First Bowie..Suggestions

[Patrickknives]

I am pretty much ready to final assembly, I think.. I may have some guard-handle fitting issues but looks ok right now. I plan to bevel the edge of the handle and guard but need to align a little bit. I have just finished heat treat. Blade is 5/32 O1. Still need to final grind.

I have a little gap between the guard and blade. I was planning using a gun blue finish on the guard. Do I solder first and then protect the blade and then blue or can I blue then solder??

any help is appreciated.

 

[B Finnigan]

Solder will not flow on oxidation which is what bluing is. If you think about how soft solder is why would you want that to be the securing force?

 

[L.K.Smithy]

solder is an excellent, very strong bond when done properly, and with a little practice its easy to get a feel for doing it properly. get some silver solder that has the low melt temp. i have never tried to solder something blued, but yes, the metal should be bare, clean and degreased. not even fingerprints on it. blue after. do a little minor fitting work so the gaps close up a bit and it all lines up. this is looking like a very good bowie. keep it up and show us some pics when its done!
-Lou

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Braze or weld a tang on that blade .The short stub of a tang you have won't hold up to use. If it is just a show piece (which is what most Bowies are) it will work, but it SHOULD have a longer tang.

Other than that, the knife looks excellent.

Stacy

 

[Patrickknives]

You are right on the tang, not sure why but when I went to cut the form for the handle I looked and said why is that so short. I have a wire feed welder and can put a good bead on both sides. Looking at the instructions for the blueing seems like I can solder first and then clean up and then do the blue.