Show and tell on some mosaic integrals. Ask me how I did things, or give me advice!

Yes, I use a filing jig (the Bruce Bump carbide one) right now. I've done it with no guide a lot in the past, just a lot of filing and checking. To use the guide, it helps a lot to do the filing when the bolster sides are pretty flat, to help the guide clamp up, and then back the guide up by standing the works vertical in a vise so the guide sits on the jaws.
Kyle Royer uses a platen like that too- I've often thought about making one, but I don't have a lot of difficulty just shaping with the platen so that's what I do. Probably it's an effective way to just do it quick and easy and repeatable!
 
Great work, Salem. They're both lovely.

I have a question: at what point did you drill the pin holes?

Thanks for sharing!
 
They were the last thing I did. Silly of me, as a blowout drill through could be BAD, but I was very careful! It is better to drill, I think, while the blocks are not shaped and still have flat sides. I c-sunk just a tiny bit before inserting the pins and doming them...

Thanks Phillip. I'm a big fan of your work btw!
 
Seems like the best time to drill might be after the tang has bedded, before the handle block is removed. Or maybe not? I'm not sure I've ever bedded a tang before...

Thanks! I really like your stuff too. Your forged handles especially are inspirational. The short sword you did awhile back with the twisted handle was really cool.


Salem Straub said:
They were the last thing I did. Silly of me, as a blowout drill through could be BAD, but I was very careful! It is better to drill, I think, while the blocks are not shaped and still have flat sides. I c-sunk just a tiny bit before inserting the pins and doming them...

Thanks Phillip. I'm a big fan of your work btw!
Click to expand...
 
Phillip, indeed it is best to drill after bedding. My routine is: bed, take apart, mark and drill through wood, install, mark through wood with drill press onto tang, remove handle, drill tang. In this case the pins was 1/8", but I drilled the tang with a 3/16" carbide end mill. The tang was a bit hardened from quench, as the bolsters needed to be hardened for contrast.
 
Top notch work Salem, I really appreciate you sharing the pics and process details. Very cool knives! :cool:
 
Salem, a setup like Uncle Al's integral grinder or a setup for a regular grinder like the "billy roll" attachment for the Burr King IIRC would work, I would think. That way you can do some of the "hand sanding" on the platen too. Uncle Al's machine is not cheap but the platen height is adjustable so you can use different sized KMG small wheels. Clamp on a file guide and use the "ears" of the small wheel attachment to stop you at the same spot every time. That is what Ray Kirk was using when I saw him grind an integral at Batsons.
 
Salem, glad I popped back in to the forum. Beautiful work, classic; refreshingly so... Don't have anything else to say about it.

Cheers.

-Eric
Overmountain Knife and Tool
Overmountain.us.com
 
Thanks for answering questions and sharing your techniques- I always learn something good when you pop up on the forums.
 
Thanks guys!
Joe, I have different small wheel options, but here I'm going for a different look than anything but a "waterfall platen" would give me. In the end, a careful hand grinding job is often what I prefer...
Now, when I'm making more workaday stuff, like integral chef knives, then I tend to look for a solid, repeatable, no-fuss and quick method like a small wheel.
 
Salem Straub said:
As for the heirloom fit, I only rough the handle profile out and then drill and broach it. I then bed the tang into it with epoxy, using paste wax as a resist.
After I can remove the handle and reinstall nice and tight, with it fit up I lightly scribe the contour of the bolster onto the face of the handle block.
I go over to the grinder and grind pretty close to the line. Then I finish shape the handle, staying just off of the lines I ground to where the bolster fits up.
I put the blade back in, clamp it vertical in a vise, and with strong light I use a fine mill file and file the wood to a uniform proudness (pride?) around the bolster. I check the handle visually, and adjust with the grinder as necessary, but hopefully just with 220 grit paper and then hand sand on up to 1000. The very front of the handle wood then gets lightly rounded over with 1000 grit paper and buffed for that tiny round corner all the way around.
Click to expand...

I wrap the bolster with 5 layers of electrical tape after fitting the block.
Sand off the top layer while grinding and finish sanding the blade.
Leaves a 4 layer step all around the bolster.
 
Here is a copy of a post I did years ago for a WIP.

erik markman said:
After rounding the bolster to its final shape i placed the blade in my newly made clamp for grinding and filing the back of the bolster square and flat.
It has a slot on the front so I can see if the blade is in the right position and has 2 leathercoverd steel plates inside it that are pushed together by the bolts sticking through the sides. It also has a piece of allthread running through the bottom of the square tube and the plates so they don't drop out. There is a hardened steel plate on top so the file doesn't chew up the surface. It works much nicer than my old clamp wich I will show later.

Foto-UEFBKZQQ-D.jpg


Here you can see the plates clamping the blade.

Foto-YDKD6D6W-D.jpg


After grinding away the bulk of the unneeded steel.

Foto-EIIR8QVG-D.jpg


After filing the back of the bolster.

Foto-SIMTCNCS-D.jpg


Here it is out of the jig, the tang is still almost half an inch thick by a little over 3/4 high, that doesn't come off easily..

Foto-LICQMIQH-D.jpg


Erik
Click to expand...
 
That's really nice! I have made many, just filing with no guide... lots of check/fit. I now often use a carbide file guide while the bolsters still have flat sides. But, your soft vise with hard top plate and 360 degree approach is great. I may make something like that if I find the right moment...
I've often though about making a jig to do this in the mill. In fact, a file guide might work alone to index to the mill vise. I'll try that too soon, and post if it works.
Thanks Eric!
 
I am going to do a WIP on integrals for the ABS forum soon and will post it here also.
I thought about milling myself but it would be difficult for me to mount the blade under my mill because of the distal taper and the bevels.
And my mill is a very small POS. I use it for drilling small holes only.
 
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