Full Thick Tang vs Tapered Tang

U.C.O.K. said:
Is there any pros and cons of these design?
Click to expand...

Pros -
-Awesome look
-Decreased weight because of the material removal
-Completly different balance point (depending on the knife style it could make it better ...... or not)
-In most cases it will add value to your knife due to the increased time & the added skill it takes to pull it off correctly
-Awesome look :)

Cons-
- takes a bit more skill to pull it off correctly
- without correct heat treat procedures it could increase the possibility of having a warpage issue
- ?????

I'm having a tough time thinking of cons to a tapered tang :confused: :confused:

Help me out here guys :o

FWIW, virtually every full tang knife I make gets a tapered tang :thumbup:



:cool:
 
David Wesner said:
- ?????

I'm having a tough time thinking of cons to a tapered tang :confused: :confused:

Help me out here guys :o
Click to expand...

uhhhhhhhh.... tapered tang takes more time to type out in the specs list?



David sums it up pretty well.:thumbup: Of course, you lose structural integrity everytime you remove stock... but the performance enhancements far outweigh that, IMO. The meat remains where it is needed... you are simply trimming away the fat. I don't know many makers who go back to straight tangs after doing a few TT's.

It would be like a NASCAR team putting rear seats into the vehicle.


Rick:p
 
I agree. They are a bit tougher to make, especially on the first few when you are trying to get the tang surface as flat as your scale inside surface... but super awesome after you get the hang of it.
 
The thing I find the most trouble with tapered tangs is drilling the holes in the handle slabs! That's not to say that I am doing all that great a job on the tang taper itself, getting the taper to finish at an exact place is a pain and something I have yet to master, but the real headache is always drilling holes in the handle.
 
Or: measure the thickness of the tang right behind the guard/bolsters, whatever, (i.e. the thickest part) then measure the thickness of the tang at the butt. (i.e. the thinnest part) then divide the difference by two. This is the amount you should shim the end of each scale at the butt end off of the drill press table when drilling so that the angle through the pin holes is straight when installed. So if the tang is 3/16" at the thickest part, and 1/16" at the thinnest, the difference of 1/8" total when split in half is 1/16" per side. When you drill, shim the end of the scale that is planned to be the butt, up off of the drill table with anything, even a drill bit, that's pretty close to 1/16" in thickness. Do this on each side, install the scales, and you should be able to slide a snug fitting pin all the way through without major difficulty and without affecting the fit of the scales. I often do it this way since I often forge taper into the tang before getting the chance to drill anything.
 
Hold the blade level. As Bill said drill all your holes before you do your taper. With the blade level the holes are still square to the blade.
 
When drilling holes before you taper the holes in the scales will not be straight through...1 or 2 degrees difference...If your pins are tight or you are working with fragile material you may have a hard time with the glue-up. After the taper is ground use some double sided tape and secure one scale to your drill press table. Then tape your tang to the scale that is on the table making sure that everthing lines up correctly (drill bit into tang hole, scale material in correct position). Then tape the other scale on top and drill a "blind" hole through the scales. Use a shim on one end if you would like to eliminate the 2 or 3 degrees difference.
 
Oh yeah, I read about shimming some years ago on this very site :cool: I use squares of copy paper to get it as close as possible, but the maths is still a bit of a PITA and, probably as a result of using a crappy little £30 drill, it is still awkward to get everything accurate enough that there is no drama at glue up. Doing it for a couple of pins isn't too bad, but more pins, or hidden bolts using a step drill, plus lanyard tube, well, shims or no, its a fiddle. :grumpy:

I probably just need more practice:D
 
I taper the tangs on my blades that are 1/4" thick, but on the ones that are 1/8" thick, I don't see the point of tapering them.
 
Speaking as one who has made handles for someone else's tapered tangs, they are a little more difficult to work with in some respects... but a little easier in others.

I make mostly hidden tang handles. I generally drill the pilot hole using a long drill bit that's a bit wider than the tang width, then use needle files to hone the shape to the correct rectangular form. It's MUCH easier to use the files closer to the mouth of the hole than it is down in the depth. So a tapered tang makes it easier for me to get a proper fit all the way down the channel.

Of course, as you can tell, I tend to do things the hard way. I'm sure there is some means of using power tools to do all this much faster.

- Greg
 
I didn't see this thread before posting my own on the topic. I think hidden, done correctly with some sort of adhesive, is better, and I say why and how to test it.

I'm not sure why, aside from aesthetics, one would need rivet holes in a hidden tang knife - suspenders and a belt. It just marginalizes both the tang and the handle material. Or are you not using epoxy?
 
I'd still appreciate any link to a thread about how to do a tapered tang. It sounds incredibly difficult to get it flat so there is not gap in the scales. I rarely use anything thicker than 1/8" steel, and I have been lightening the handles with lots of holes. I'd like to try the tapered tang.
 
Phil,

The basics of it is this: Use a drill to open up most of it, then cut and file a relatively thin area in the blade end of the bolster. This could be a thin piece of brass or micarta, or a thick piece of wood or horn that has been partially drilled through from the back. A jewelers saw will cut any of those materials, and needle files are narrower than 1/8" to clean it up. Only the sides have to be perfect; the two ends of the slot usually have the blade resting on them and will cover a rounded slot.

Those big voids would be unacceptable, if you weren't filling the hole thing with a slow cure epoxy that both bonds to the handle/bolster material and is about as strong as they are. That gives back the solidity that you lost hollowing out the bolster from the tang end and the rest of the handle.

If you're concerned about the blade staying put (which you shouldn't be), notch the tang towards the bottom to increase it's surface area and purchase on the epoxy.
 
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