First Bowie Knife and First Hidden Tang! Question...

CDHumiston

CDHumiston

Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
1,464
I'm working on this Bowie knife. It's nearly 1/4" thick 440C Stainless. It's my first try at a knife this big and also my first Bowie.

My main question is...what thickness should the blade be near the edge? I've read some people leave it around .040. Mine is currently .063. Looking for help from experienced folks.

Here are a few pics of where I'm at right now.20220703_134752-1.jpg20220703_134804-1.jpg20220703_134814-1.jpg
 
I assume you don't just mean before heat treat. You have a lot of freedom, but I'll list the numbers for my current WIP as an example.
I started with 0.310" stock and did a linear taper on the entire profile from the ricasso to the tip arriving at 0.160". I ground the clip and then flat ground the bevels leaving 0.03" at the edge before heat treat. After heat treat I refined the grind a little but didn't take much more off, stopping at about 0.025". Then I convexed it to sharp.
You can leave more and convex more, up to you...
 
Richard338 said:
I assume you don't just mean before heat treat. You have a lot of freedom, but I'll list the numbers for my current WIP as an example.
I started with 0.310" stock and did a linear taper on the entire profile from the ricasso to the tip arriving at 0.160". I ground the clip and then flat ground the bevels leaving 0.03" at the edge before heat treat. After heat treat I refined the grind a little but didn't take much more off, stopping at about 0.025". Then I convexed it to sharp.
You can leave more and convex more, up to you...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, much appreciated!
 
I do a few Bowies and fighters. My Instagram has a bunch of WIPs. Take a look through them and see if it helps.


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