Distal taper handle

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Natlek

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Jun 9, 2015
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If the purpose of distal taper is to reduce weight of knive and for better balance , this way is removed more weight from handle and it is much easier to do ?

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What are you asking about? Is this a question about a tapered tang or distal taper to a knife blade?
 
Josh Rider said:
What are you asking about? Is this a question about a tapered tang or distal taper to a knife blade?
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Yes , about a tapered tang . Sorry for the confusion , I added text to the drawing and I hope it is now clear what I mean ?
 
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looks like your idea is to shorten the handle then taper it? if so, it would work, but the handle will be weaker because all the strength is in the handle material.
 
OK guys. Take a look at the drawings. The long view is the normal tapered tang. The smaller view is an end view of his alternative tapered tang, where the spine is full width and the bottom is the tapered part.

On a Japanese blade, the taper is often that way ... because the whole blade and tang often have the same symmetry.

On a western blade with a ricasso, it would be extremely hard to do his new idea neatly. The ease of the standard tapered tang is that it starts at the front of the handle scales.

So, if Natlek is asking if it is a good idea, I would say, No.
 
"Easier to do"

Tapering a tang is very easy to do.

If it is difficult it is being done incorrectly.
 
He's basically grinding 'bevels' on the tang.
This will create a ledge at the fillet (plunge cut) which might actually make a nice place to butt the scales up against.
Worth a try - maybe.
Maybe not.
I just put my full tang knives on my surface grinder with the point sticking out toward me. I grind off the material which leaves a 'step' at the front and I remove about 1/3 of the blade thickness.
This leaves a nice stop for the scales and allow leaving forge finish on the ricasso yet eliminates fit-up problems.
 
With mills and precision surface grinders, it is possible to make a step that would work. However, and error in alignment between the two sides will show badly. Doing it on a grinder or by hand would be a real task.


To me, it is much simpler to just taper the tang on the belt grinder and walk the grind up to the same spot on both sides. I don't do a tapered tang often, but when I do I use a 100 grit belt and leave the surface rough.
 
AVigil said:
"Easier to do"

Tapering a tang is very easy to do.

If it is difficult it is being done incorrectly.
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then list me in the " done incorrectly" camp... I have had issues with tapered tangs for years and each one is a mess cleaned up with elbow grease.
 
I have done blades with tapers like that, Thy are called seax. You grind the edge bevel all the way down and off the tang, no plunge cuts. I have thought about trying it on a full tang knife, kinda a plungless grind so to speak but with the tang ground at the same angle. This way could work and be elegant but would require the knife to be designed around the grind. I think doing plunge cuts and making another plunge cut for the scales to set agenst is asking for problems.
 
First of all, sorry for the confusion that I made . English is not my native language and sometimes it s hard to me to find the right words to express myself :grumpy:

Now when we understand what I wanted to say ..............This blank is guilty for this idea . I try to make it for the son of my good friend .And as always, the more I try to make it better I m making bigger mistakes . In an attempt to get perfect plunge line for both side I came too close to front pins and shortened the part for the handle . My intention is to grind blade from both side /handle part/ to the end of blank and make scale as on picture ........?

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No guard? No problem. Then it's just like Stacy said about Japanese blades. Bevel the whole thing.
 
JTknives said:
I have done blades with tapers like that, Thy are called seax. You grind the edge bevel all the way down and off the tang, no plunge cuts. I have thought about trying it on a full tang knife, kinda a plungless grind so to speak but with the tang ground at the same angle. This way could work and be elegant but would require the knife to be designed around the grind. I think doing plunge cuts and making another plunge cut for the scales to set agenst is asking for problems.
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I will try ........I like challenges :)
 
JTknives said:
I have done blades with tapers like that, Thy are called seax. You grind the edge bevel all the way down and off the tang, no plunge cuts. I have thought about trying it on a full tang knife, kinda a plungless grind so to speak but with the tang ground at the same angle. This way could work and be elegant but would require the knife to be designed around the grind. I think doing plunge cuts and making another plunge cut for the scales to set agenst is asking for problems.
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That !
But I forgot to ask in my OP what do you think about mechanical characteristics of that kind of grind ?
 
rustyrazor said:
then list me in the " done incorrectly" camp... I have had issues with tapered tangs for years and each one is a mess cleaned up with elbow grease.
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Mark the width of the tang that you want at the end.

Grind 45* angle on both sides at the end of the tang to the marked line on both sides.

Using a platen grind starting at the edge of the 45* angle at a lesser angle and keep decreasing that angle and work the grind up the tang and stop where you want and ground down to the scribed line at the end of the tang.

Flip to the other side and repeat.

Once you reach the grind line and the desired stopping point on the tang you are done and the angle will be the same on both sides.

I do mine with the end of the tang up, some do it with the end of the tang down.

Walking the grind up a bit at a time is the key then
 
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