Shaping handle on knife with full guard?

Mr. Bad Example

Mr. Bad Example

Joined
Dec 4, 2009
Messages
475
OK, this is a re-handle of my CS Trailmaster Bowie, but I'll be eventually facing the same problem with my own Bowie project.

I have the full-size brass guard reground and polished--it is a very tight fit to the tang.

I have the rabbet cut in my two slabs of Iron wood and both mating surfaces sanded to 800 grit and ready to mount.

Now, my question is, how do I go about shaping the handle w/o destroying the guard? I've searched the threads and looked at all the tuts I can find and none seem to address this issue of a knife with a large guard.

All suggestions welcome!
 
Erik Fritz said:
finish the handle befare applying it to the tang
Click to expand...

Well, yes, that did cross my mind--I guess my concerns were the fitment to the guard. If that's the way it's done, then I suppose one would need to temporarily join the two slabs to do the shaping.

Any other ideas?
 
I would permanently join the two halves and when the time comes to mount it just mount it as a typical hidden tang with a solid grip block. You can fit it up as close as you can before mounting, but unless your rabbets/tang slot are very precisely cut there may be a tiny bit of mis-alignment when you do the final mount. I would leave the grip a hair over-size to account for this. Next time you might leave certain areas of the guard unfinished until after the final mount, then carefully flush everything up afterwards.
You are now venturing into the realm where some makers like to use alighnment pins so everything can be fitted precisely before the permanent mount.
 
Shape the guard roughly to shape but not final finish.
Glue everything together.
Finish shaping both together until about 320 grit (careful of not gouging the softer wood).
Carefully tape the wood and finish the guard.
Carefully tape the guard and finish the wood.
Edited: Alignment pins are definitely the next level but I am just starting to try those.
 
Yep, the method when you're making a knife from scratch is, you do the last little bit of guard shaping and the last little bit of handle shaping at the same time.

You're asking a much more difficult question- how do I finish a guard completely FIRST and THEN shape the handle? Well, there's a reason knifemakers don't do it that way- it's tough!

If I were in your shoes, I'd say resign yourself to scratching up the guard real bad as your do the handle, and then plan on re-smoothing and re-polishing it.
 
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