My process for these is just taking a little off with files however seems necessary, checking time and again with strong light pointed at me from the other side of the work, so it shows through any cracks. Don Dogg uses inletting black, which Id like to try. To do this with stag, Ive rubbed soft lead from a pencil on the inside of the bolster radius, then slide the scale up to it, look to see where the scale has a smudge. Green Micarta is too dark in color for this to work.
The fit as of last night. Nearly there. Just a little more off the center of the tang taper, and a little more finicky stuff with sandpaper up front. With no batteries and little energy left, I retired for the night and enjoyed some Thai green curry. Why the food pics? I like my WIPs to have a little flavor.
Ok, I have the fit where I want it. I try to stay away from good enough but Ill never get anything perfect. More pics of that in a minute. Here you see the tang ground clean and real flat. I took the 3 wheel and cleaned out the oil from the remaining hollow up front from the tang roughing step. I took it a little deeper and wider as well, this being slightly concave here helps to fit the scales as it isolates any gaps at the edge by removing the possibility of a high spot in the center. I do this lightly with sandpaper to the front of the scale as well. In case you are wondering about that little hole in the tang its the result of a brain fart and does not go all the way through.
So, there is a gap in continuity with the pics here. I did some work before I found more batteries; I had to. Also it was probably below 20 degrees in the shop and so I did this as quick as I could.
I lightly super glued the first scale on the mark side. Before I did this, I took a micrometer and did some thickness measuring on the tang. It was .220 up front, right behind the beginning of the radius. At the butt end, it was .050. So .220 - .050 = .170. .170 / 2 = .085. So thats the distance I want to shim the butt of the scale up while drilling so the hole goes straight through. I measured a popsicle stick. .082. Damn. Well, I really did not want to wait for a .085 popsicle stick to arrive from MSC, so I just went with it.
With the butt end of the scale shimmed up, I drilled the holes through the tang from above, the two end ones at 3/16 to pilot for ¼ SS Corbys, and the middle at ¼ for a SS thong tube.
I super glued the other scale on, flipped the handle, shimmed at the butt, and drilled back through. After drilling the last hole at 3/16, I left it in the hole and clamped the whole works down to the table. I did this with care not to flex the bit, and then pressed the bit up and down a few times to make sure it was really lined up. Then I unchucked it, and chucked up a sharp F bit. With a strong light source overhead, I counter bored for the corby head, taking a little at a time, and looking into the hole to see how deep I was getting. I left only about 3/32 of material at the bottom of the hole. This is going to be a pretty slim grip, and I HATE nothing like grinding into a corby too far.
I repeated this for the other corby counter bores, always with the scale shimmed under the butt and being careful to keep things centered. I use an F bit which is just 7 thou over ¼ so the Corbys turn easily and will self align to correct any slight misalignment from the drilling processes. It gives slight room for epoxy as well.
One other note in the corbys, I went to the little 1x42 grinder and made them into shorties. Stock, they will grip 3/8 minimum. I need them to grip ¼ minimum so I shortened the barrel and post on them. I still get like six threads of grip out of them. Yay, pics again.
Heres what it looks like all fitted up with the fasteners tight without epoxy. I it do this way on integrals because I can see clearly whats going on with the fit, no glue in the way and no possibility of the scales sliding even a little bit during glue-up. I HATE surprises when shaping around the bolsters.
