mortised tang

[rhettfcr]

Just finishing up fitting a hidden tang into mortised slabs. Dry fit is nice and tight and slabs don't open up when the the tang is inserted. Just going to square up the front so the guard will fit flush. This is my first attempt at mortised handles. My question is this. How should the seam line(where the two handles meet)look when I finish the handles? Both slabs are flush now. I looked at some pics on websites but they only show the knives from a side view. I would like to see one from the top or bottom view. Any suggestions on finishing and/or a site that has pics of the top or bottom will be appreciated.

Thanks,
rhettfcr

 

[Fox]

Rhett, you might try Terry Primos' site:
www.primosknives.com/articles/mortised_tangs/mortised_tangs_1.htm

 

[Mike Hull]

You will be able to see the seam, but it will be barely noticable. If everything is flat that is.

 

[primos]

Fox,
Thanks for the plug.

rhettfcr,
On lighter colored woods you will see a bit of seam. The only top and bottom shots I can think of are of this one handled in Thuya Burl.

You can see a bit of seam in the photos.

One darker woods like African Blackwood, you can make the seam pretty much invisible. The Ring Gidgee in the tutorial had a virtually invisible seam.

On blonde woods like Maple, and on things like white bone, ivory, etc. you will see the seam. With stained Maple, you can hide the seam pretty good. I've done dark colored linen Micarta, dark colored Delrin, and dark colored Corian, where the seam was completely invisible.

It's okay and expected for a seam to show with some materials. Just try to keep the seam straight and centered.

 

[rlinger]

I was trying to understand why one might want a handle like that and seeing the one by Primos explains it to me. That's pretty slick.

I think I might like doing one sometime using a very thin maple spacer between the two scales. That should be sharp and it would eliminate seeing any line between scales.

Roger

 

[rhettfcr]

thanks for the responses and pics. This does help me out a bunch. I have tried different methods for the hidden tang and, so far, I am very happy with the mortise method. I did follow Terry's tutorial. Man, what a great help it was. Seems like each time I view it, I see something else on one of the pics or paragraphs that I had missed. Again, thanks for the responses.

rhettfcr