Ring Guard Bowie Progression

[TekSec]

Hey, I like the radius attachment! Never thought of doing it that way :thumbup:

 

[Jon Brand]

Kyle I'm surprised you still have hair to shave off.. at this rate.

 

[John M Cohea]

Fantastic stuff Kyle:thumbup:I really like the plunge fixture you made. I may have to consider making something like that myself!

 

[Kyle Royer]

Hi Everyone!

I had a fellow knifemaker ask me to show the jig I made a little better so here are a couple extra pictures of it.

Be sure to only use J-flex belts, because they are the only ones that can go around a corner that sharp. Also use a very slow speed.

I have ground the Crown in the spine of the blade.

Now I've hand sanded the blade another grit to 320 grit.

Here I have shaped the choil area.

Now I have marked out where I want the clip to be ground to.

In this picture I have ground the clip and will now use EDM stones to refine it.

I have used the EDM stones in 220, 320 and 600 grit in this picture.

Today I am working on the most difficult part of this knife, The Ring Guard.

 

[Kevin Jones]

Really like the blade profile, especially the clip.

Good luck on that ring guard.

 

[Kyle Royer]

Hi Everyone,

In this picture I have surface ground the front of the guard.

I have drilled the ring out with a couple drill bits working the size up from 3/4" to 1".

A close up of the hole.

Now I've heated the tang and ricasso of the blade to about 500 degrees Fahrenheit to soften the steel and make it less prone to brake at the tang when chopping hard.

Here I've cut off some of the big chunks of metal that we don't want.

Now I've refined the ring with the grinder.

A little more refinement.

Now that the tang and ricasso have cooled down I will file the ricasso to fit the guard against.

Now that I've filed around the ricasso I have ground the rest of the tang to the final taper.

 

[Kyle Royer]

Here I've used the Dremel tool and files to refine the area of the ring that my scribe is pointing to in this picture.

I have marked out the area to be slotted for the tang on our ring guard in this picture.

Now I have drilled holes in the guard that I will connect with a file.

In this picture I've connected the holes to make a rectangle and have squared up the ends for a tight fit over the tang.

I did small bevels on the ends of the slot and fitted the guard up to the blade and I have a great fit.

Now I'll start working on the spacer.

I've fitted the spacer and have moved to working on the second guard that will be a clam shell without a ring. In this picture I have surface ground the piece that will be the regular clam shell.

I have repeated the drilling/slotting process and have fitted the regular clam shell guard in this picture.

That's all for today and yesterday. Thanks for looking!

 

[Sam Salvati]

Kyle, that is awesome!

If you don't mind my asking, but won't the clamshell or the ring guard be loose if you fit them both right up to the shoulders of the blade?

 

[xaman]

Yikes! This is a highly involved process, thanks so much for taking the time do show us. It's fascinating!

 

[bobbywett]

Fantastic stuff KyleI really like the plunge fixture you made. I may have to consider making something like that myself!

I am with you on that one John.....if you followed Kyle on the Sub-hilt fighter series on these forums and youtube....you can see it in action. Looks like a pretty simple design...but oh so effective. :thumbup:

 

[Ken Hurst]

BOBBY / Kyle --- I'd like to see the video. Can you direct me to the proper web site/address please ?

 

[John M Cohea]

BOBBY / Kyle --- I'd like to see the video. Can you direct me to the proper web site/address please ?

Ken, just go to You Tube and do a searck for Kyle Royer and it will bring up links to the videos. I believe there are 12 segments all together.Very interesting to watch!

 

[bobbywett]

Ken,

As john said, just visit youtube and type "Kyle Royer" .

 

[TekSec]

Very nice fit! It always looks so much easier when somebody else is doing it

 

[John M Cohea]

BOBBY / Kyle --- I'd like to see the video. Can you direct me to the proper web site/address please ?

I just stumbled across this. On Burt Foster's Virtual Knife Show website he has all the videos in line for people to view.
Here is the link: http://www.virtualknifeshow.com/index.php?id=89

 

[Kyle Royer]

Kyle, that is awesome!

If you don't mind my asking, but won't the clamshell or the ring guard be loose if you fit them both right up to the shoulders of the blade?

Hi Sam,

The guards have to be able to be taken off or you could not take the ring guard off and put on the clam shell guard. They fit into place and won't get wobbly and even if they did become a little wobbly over time the line-up pins would not allow the guard to move. I hope this helps with your question.

Very good question by the way.



Thanks for posting the link to the Progression Video John.

 

[Kyle Royer]

Hi everyone! I hope you had a pleasant weekend.


I have cut the two pieces of damascus for the frame with my band saw and have put them on the surface grinder magnet in this picture.

Here I've surface ground the frame pieces down to about 3/16".

This is a pattern of the handle I made from the sketch that I will follow.

Now I've refined the damascus frame pieces a little and have cut out the 30 thousandths thick Stainless Steel for the frame liners.

Here I have drilled line-up pin holes in the frame and liners. I have also numbered them. I still have to drill line-up pin holes for the rear damascus bolsters but I won't do that yet.

This is the bolt I'll use for the tang.

Now I've forged the head of the bolt flat, drilled two holes in it, cut a small groove in it with the Dremel Tool and have pinned it onto the tang. I used two pins on this knife because I don't want the bolt to swivel like on most of the other knives. The reason being because of the handle design and how the final nut should come out directly in the middle of the handle.

In this picture I've put the handle frame together.

Now I'll make the pommel nut out of this piece of W twist damascus.

 

[Kyle Royer]

I have drilled a hole in the end of the damascus and am ready to tap it with a 10-32 tap(10 being the size and 32 being how may threads per inch).

I have put a bolt in the damascus piece and have rounded it out a little.

Now I'm working the piece down with the lathe.

Now that I have the piece at the proper size I'll use files to shape it as in this picture.

I have finished shaping the pommel nut, sanded it to 1200 grit and have drilled a 1/16" hole in it that goes about 7/8 the way through for the take-down feature.

Here I have heated the piece up to 1500 degrees Fahrenheit and have quenched it in oil to harden it.

I have tempered the piece with the torch to about 500 degrees Fahrenheit to take some of the hardness out.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Big Rick]

Kyle, now I can see how much time and effort goes into one of your knives. Fantastic threads!!!!

 

[untamed]

Thanks for sharing! Threads like these are so awesome: not only are they informative, it's like an adventure unfolding before your eyes!