Butt cap question

[J.Marsillo]

I'm getting close to finishing this knife ,I'm having trouble finishing the butt cap.I did one hidden tang before but i'm not sure how to finish this one.I have about 3/4 " of tang to work with.I'm at a loss,could i slot the cap and peen over the tang like a rivet?Is there special tang nuts for this.
Sorry for the dumb ? I'm shot...I wasted most of today Re-booting my P.C. and then updating everything all over again

 

[A C Richards]

Joe,

If you want to do it the easy way you could use an acorn nut. They come in brass and Stainless fromt he hardware store. Another way is to make your own nut. Drill and tap a piece of rod but only deep enough for 4-5 threads. Then make your finial. onother method, actually the one I use the most is I make a round brass rod nut. Drill and tap your brass rod then silver braze it to a butt plate. Cut your tang so it is recessed and the nut will screw down tight making the plate the head of the nut. This will hold everything together. You can get the handle on very tight. You can shape the but plate in place. Just tak it slow so you don't burn the handle.. below is a pic of a finial

Good luck
Chuck

 

[Raymond Richard]

Joe, I hear a picture is worth a 1000 words. Maybe this might help.

 

[J.Marsillo]

Thanks ray that picture IS worth 1000 words That'll get me daydreaming of something to use today.I'm thinking some smaller cable brass dipped might look good.I'll see how the new torch treats me.

 

[Allgonquin]

You could absolutely slot or drill the cap and peen the tang. I recently finished the handle class put on by MS Rob Hudson. He basically finishes all his hidden tang knives that way. Leave about 1/16" of the tang, give or take, protruding from the cap, and countersink the outside hole in the butt cap slightly. Fill the handle with epoxy, assemble, and when you peen the tang it will mush out into the countersink hole. You can feel the guard/handle/buttcap "assembly" tighten up as you peen it, to where it gets rock solid.

Rob also files some small, shallow slots (grooves) in the edge of the hole through the butt cap, to give the tang some more resistance to turning. The slots do not go all the way through the hole - you can not see them when the knife is finished. When peening, presumably some of the displaced tang material anchors in those slots.

Let the epoxy set, and after you grind down and finish the outside of the butt cap it will look nice, you can polish as much as you want for the desired effect.

I've now done two hidden tang knives this way myself, and they turned out very nicely for a beginning hack like me.

Rgds,
Allgonquin