My first Bowie/present for a friend WIP (fingers corssed)

Well I started working on a new guard tonight and here is the reason(s) why:

I don't see hitting it with a hammer doing much simply because I gave it several whacks already with a mini sledgehammer and it didn't do a damn thing so I don't see it closing up the gap much. Stacy, I know where you're coming from with the idea that it's most likely going to be a display piece I know me and it's not going to matter. If my name is going on something it's going to be a fully functional knife and be made to the best ability I can I can't settle for "good enough" I have to be able to say "that's the best I can do" and if it still looks like crap that's fine I'm far from a good maker but at least it's the best I could do with my skill set. I'm guessing most folks who make Bowies aren't anticipating them being used at the Alamo or getting much of any fighting use but the ones that do don't settle because just they're not going to likely be used in a life or death situation.

If this thing just lat out isn't going to work and I'll be fighting it the whole way and/or I just try to make it work and hope the JB weld looks good enough I'm always going to wonder "what if" if I didn't at least attempt to get a better fitting guard on there. Maybe it won't fit exactly perfect and there's a good chance it won't but maybe it'll be a better fit than what I'm going to try fighting and if it just flat out doesn't work I'll still have the original guard to monkey with. What I need to do is come up with an easy way to "marry" the new guard to the old one so I can not have to try freehand filing a perfect oval.
 
Tapering a hidden tang doesn't have to be a super exact process, unless you're doing a fancy framed handle.

That guard can be fit up, but it will take some determination. The thing you have to keep in mind, is that if you hammer on it enough to close the gap (especially since it's a relatively small slot) you are going to be displacing material. That means you're going to create lumps and ripples on ALL surfaces of the guard.

Think of it this way--- say you have a hole cut in the center of a piece of typing paper. If you push on the outside edges of the paper to close up the hole, you'll create dips/waves/ripples in the paper.

That isn't the end of the world, it just has to be resurfaced... surface grinder, or careful grinding on a disc or belt, or hand lapping on a granite plate or piece of glass with sand paper. Whichever, you'll just have to get it flat again.

You'll have to hit it HARD if you just whack it with a hammer. If you can control the pressure/impact, you'll get away with less oomph... The best way to do that in this case, is to clamp your guard down on one side, VERY securely in a vise. Then you can use a heavy punch and direct your blows right what you want them.

It will still need to be resurfaced, but a little less than if you just beat the piss out of it with a sledge. But most importantly, it will direct your impact to the necessary places to squeeze that slot down.

If you had some 416 I'd probably say start over. But if all you have is ATS34 in 5/32, that's not a great alternative to trying to fix the guard you've already got.
 
Fletch, if I remember correctly your in the parssippanny / Morristown area, I'm just outside Hackettstown...your more than welcome to come up to the shop and we'll get a guard squared away. Shoot me an email if you wish..skcustomknives@gmail.com

Shawn
 
Do you think a brass guard would look good? I found the five brass guards I've made much more forgiving than the three stainless ones I've made. It's softer, so easier to file, and more malleable so a small gap responds better to the hammer.
 
S.Knowles said:
Fletch, if I remember correctly your in the parssippanny / Morristown area, I'm just outside Hackettstown...your more than welcome to come up to the shop and we'll get a guard squared away. Shoot me an email if you wish..skcustomknives@gmail.com

Shawn
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Dude... even if you are not in that area, you'd be a fool to pass up an offer like that!!!!!! :eek:

Very nice of you Shawn!!! :cool:
 
S.Knowles said:
Fletch, if I remember correctly your in the parssippanny / Morristown area, I'm just outside Hackettstown...your more than welcome to come up to the shop and we'll get a guard squared away. Shoot me an email if you wish..skcustomknives@gmail.com

Shawn
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Shawn I moved down towards Clinton area but still not far enough where I won't take you up on that. Email sent sir and thank you. I learn so much off these WIP's which is why I like doing them on projects I'm new to because this is such a great community of helpful people. This morning I decided to give Stacy's and Nicks advice a shot and peened the face of the guard just for laughs. Definitely closed the gaps and until I can possibly get up to Shawn's place it'll keep me tinkering when I can get the time in. Either way I can always order another if Shawn and I just cant get together for whatever reason and I'll be no worse off than I am right now, or order stock to make one.
 
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S.Knowles said:
Fletch, if I remember correctly your in the parssippanny / Morristown area, I'm just outside Hackettstown...your more than welcome to come up to the shop and we'll get a guard squared away. Shoot me an email if you wish..skcustomknives@gmail.com

Shawn
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your a champion mate, i dont know you but that offer is super cool !!!!!!!
 
