First fitted metal guard

[A.McPherson]

Holy Crap! It didn't turn out aweful!!!
I'm super excited! Here are some pix!



So here are some details:
The blade is one third of a billet of hand forged Damascus that I noticed was delaminating, so I didn't include it with the rest of the billet. I just thought I'd see if I could get a blade out of what was left over.
I made a drop point hunter out of it and as you can see in the photos, it's got a big delamination right above the guard, and it's off center. Eh, not to bad for a first try.

The guard is brass, mirror polished on the edges and hand sanded to 800 on the top and bottom.

Problems I noticed: not completely equal on both sides.
A mark near the spine, not sure how it got there, and the spine bends in a bit at the guard.
There are a few small "puckers" on the junction of the blade. I suspect that is because it was too tight when I drove it on.

Can you guys critique this first attempt and give some pointers on how to overcome some of my failings?

Thanks!!!

ETAoops, I lied this is my second guard!!

 

[john april]

excellent first attempt ! you should be able to get rid of the puckers by sanding the face down some more. at the spine, did you have to round the guard slot to fit the shoulders of the tang? it looks like you nibbled away some of the side of the slot. if so, take a square needle file, and grind the teeth off two opposite sides. when you are rounding the slot shoulders, you will not wear away the side of the slot.

 

[Justin Schmidt]

Looks good man congrats

 

[A.McPherson]

Thanks for the reply's fellas!

John, it does look like there is a gap at the spine side of the blade, but what I think happened there is that I didn't drive the guard on straight, so it bit in a bit, then slid forward. Cause that divot wasn't there when I drove it on!