New guard slotting machine

I go back to my original posting where I suggested that if you have a mill, there is no reason to not mill your blade and guard to fit.
File work should be practically non-existent. What we see here are a couple ways for people to create their own process.
I can normally mill a guard and fit it precisely to a blade in less time than it takes to drink a cup of coffee.
I've been doing take-down knives since about '99-2000. I have only had a surface grinder for 6 years and a disk sander for less.
I learned to hate and despise guard fitting early on and swore to find a better way.
I did.
I'd rather spend my time making knives than filing things.
 
I'll throw another thing in the mix that's a big time saver for me. Unless it's a front fitted guard (certian Loveless designs) I generally mill the slot longer than necessary so that the round ends don't get in the way of the tang. Fit everything up so the guard has no play in any direction, even though the ends of the slot hardly contact the tang. After soldering you'd never be able to tell a difference in either strength or looks.
Knowing how to hand fit a guard is an important skill, but I still try to avoid it if at all possible.

I'd wager almost every maker fits and attaches their guards slightly differently
 
Geoff Flato said:
I'd wager almost every maker fits and attaches their guards slightly differently
Click to expand...
Absolutely.
Since nearly 9 out of every 10 of my knives are take-down I need as much meat as possible in the fit up, so I tweak my tang/guard slot fit-up to best suit that situation.
I understand what you are saying and see how that would suit soldering.
 
Just out of the work I do, I have probably 6-8 different ways of fitting and attaching guards and bolsters.
I'm of the belief that there is no one right way to do things. Everything in knifemaking is a trade-off, and it's always a matter of picking the right balance for a specific application.
I can definitely see wanting a clean slip fit for takedowns. Even if it functioned fine, a big gap on the back side of the guard would look rather goofy when. The handle is removed.


I've had another idea of using keyway broaches to cut square ends in the guard slot. Haven't gotten anywhere with it yet, but it's on my to do list for the rare free time. Set that up well enough, and side wheel grind the shoulders on the blade with a surface grinder... Should be possible to get a nearly undetectable slip fit if everything goes right
 
Great thread. Makes me want to go start a take down bowie, or something else with a guard. Thanks Karl and Geoff for the video and pictures. Karl, even though you don't really show the "meat" of the process, you do a very good job of explaining everything. I really appreciate the video and learned quite a lot.
 
Thanks guys.

Karl it it true filing the guard is minimal if you spend that time grinding the tang to fit the slot.

What do you do if you radius that tang a bit to much and it does not match the radius in the guard slot?
 
AVigil said:
Thanks guys.

Karl it it true filing the guard is minimal if you spend that time grinding the tang to fit the slot.

What do you do if you radius that tang a bit to much and it does not match the radius in the guard slot?
Click to expand...
I don't know about him, but I've got a few guards that were slotted a bit wide for the tang in with a box of brass drops. I toss them on a shelf but don't throw them out. Occasionally I'll be working on a different knife with a thicker tang, and refit it to that
 
AVigil said:
Karl it it true filing the guard is minimal if you spend that time grinding the tang to fit the slot.
Click to expand...
Grind the tang to fit the slot?
Not sure where you got that idea, or I don't understand you.
The height and width/thickness of where the guard sits and the guard slot are the same.
The area where the guard sits and the ricasso are one continuous plane. They are the same.
If the guard area and ricasso measures .256" I slot the guard .256". Easy peasy.
If the guard will not go on, I will put it back in the mill and take off another .001".
Some times it's easy to see that the only thing keeping the guard from going on is the "square peg in a round hole" scenario.
Since both areas are the same height and width, the guard area on the knife has square shoulders and the guard slot has round shoulders. Those square shoulders on the knife must be relieved a tiny bit to go in the hole. That's the only grinding I might do on the knife area.
I just am very careful to remove only enough from those corners for them to be able to drive onto the guard. It might not happen the first try, so I see which corner is hanging up and slightly remove a tine bit more from the corner of the tang corner.
So, I don't grind the tang to fit the slot, I grind off the corners to mate nicely. I use a worn 120 belt running very slowly to only remove a little at a time.
The guard slot width and sides of the tang remain untouched.
On Damascus knives we always must etch the Damascus FIRST before fitting the guard so it would be impossible/improbable to do any grinding without screwing up the Damascus.
It's rare - very rare - that I overdo removing material from the corners. If I do, it's very little.
This can easily be compensated by punching the corner of the guard slot with a punch on the back side of the guard to tighten that up.


You can watch at 8:00 EXACTLY! what I do.
 
Karl B. Andersen said:
Grind the tang to fit the slot?
Not sure where you got that idea, or I don't understand you
Click to expand...

I got that idea because you grind/file a radius on the tang to fit the radius corners on the guard slot.

Some leave the guard tang with 90* corners and file 90* corners on the guard to fit.

One method you file the tang the other you file the guard.

Thanks for the video
 
AVigil said:
I got that idea because you grind/file a radius on the tang to fit the radius corners on the guard slot.
Click to expand...
To clarify - I thought you meant I filed the tang to fit the slot from side to side. When filing the corners, I'm not fitting the slot. I'm fitting the corners.
If I have a tight slot - I use my mill to open it up a bit.
Fun thread.
 
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