Scales popping off full tang construction

weo

weo

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Sep 21, 2014
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Hello all. Dave Lisch pointed out that I had (hopefully not still have) the habit of making my knives a bit on the thin side. I use corby bolts to attach the scales and hollow out the tang and scales. However, due to the thinness of these earlier blades, the scales have pooped away from the tang at the ricasso, which is a perfect place for grit and rust to get in.

Is there a fix for this other than turning it into a hidden tang?

Thanks.

as always
peace and love
billyO
 
Bolsters are the only way that I know of to prevent scales from separating from the tang back to the first rivet. Epoxy doesn't have the strength needed to prevent separation at the front of the scales. Correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Don Hanson III said:
This is usually the cause.

Best to start with thicker stock & taper tang & distal to point.
Click to expand...

Or don't forge so close to final thickness....
But other than putting a one piece, milled bolster (no experience with this) is there another fix?
 
Are you determined to fix them? Are these early knives you made yourself or are coming apart in use by others (whether they were gifted or sold).

Bolster wouldn't need to be 1 piece. A piece on each side, pinned together to stiffen that critical junction.

Option 2: Forge weld additional thickness to the tang, reprofile, heat treat, etc.

Option 3: Hidden tang

Option 4 (My favorite): If they don't belong to someone else, throw them in that drawer in your toolbox that collects junk and forget about them. If they do belong to someone else, still do that but make them replacements.

That's what I'd do but I'm incredibly unsentimental about things.
 
Thanks for the ideas, John. It's not one that has left my possession, I was planning on keeping it for myself to use and as a show-and-tell piece to try to hopefully solicit business. I really like how the damascus pattern looks, what the scales look like and the dog's paw pin I made.

I'll probably do option #4 as I'm inherently lazy by nature, and then when I'm looking for things to do (yeah, right) I'll probably try my hand at putting a bolster on.

I was hoping one of you had a magical quick fix....

Again, thanks

~billyO
 
If it's damascus and I liked it - is that a billet you made? I think I might remove scales, and put a bolster on to stiffen the front of scales. Look good, and work like a champ. After it's done, it'll look like you planned it that way {g} Don't throw a good Damascus blade away - send it to me and I'll do the bolster work.
 
Yeah. Bolster is not hard at all, if you can get things flat. The hardest part is fitting the scales to the back of the bolster assuming you want to retain the original ones and you don't have any wiggle room in the profile.
 
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