AVigil said:
This might help some... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6RZHnBhYhQ
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Thanks I did watch this after you posted it.

Today however I had the pleasure of spending a bit of time at Mr. Knowles shop and he was a HUGE help in getting this thing closer to completion. I went up there with parts in hand hoping to get some clarity on getting this thing looking good. To make a long story short the guard is in the garbage. We spent the afternoon working on a new guard (meaning I watched a lot :D) but learned a ton of things about laying it out, cutting it out, fitting it, tapering the tang, even drilled out the block for the handle while I was there. From here it looks like I just need to get a bit of shop time in to polish up the face of the guard and finish hand sanding the blade to a finish I'm happy with. Which may only be in the 600-800 grit range. So this thing might get moving along before Christmas. I even got an invite back to get everything glued up and get started on the shaping at his shop which will probably go a bit faster than me doing it all with files.

Here are some pics of what got done, instead of doing just a flat guard she should look a lot sexier thicker, shaped and with some black spacers in it.


Here's all the pieces laid out thickest to thinnest with black spacers in between:




And this is what it will roughly look like sandwiched together.



All said and done (assuming I don't screw it up) I should look a lot better than I even anticipated. I just wanted to give a big thank you to Shawn for offering to help and having me up to his shop so he could put his foot to my ass and get me over this hump I can't say thank you enough :thumbup:
 
Great job!!! sounds like a great experience overall. The members here are amazing. I have learned so much, and have received so much help.
 
Willie71 said:
Great job!!! sounds like a great experience overall. The members here are amazing. I have learned so much, and have received so much help.
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Yep, I swore off most of my posting on the internet for a few years, but this subforum got me back on the keyboard. Great place.




Nice job so far on the Bowie OP! I'm learning knife making myself at the moment as well. Every single knife I make is a whole new learning process. I've learned at least one or two major tricks on every single blade I've made so far.
 
Anyone remember this thread lol?

I FINALLY managed to get some decent shop time in a bit the other day and a few hours tonight. I'll post pics tomorrow but tried something different as I have been doing the hand sanding. And by different I mean something I never really thought about doing but sure it's been done before. I hand rubbed the bevel to 800 grit, took the flat to 1500, and polished the clip up to 8000. This is all on one side mind you I still need to do the other side. Hopefully I'll be able to tackle that a bit more soon and get the handle on this thing and move towards completion. I'm so far out on this maybe make it a St Patrick's day present or something hopefully :D. I'll try and post up pics tomorrow when I have some good light.
 
I was just wondering how it was coming along. Glad you are still working on it. I look forward to the photos.
 
Okay pics or it didn't happen right?

My phone seems to want to take very clear pics of everything except the blade but here is what we got out of it.






Maybe if I set it down somewhere and zoom in a bit on it would help but I'm pretty happy with how the finish looks in person
 
Okay I think if I don't move on I'll obsess over this thing as it is after finishing up the other side I decided to take the polishing cloths out and brought the flats up to 4000. I think it's time to get the handle and guard fitted on this thing soon and get er done. Handle work is probably my favorite part of the process so I'm pretty stoked about getting on to that and working on my first guard. I was short on time so ran outside and just snapped a few pics.







 
Also decided to just clean up the back part of the block I have for this (curly maple) when we drilled the tang out the dust was pretty blue. I'm seeing what looks like a fair amount of brown in there I'm wondering if that will change a bit. I've seen quite a few pictures of some blue curly maple and it was BLUE I;m just hoping that brownish lines will somehow go away?



I'm kinda hoping for a look along these lines:



Also here is the piece of stingray that I'm planning on using for the sheath inlay. The pics really do it no justice this thing changes like crazy as you move it around.

 
That batch of blue has a sort of UV blue glow to it. It isn't the in-your-face looking neon blue in some dyed wood. When sanded down smooth and buffed it should have a nice blue tone. It will be much more distinct than the rough block looks.
 
*cough* *cough*

Sorry had to blow the dust off this thread.... Okay getting warmer out, got my shop cleaned up and I got the urge to get back in it and finally finish this thing soon. So when we last left our insanely slow working hero he was getting ready to assemble and just wanted some input as I was looking at Phillip Pattons WIP thread (which is awesome). I was planning on gluing this whole thing up in one shot. Cut the shape out on the handle slap the guard and spacers on with JB weld. Fill the hole in the handle up about three quarters of the way with Acraglass and use Phillips rubber band method to set everything in one shot. I don't know if it matters or if there is a benefit to doing the guard first then doing the handle. I REALLY slacked on this thing (obviously) but time to get off my butt and get back in the shop over the next few days. But I've come this far for this long I don't want to screw it up after all this time.
 
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