how do you keep the blade lined up with guard?

D

DaQo'tah Forge

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Hi this is DaQo'tah

I was so carefull as I made a brass guard tonight,,,that I feel bummed out that the guard does not line up with the blade...

"The Problem:... I use 3/4 inch brass to make a guard out of, useing the design of Ed Fowler's guards.

I drilled the brass under-size, then used files to make the guard fit the tang....however when positioned, the guard is not inline with the blade,,,the blade fits into the brass guard off at an angle....

The question....how do you fit a guard so that in the end,,,the blade sits in the guard and points to the same direction that the guard is lined up at?
 
I normaly use a file guide, or on 3/4 gaurds that wont fit into my guid I use the hardened jaws of a small vice. I have had your problem befor though.

What I've done is use my disk sander to take a little off the face of the gaurd to bring it square with the blade. Take the corisponding amount off the back opisit side to make everything square. I don't realy worry about the sides, as there usally over sized and will be ground when I grind the handle. I generaly have distal taper from gaurd to point, so the angles not 90deg. I've got a pretty good eye though, so when the angles the same I leave it alone. It helps to have a set of calipers to check the gaurd thickness and see how much more you have to take off to get it the same back and front.

And if it's too bad to use, just make anouther:p I've got a small pile of gaurds that I couldn't salvage. Everyonce in a while I'll find a knife that will take the old gaurd with a little work.

Hope this helps,

Will
 
practice my good man lots of practice..
once you can do it by hand and eye consistently every time.
you go buy a milling machine :D
 
Im not sure I told my little problem the right way...

Let me try again to make sure your advice is where I need to go to fix the next blade...



I make a 3/4 inch brass guard. the guard gets a hole in it to fit over the tang of the blade.

BUT....when I placed the tang into the blade , its not lined up.

to see this...in your mind...

point the sharp end of my blade at your eye. turn the blade (in your mind) so that the sharp cutting edge is down, and the spine is up, as you look down the blade you will notice that the guard top and bottom are not lined up with the blades "up and down".

The guard seems to be pointing off to one side.

(if you look at the silly little box on the computer screen infront of you when you hit POST, off to the left, and thats the brass guard,

then a good guard fit would have the blade sticking out at the yellow winky smile face, and going down to the lower sad face with the 3 question marks over the head.

My blade seems to be as if it stars out at the same winky face, but goes off to the right , to the pukey face next to the right of the question face)*




*as far as I know, this post is about the only time I have ever used that silly smiley face box on my computer screen
 
DaQo'tah Forge
just leave enouph brass to finish to size
and even it up by grinding after you make the hole
and fit it. the fit of the hole
is the important part to do first
then you can work the rest after.
 
DaQo'tah, I guess you are saying that your hole in the guard is not square, not that the hole is not centered. If it isn't square you may file a little more on the low side then fit it to the blade by hammering on the side. I make the tang graduated (tapered from back of the handle to the front or guard end). I fit the guard, by hammering, about 1/4" behind where it should fit then take it back to clean up the hammer marks. It will then be a press fit when pushed to the proper location.
To prevent this from happening in the future I like to "center punch" with a cold chisel. That gives me a line where the holes should be drilled. Then saw out the webs with a jewlers saw. Will's suggestion of using a file guide is to keep the slot square. A file guide is simply pieces of metal that are on each side of the guard that keep your file square to the guard stock. I made the first one using mild steel but soon ruined it so I made the next one using pieces of car spring full hard (no tempering). Still using it.
If I have confused everyone please tell me and I'll try to explain better.
Lynn
 
not sure now, :confused:
but I think he means like looking down on a Clock
his blade is not at 12 and 6 o'clock. more like
11 and 5 o'clock? that's the way I took it anyway.. :confused:
 
If you are using stock that is 3/4" thick, use a slightly oversized drill on the back side of the slot and drill maybe 1/2" through the guard. Then you can use your small drill and make and undersized guard slot from the front. The larger drill will relieve the area behind the front so you will only have to try and keep 1/4" or so of the tighlty fitted slot inline with the blade.
 
DaQoTah, Do you mean the guard is rotated (as shown in pink on the attached picture) around the major axis of the blade? Or do you mean the guard is canted (my own term, shown in green on the picture) relative to the major axis of the blade? In both instances, the desired location of the guard (if it were perfectly attached) is shown in light blue in the picture.

I think which way the guard is out of alignment will determine what the remedial action should be IMHO.

Your welcome. ;) :D

attachment.php
 
Nice work Rokjok -- :)

If your problem is the first one, it's easy to fix -- don't finish your guard until you put it on the blade. ;) It may not look pretty, but I just slap a slab o' guard on my knife, then finish to shape.

I even did a slight "S" curve damascus guard on my last one. I got the curve in it before putting it on, but still left plenty of room for finishing.

hope this helps -- this is just how I do it, it' probably not the right way! :D
 
RokJok!!!!!!


HOLY COW!!!!!!

Man, are you good with a computer...

The top photo you made for me is right on with my problem....

Graymaker ...Please overlook my poor 2nd try at telling about my knife,,,Even I didnt understand what I was talking about after I read it this morning,,,

C-Camerer ...Drill from the underside bigger?..very good advice, I will remember it tonight when I start on the next guard....
 
ayeup that's the way I thought you were saying in your 2nd one.:)




lynn's way of a line is great

"center punch" with a cold chisel. That gives me a line where the holes should be drilled"
 
You fellas said it pretty good. I had the same trouble until I discovered I didn't have the pilot holes drilled squarely through the guard, not the proper 90 degree desired. I was drilling the holes at a slight off angle, so the hand filing just followed the same mistake. Now I check my drill press table and vise to make sure it is going to drill a proper 90 degree hole.Some drill shavings under one side of your vise can throw your angle off, too. Just another DUH I worked through.
 
Hey Lynn thanks for the cold chisel line tip, that's the kind of stuff this forum is so good for! Dang, you just changed my life! For the life of me I could never drill accurately along a scribed line...

:D
 
Using the cold chisel is just passing along info that I heard somewhere else, Wayne Goddard, I think.
Lynn
 
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