Broaches: here is what I use... let's see yours!

[anvilring]

I searched on here for brooch/ brooches and got absolutely nothing. I know people out there make their own and use them, I'm just curious what other people use to make a good mechanical fit between a rectangular tapered cross-section hidden tang and the handle material. Here are a few pics of the ones that I use... Only one is for the vertical / sides of that rectangular hole; the rest are for the horizontal / top/ bottom of said slot. I intend to make a smaller version of my latest vertical brooch for smaller tang knives mainly 3/16 inch material but that will take some doing, the vertical ones are kind of hard to make as mine cuts on 3 sides. Anyway here are my pictures, feel free to post yours if you have them! The thread link below is to a flicker account, they're all public photos and if you click on them they will enlarge for you.

This first pic is my new / latest vertical brooch... I'm sure it can be improved on if anyone has any better ideas! It is sharp as a razor... they must be very sharp and have fairly deep relief areas in them to work well but of course, it still has to fit in the slot made by the drill bit. I drill two, or sometimes three holes in my handle material resting on a pivot (a common 1/2-in bolt with the tip sharpened, fixed in the center hole of the drill press table). If anyone's interested in what that looks like I'll post some pics of it. At least that's been my experience.



This one in various widths is what I use for the two short horizontal cuts, that is the top and the bottom of the slot.



All of them together...





Here is the link to the entire album on Flickr....

https://www.flickr.com/gp/19089828@N00/194j67

Everything's in disarray as to order in which to proceed, but those of you who make knives will find this is pretty simple and straightforward. I bet everybody can sort it out. If not ask questions! Happy to help anybody learn to make these as I have found them indispensable.

Regards, m

 

[Tyson A Wright]

Search for 'broach' ('oa' not 'oo') and there's lots of results.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Brooch is a decorative jewelry pin.
Broach enlarges holes.

 

[HSC ///]

Too many details and variations of knife and handle builds to answer your question effectively

I use the 2 or 3 sawzall blades epoxied together and shape as necessary. I think this is the most cost effective and efficient broach I’ve found. Works better than any custom purchased broach IMO.

for kitchen knives I split the handle material in half and chisel out a mortise slot and then glue the 2 halves together. Then file the opening sides for the right fit. This is faster for me then deep hole drilling out for the tang and then using a broach

Or I burn in the tang depending on the wood. Or I use a 3 pc frame handle. The middle frame thickness is sized to the tang to match perfectly.

the best fit is a precise one cut out on a mill and then an undersized press fit. I also do this when I want a metal ferrule up front.

 

[kbright]

anvilring I like your long handles. I use reciprocating saw blades like H HSC /// and also sheetrock saws. I do find it difficult to keep the width narrow and prefer to use ferrules or bolsters, precision filing the opening for a snug fir to the tang. Many of my tangs are .100 or less thick. Another use for broaches is making sayas from wood, and trying to get a friction fit at the spine.

 

[weo]

One thing I recently added to my set (I'll try to get a pic later today) is a small chisel I made from the spine of blade that cracked during the quench because sometimes I need to get into a corner where the teeth won't get.

 

[anvilring]

kbright... The long handles give you leverage, which makes all the difference. I can bring a lot of force to bear on the cutting head of my broaches. As for HSC's comment about cost effectiveness, mine are free, and remove a lot of material very quickly compared to sawzall blades which have very little kerf and almost no room between them vertically for removed material.. You'll note that I have one sawzall blade only: It's for the absolute narrowest use. Mine you just make them yourself out of a strip of scrap steel: I use the scrap edge I cut off of automotive leaf springs. If you're already making / grinding knife blades, then you can grind these too. Just takes a little practice. And you must learn to grind them /polish them sharp! I will make a little video of cutting a tang hole and put it up here on the forum.
Morticing two halves of handle material, takes way longer in my opinion, not to mention leaves you with a seam that can be seen from the top and bottom of the handle.
Weo... I tried making a decent chisel long ago, but of course it drives into the wood sometimes and rather than removing material, just makes things worse. The way mine are made, I am pulling to remove material and it works very quickly leaving very square corners. I'll make the video!

 

[anvilring]

Stacy, feel free to correct my spelling in the title of this post so people can find it if looking for information on "broaches".

 

[Tyson A Wright]

anvilring do you round and polish the spine on these? (It looks like it, but hard to tell in the pics.)

And how do you keep them from warping during heat treat? They look pretty straight, which seems difficult for that long thin profile.

-Tyson

 

[weo]

Stacy, feel free to correct my spelling in the title of this post...

anvilring , you should be able to do this. Above your first post in the thread there should be a "Thread Tools" arrow to click. One of the options should be "Edit Title".

 

[anvilring]

Thanks weo!

 

[anvilring]

anvilring do you round and polish the spine on these? (It looks like it, but hard to tell in the pics.)

And how do you keep them from warping during heat treat? They look pretty straight, which seems difficult for that long thin profile.

-Tyson

Tyson once I have normalized pretty much that first foot of the brooch including the tip, I do my grinding and shape the head and teeth undercuts. Then, all I harden is the cutting tip and about 3 in past perhaps. Really nothing to warp. And 5160 steel of course is "spring steel", even when just left to normalize, it's still got plenty of spring in it. Then I temper the whole full length tool @ 400o for two, one hour cycles.
.

 

[weo]

Thanks weo!