for the solder to flow under the edges?

I would use the torch, but several things come to mind. What are you doing to protect your blade from heat? One thing you can do is clamp your blade in a vice between a couple of pieces of square barstock steel or similar to act as a heat sink to protect the blade while soldering (make sure they're nice and flat and make good contact with the ricasso of your blade). What are you doing to keep the solder from flowing away from the bolster? One thing that works well is to get a nice soft graphite artist's pencil - say a 2B to 4B hardness - and mark the limits of where you want the solder to stop.
 
There are two different things involved. one is that some people ( solder snobs) do not like to see any excess showing. The other is the difficulty of keeping the solder in the goove without it running down the side then when you try to do the other side you will have problems with the back if you do any over heating at all. just my thoughts.
 
That is correct zerogee. I have done many bolsters and the idea of relieving them is to allow a place for the solder to flow. To get a water tight joint it seems like a good idea. I did try JB weld once and it hardened on me as I was peening them down. Maybe the mill was a bad idea perhaps hand scraping them for the relief would be better? Or maybe give the epoxy another try next time. Anyway thanks for the great tips on soldering guys.
 
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