Messing up

[Don Nguyen]

Ohhhh how I hate it

Only when I get to assembling the handle do I realize that the holes drilled for the pin are slightly out of alignment and the tang isn't perfectly straight in many places. Horrible fit.

I know where I went wrong, but that's why I hate it even more. Looks like I learned my lesson. Hopefully.

EDIT: On a related note, does anyone have problems grinding or working on sections that get really thin? I wasn't thinking properly when I tried to do a tapered tang, but it tapers almost to an edge on mine, and I can't grind it consistently for the life of me. At that thickness it just starts to bend and warp when I breathe on it. Perhaps I was being too excessive.

 

[james terrio]

Don't kick yourself too hard, we've all done it.

A welder's magnet is helpful when tapering tangs just for the sake of holding onto it, and also helps keep the workpiece flat and straight when working on thin sections.

 

[Don Nguyen]

James, I've been using a pretty strong magnet, but stopped using it shortly after. It started warping the blades on me all of a sudden (Kind of like the blade was 'curling' away from the platen)?

Maybe it's just my technique, but it happened a couple times actually. I'll give it a try again some time though.

 

[David Sharp]

Are you still dealing with less than perfect platens? Does the platen protrude slightly past the rollers on the platen? If the face of the platen is not slightly forward in use the belt will move backward create a nice concave tapered tang instead of flat.

 

[Don Nguyen]

The knife I was finishing up was indeed ground on the non-flat platen. It's been ground down too thin though, so I couldn't go back and fix it.

I have access to a better grinder now though. I'll just need to be patient and not try something out of my realistic zone...

 

[elasmonut]

I tried using a welders magnet like that to taper tangs and found difficult because it stuck so hard the platen it was hard to have any feel or control of the grind. Are you magnet guys using ceramic platens or some such?

 

[james terrio]

Are you magnet guys using ceramic platens or some such?

I do indeed use a ceramic platen face, and that's a good point that I had forgotten about! Not to mention that if your platen isn't flat to begin with, you're SOL from the get-go.

Keep in mind that you can get magnets in various "strengths"... I think the one I use for hogging is rated to hold 50#, and the smaller one I use for finer work is 25#. Those numbers may be off a bit, but you get the idea.

 

[Don Nguyen]

Got the holes for the pins sorted out. Kind of a makeshift method - not sure if it's advised at all. I counterbored and countersunk the holes on the insides of the scales to introduce a lot of play, so the pins can wobble about and actually get lined up. The epoxy will hopefully secure them and keep them there.

 

[james terrio]

Good on you, Don. If you're using strong epoxy, you will probably be fine. Let it cure well and beat on it some to see if it holds up. If it doesn't work out, chalk it up to a learning experience. There is no such thing as failure, in this regard. :thumbup: