Guard patterns??????????

Mace

Mace

Joined
Apr 8, 2003
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Would anyone like to share some guard patterns?



How do YOU come up with the idea for your guards?

Thought this might be an interesting topic.
Mace
 
i just take a piece of steel or brass of a nice thickness, anywhere from 1/8" to 1/4". heat it, and drive my tang punch through it. the i cut out a basic shape and grind it on the belt sander till it looks good.
tsubas are a diffrent story, i make a basic wax guard, and give it to a freind of mine who is a really good artist. he sculps the characters and symbols into the wax and i cast the guard out of bronze and pewter. ive only cast 2 tsubas before, one for my katana, and the other for a tanto i made for him, as a gift for helping. he also does the handle wraps, because i am horrible at it.
 
The guard gets very little credit. It is perhaps the most stylish part of many knives.There are many styles,depending on use.Some are -simple oval ;finger guard (bottom only);"S" guard;"C" guard;"D" guard;sub-hilt;and the queen of beauty -the quillion.Some ways to snazz up even simple guards are: file work them;stack three layers of metal, the center one either a different color or file worked;A center piece of non metal (ivory,fiber,wood,twisted wire,amber,etc.);blue or colorize the guard;use a distinctive metal such as damascus,mokume,or wrought iron.
Make the guard fit the knife,both physically and esthetically.A quillion on a fillet knife would look ridiculous,no matter how well done it was.New makers often tend to make guards too large.Spend as much time as is needed when fitting the guard to the blade.The solder joint (JB weld for those who don't want to take the time to do it right) line is one of the first things a skilled maker looks at when evaluating a knife.Learn how to soft solder perfectly!
Cardboard guards are a good way to try out a shape and see how it will look on the blade.
Don't be afraid to experiment,style is different for different people.
Stacy
 
Ya'll listen to this man.

Some guys take guards to the extreme of using little tiny knives to hold the guard. Heck with solder :)

Use pitch !!
 
bladsmth, 2 questions. what is mokume exactly, ive heard of it before but not sure what materials its made from. also, do you always solder on your guards? ive never done it before.
 
"Mokume' gane "is the Japanese word for "wood grained metal".It is different,non-ferrous,metals layered and patterned similar to damascus steel.The usual combination of metals is copper,nickel silver,and brass.Any combination of metals is possible (almost).Gold ,silver,platinum.shakudo (copper/gold alloy,)brass,copper,and about 100 copper alloys with everything from aluminum to thorium in the alloy.
It make beautiful guards and butt caps.
Yes,I solder on my guards,unless the knife is made to disassemble as in a sword,or
D-guard bowie.Good soldered guards are the sign of quality workmanship.It is a grading point on knife judging in competitions.
My belt buckle is the ABS logo.The knife blade is made from $400 of platinum and $100 of 24K gold.The two were layered into a forty layer mokume.I'll try and post a picture of it in a few minutes.
Stacy
 
I realize now that maybe I should have been a bit more specific, but I like the fact that Stacy has put us at square one.. and I agree the guard gets little credit.

What I was really interested in were interesting shapes..............like double guards on antique bowies and the like.

Stacy, I'm interested to know why you don't like JB weld. I have used both and I have to say solder has always been a pain in the ass.....even with a dead tight fit........there always seems to be a good deal of clean up after.
Is there something you don't like about jb or do you just like to do it old school? Don't get me wrong....I'm not a salesman for JB weld or anything and I think everyone should learn how to solder.


I have not tried to cast a guard yet but I'm sure that it would be quite interesting to learn.


I'm gonna get this off my chest..........I don't like subhilts. But now Stacy has got me thinking.........how about a subhilt fillet knif! :D
Mace
 
A tang punch is a tool that punches a slot in the guard for the tang to go through.
I don't like JB weld because it is a less efficient replacement for a quality technique that many new makers are in too big a hurry to learn.As an epoxy compound it will slowly absorb moisture,slowly break down,and slowly fail.If you are making knives to last this summers trip to camp,then it would be fine.If you are making knives that your grandchildren will take to camp,JB weld won't hold up.Soldering is not a PITA.Like forging,and grinding it is a thing you have to learn how to do properly for it to work.
Stacy
 
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