How do you do bolster/guard combo style

Fish30114

Fish30114

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Jan 5, 2014
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I have recently started to really like the homage to Loveless hunter design knife. To me the one knife feature that I like in a Loveless style blade is the seemingly one piece large bolster/guard combo piece. I really like this one from BF's own TK Steingass: TK Steingass Loveless Mammoth_14742144_std.jpg I think this is a good example of what I am asking about--I've made one, and I just put a shorter guard on it and a rear brass bolster as well--it came out OK, sold quickly--but I really want to take my next effort up to this look.

Any advice, WIP pics or opinions are welcome...
 
Is it solid on top, or can you see the spine of the blade on top?
 
I would assume the one you pictured is framed but I'm probably wrong. Possibly the guard is milled out in 2 halves, relieved for the tang, then soldered together around the tang. With good fit and the right solder the join line would be invisible.
 
I have only made one knife with a guard like that. I had to cut a notch ( about 1/8th" deep) the width of the guard in the tang and then make a slot in a small block of nickel silver the width of the blade. I couldn't file the slot larger to fit the blade so I flattened the blade by sanding it with a 400 grit belt on platen and fitting by trial and error until it just fit the blade. Drill for pins and remove and heat treat. After heat treat just finish the ricasso enough to look good and slide on the blade. I have slotted many guards to fit my blades and finished by making the blades fit the slot and not the other way around. Larry

hR86eO5m.jpg
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Open on the top is relatively easy, especially if you have a mill. You just slot an interference fit in the bolster/guard. Without a mill, you drill through the bolster along the line where the bottom of the tang is, then use a hacksaw to cut from the top down to complete the U shaped slot. Clean up with a file.
 
LARRYZ10 said:
I have only made one knife with a guard like that. I had to cut a notch ( about 1/8th" deep) the width of the guard in the tang and then make a slot in a small block of nickel silver the width of the blade. I couldn't file the slot larger to fit the blade so I flattened the blade by sanding it with a 400 grit belt on platen and fitting by trial and error until it just fit the blade. Drill for pins and remove and heat treat. After heat treat just finish the ricasso enough to look good and slide on the blade. I have slotted many guards to fit my blades and finished by making the blades fit the slot and not the other way around. Larry

hR86eO5m.jpg
So6H0qYm.jpg
OKxyhBCm.jpg
Click to expand...

I'm with you Larry. Much easier, or maybe less risk is a better way of saying it, making the blade/tang fit the guard than the other way around, for me. Whether slotted or enclosed. I screwed up a few guards trying to file to fit before I figured that out.

Now I mill my guard to the nominal size I need at work, and work the blade/tang at home to fit. Haven't screwed one up yet doing it that way.
 
Fish, the way Loveless did that is pure genius- it's a little much to thoroughly explain in a brief message, but what he did is to make the bolster go on over the end of the blade and rest on tabs left on the tang, on the handle end of the bolster area.
His blades were all stock removal, so you don't really see a choil area on Loveless knives, though there are probably exceptions- think in terms of what needs to happen to slide that guard down over the blade, rather than in from the side or over the tang, as in a standard forged knife.
 
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