Bowie critique/WIP...UPDATED!!!

Matt R said:
I finally got caught up in the shop and got to work on this a little. 2 questions. 1. Do the shoulders where the guard sits need to be the same length? I dont see why they would but thought I would ask. 2. How far should I go before heat treat? I have squared up the shoulders and am going to rough out the bevels tomorrow I am waiting on guard material so can I go ahead and ht?
Click to expand...


Matt,

The shoulders do not need to be the same length. After heat treating the blade will need to be cleaned up. This obviously means removing more material. So don't grind or file your bevels to their finished height. In the same neighborhood is fine but leave some room to ease up to your final lines when doing your finishing work. At the edge, leave the pre-HT thickness around the thickness of a quarter or a dime. I don't see why you can't go ahead with the HT while waiting for your guard material. Post your progress here as you go.
 
Thanks Marc. My main concern was being able to adjust the shoulders post heat treat since I am doing that with a file. I usually do most of my bevels post heat treat anyway.
i4Marc said:
Matt,

The shoulders do not need to be the same length. After heat treating the blade will need to be cleaned up. This obviously means removing more material. So don't grind or file your bevels to their finished height. In the same neighborhood is fine but leave some room to ease up to your final lines when doing your finishing work. At the edge, leave the pre-HT thickness around the thickness of a quarter or a dime. I don't see why you can't go ahead with the HT while waiting for your guard material. Post your progress here as you go.
Click to expand...
 
At this point I have the shoulder square to the spine and the file guide setup square to the shoulders so the plunge matches the guard.Next I marked the edges for my pre ht thickness.1247.photobucket.com/user/mattr2589/media/image.jpg3_15.jpg.html]
image.jpg3_15.jpg
[/URL]I have rough ground the bevels and now need to drill my pin hole and get ready to heat treat this weekend.
 
Hey Matt, looking good. I see you're using stainless on this one so I agree that you should drill your pin hole before heat treat (unless you have access to carbide bits). Otherwise, with carbon steel I like to drill the pin hole after heat treat.

Make sure your pin hole is slightly oversized to allow a bit of wiggle room for your pin, so you can fit your handle tight to your guard.
 
A few questions, Matt.


Are you planning on using a stack of spacers behind the guard? Why is the top of your tang shaped like that? If it has anything to do with the picture I posted a while back take another look at the picture and my explanation in post #19. Also don't forget to add a small radius in the corners where the tang meets the ricasso to avoid stress risers there. The blade looks good so far!
 
I am using stainless and black g10 spacers. They are probably 3/16'' thick total. Are you saying that the flat part on the top of the tang is too long. Should I shorten it so it starts to drop off right after the spacers?
 
Yes. That is what I am hinting at. That way your tang hole will have straight lines that can be made with drill bits. The flat or nearly flat area on top is just for seating the spacers. Then the drop off is done according to how much drop you have in your handle. If you make a bowie style handle with a lot of curvature and drop along the top of the handle then you'd want to taper off the tang in a more pronounced way so your tang hole doesn't come through the top of your handle. Makes sense, right? If you have a straighter handle design then not so much taper in the tang is necessary. Always try to keep as much tang as you can fit in the handle when possible. At least that is MY philosophy.
 
Alright, I am finishing up the last of the knives I have to make and can finally focus on this one. I got the bevel ground and sanded to 180. Now I need to do everyone's favorite part and hand sand up to 800. I am going to draw and print off my guard shape and cut it out. I hope to get it fitted by the end of the week/weekend. I am pleased with it so far for the most part. I feel like the plunge may be leaning slightly forward but at this point I'm going to call it good before I screw it up. Sometimes I make things worse by trying to make them better!
 
Looking good Matt. Keep in mind, you don't have to go to 800X. A CLEAN 320 or 400X finish will look very neat. What ever the level of finish it's all about neatness. The angle of the plunge line is fine. Just make sure it's the same on both sides. Can't wait to see it finished.
 
I have been going to 400 on others and it looks good. However im going to try and take this one on up. I have started using WD40 when hand sanding and it has all but eliminated the marks caused by starting and stopping. The plunges are even and I left the ricasso long so I can mark it there instead of on the bevel. The edge is a little thicker than I like but it should end up .012-.015" by the time I finish sanding. Should I use epoxy dyed black or JB weld for the guard? Thanks Marc for all your help.
 
Ideally there shouldn't be any gap at all between the blade and the guard so you shouldn't need to dye the epoxy. Clear, slow setting epoxy is fine. But a lot of people like the JB Weld which I have also switched to for the guards.


I will go into some additional information about fitting the guard when I have more time.
 
Thanks, I was thinking of dying more for the black g10 spacers. I was going to glue the guard and spacers all at once.
 
Gotcha. Same with the spacers though. There shouldn't be gaps so the dyed epoxy shouldn't be noticed but there is no harm in doing so.
 
Finished up the final sanding at 400 and put on my maker's mark. [/URL]Lets get started on the guard. It's 1/4" 416 ss. I squared it up and flattened it on the grinder. I did a little math and layed everything out on the top side. I am going to cheat a little and have a buddy mill it for me. The finished opening needs to be .130"x.591". I laid it out to be milled to .125"x.560" so I can finish it with files. I will get back on it some this weekend and get some more pics up.
 
I bought an 8" double bastard Nicholson file and killed one side and one edge. This will allow me to cut in the edges and keep them square when I get the guard milled.
 
I started fitting the guard tonight and this is what my first go got me. I might could dye the epoxy silver and it would not be too noticeable but I think I'm going to try again. I've heard people say you can peen the top and close up gaps. Do I peen all the way around, grind it back flat, and start over? My problem was I had to cut too much length wise. That's where it got off a little. Also, with .125" stock it's hard to find files thin enough. I think next time I will use 3/16" stock.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top