Bolster Fastening

D

divewize

Joined
Sep 24, 2003
Messages
37
bolster fastening
hello everyone,

Im new on the board but not new to knife making, I use to make hidden tang and wire wrapped handle stuff (D2 and some stainless, stock removal) for the frontier and medievil groups. my stuff was not art work by any means.

ive not done any full or partial tang work to speak of so im a bit lost on scale and pinned bolster work (I always soldered or welded guards)

Im dabbling in knife making again and will need some help from time to time.

right now Im customizing a hunting blank for myself, Yes a store bought blank (sorry) (I dont have a grinder anymore but Bador Machine is a good customer of mine and I may purchase a B3 grinder If I get going again)


anyway Im all set on scales (kingwood) I made some mosaic pins but would like to add a small set of bolsters. the only problem is I dont think I have room for 2 pins.

so (sorry to be long winded)


1)will one peened pin and some epoxy work

Or better yet

can I blind pin and epoxy a small set of bolsters in place.

I will be using a Paste epoxy built for fishing rod building (U40 Rod Bond)"Rod Bond" is MUCH stonger than devcon 2 ton and stays put with no running or bleeding.

actually a heat gun doesnt loosen the paste epoxy too easy, Ive ruined a few reel seats that were epoxied with the rod bond paste where as seats glued with the devcon 2 ton epoxy loosend up and slid off within a short time.

Many thanks This is a great site.


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Welcome John,

Geee, what a quesion to open with! Always a fun debate.

I've done both.

Pro's for peening/Con's for hidden:

* Peening is easier because you get to drill straight thru.

* Peening bolsters are easier to hold together while finishing the front edge. (You don't have to make temporary mini pins to keep them aligned.)

* Peening is a fail-safe bond.

* Peening you don't have to worry about getting too thin and hitting the hidden pin while finishing.

Con's for peening/Pro's for hidden:

* Peening might get a pin shadow.

* With peening you can't use epoxy to get a water tight seal (well some folks can, but I worry about shadows from the epoxy. After I peen, I apply a little locktite, to fill any invisible gaps and make it water tight.)

You decide. I can't.

BTW that epoxy sounds really cool. Devcon looses it at about 200 degrees. I wonder what the limit is on your stuff.

Steve
 
THANKS FOR THE REPLY,

I build custom fishing rods and have found out about and used some products that would be very good for knife making.

the first being the paste epoxy, the brand is U40 the product is called rod bond you can get it at cabelas. Its a 2 part PASTE EPOXY
that stays put and is tougher than anything Ive ever used .

like I said its way tougher than devcon 2 ton. actually last night I tried to remove a cocobolo reel seat off a broken rod. the seat was glued with rod bond, well I almost burnt up the wood and ended up breaking the rod blank and had to drill the blank piece out. as a matter of fact the blank was burning up too but not the glue.

Rod bond would be excellent for epoxy pins. Like I said the stuff is super. the only thing is since its a thick paste when mixed it wont fill gaps like devcon does, but the stuff just wont come off!

the other product is from the same company U40 and its called permagloss , PG is a moisture cure 1 part urathane that is

1)gin clear 2) will never yellow!! 3) harder than epoxy 4) like laquer it will adhere to itsself if reaplied within 12 hour which means no sanding, actually you can do one coat per hour.

Ill find out the temp specs and get back to you.

back to my knife id like to add a small nickle silver bolster to a Grohmann #1 blank but not much room.

thanks.
 
I'm so sorry John, I missed a critical part of your post: only room for one pin!

Hmmm that is a problem. I don't think you can just peen one pin and count on it.

Can you get in one steel, hidden pin?

ummmm, somebody else will have a different opinion and probably a better one, but here goes:

I'd use a steel hidden pin. Then I'd try and drill a few small holes in the under side of the bolsters - epoxy pockets. Also get the tang roughed up too (stay away from the edge!).

You'll have a pin for sheer strength. You'll have epoxy pins to help hold it. Plus the bolster will get epoxied to the wood helping too.

Your only problem now is epoxy break down. That's an open issue.

One other note on the 'paste'. I use Acraglas gel. It's thick too. However, when I squeeze with a C clamp it leaves is no visible line. Can you do that with your paste?

Steve
 
Hi steve,

thanks for the reply.

I have yet to use the paste on scales But what we do with cork rings is this,

apply rod bond on both surfaces then scrape off there is usually enough resin for a good bond with no lines. also a thin coat and squeezing should do the trick.

I should do some experiments, Like I said I know first hand how it works on fishing stuff with cold wet and salt.

Im wondering about bolsters at all? the blank is a Grohmann belt Knife #1 44C flat grind, factory models do not have bolsters but I thought a small set would look nice im using kingwood for grip and mosaic pins that I made.

HMMM, I do think I can pull off the one pin/ one hidden steel pin Idea but there is definatly no room for 2 through pins.

many thanks Great site.
 
I searched the net and found a picture of that knife.

Looks cool - a definite fun project.

I also see what you mean about one pin.

Given the knife design, it's not a hard use kinda deal. I think you can get by with any method you'd want.

Steve
 
Why not shorten the handle scales a bit and lenghten the bolsters enough for two pins? If the blank is hard in the tang area just get a carbide bit the appropriate size for your pins and drill new holes.
 
For bolsters I use one pin, for the very reason you must - lack of room at that part of stock and because one pin is distraction enough. If you have a mill or drill press and a small milling table for the drill press you can use a small dove tail mill to dove tail the bolsters. Have a hole or two drilled through the tang so your epoxy of choice will flow through it and into the dove tails of both bolsters. In addition, the small pin through the bolsters will help keep them from canting under pressures of use later.

The dove tails will allow your epoxy of choice to lock the two bolsters rock solid together through the tang hole(s) you had provided.

I have tried and I have tried to silver solder bolsters. There just is not enough room for the solder to wet between bolsters and tang, the ways I have tried.

I place my bolster pin up above the equater of tang; about two thirds up and centered longitudally. This will help keep bolsters from swinging forward under knife usage because it has the sub-hilt to fight against.

RL
 
Hi Gents

thanks for the help, you all have given me good Ideas now it just which one will fit best.

this is a great site very much like the rod building site I go on often.

once again thank you and Ill have more questions down the road as a move along with this knife stuff again.
 
Rodger came close to my idea but mine doesn't need a mill. By-the-way, you can make very good dovetails with only a save edge file, anyway.....make a wide single pin. File a slot on the backside of each bolster and make a wide hole in the knife tang. File a chunk of steel so it will just fit with a lot of effort. Rough the whole mess up, butter the inside of the slots with epoxy and the bolsters and the tang. Put the wide pin in and compress the whole mess in a vice until it sets.

Not my favorite way of doing things and in fact I only did it once. I only did it that time because I screwed up and there was no other way to get a solid mount for the bolsters.
 
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