- Joined
- May 31, 2020
- Messages
- 72
I'd like to use a factory blade or blank to make a moderate-sized Bowie in a style resembling something from around the time of the American Civil War.
Right now I'm considering the "frontier Bowie" NCK419 listed here and giving it a brass frame, but I'm worried that the result won't be very strong, since it's not very big, and the grip as I've planned it will be only 3/4 inch at the narrowest point.
My plan would be to shorten the tang, cut the frame from a plate that's as thick as the tang, insert the hilt ends into the slot of a simple sand-cast guard and silver-solder them in place, then solder the tang into the frame. Then fix the scales with two side-by-side 1/16-inch pins just above the guard, two in-line 3/32-inch pins in the actual blade tang, and two more side-by-side 1/16-inch pins near the butt end. The reason the pins are so thin is I want to keep the pin holes small and minimize weakening of the tang and frame.
Do the measurements in general seem too small, and is the handle likely to be delicate as a result? If so, I could scrap this whole plan and just use the hidden tang as is. But I'm thinking that increasing the dimensions of the frame hilt significantly would make it oversized relative to the blade.
Right now I'm considering the "frontier Bowie" NCK419 listed here and giving it a brass frame, but I'm worried that the result won't be very strong, since it's not very big, and the grip as I've planned it will be only 3/4 inch at the narrowest point.
My plan would be to shorten the tang, cut the frame from a plate that's as thick as the tang, insert the hilt ends into the slot of a simple sand-cast guard and silver-solder them in place, then solder the tang into the frame. Then fix the scales with two side-by-side 1/16-inch pins just above the guard, two in-line 3/32-inch pins in the actual blade tang, and two more side-by-side 1/16-inch pins near the butt end. The reason the pins are so thin is I want to keep the pin holes small and minimize weakening of the tang and frame.
Do the measurements in general seem too small, and is the handle likely to be delicate as a result? If so, I could scrap this whole plan and just use the hidden tang as is. But I'm thinking that increasing the dimensions of the frame hilt significantly would make it oversized relative to the blade.
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