Stag Butt Assembly

Ooo, uuuu, aaaaa......

I think I may have figured out a way to do it. Make a spacer piece for between the guard and handle. Drill the holes in it. Use it to spot/lineup the holes for the guard. Do the same using it for drilling the holes in the handle. Set the spacer/template piece aside (it's all done with its job) and your in business.

Or is it something else?
 
Phil, there's as many ways to accomplish it as there are guys who do it.
Tell you what, drill the two holes in the guard.
Put a ONE short pin in one of the holes that just barely sticks out of the hole. Press it to the handle and it'll make a little indent. Drill it. Put in a full length pin. Put the short pin in the other guard hole and force them together and it'll make the other indent.
that's not how I do it, but it's easy to explain.
Now, of course, the aggravation and challenge is to have both faces PERFECTLY flat, parallel, the holes PERFECTLY perpendicular, identical depths so the pins are interchangeable, and in line with the handle hole.
You have one thing not right, and you've got gaps.
Those pins are NOT flexible.
As well, your guard shoulders need to be perfect, and on the same plane as everything else, or when you tighten the handle to the guard, and if you've got one item not on the same page as the rest, then you've got gaps on one side of the guard shoulder or the other. Or the top or bottom tweaks one way or the other.
The face of the guard, the back of the guard, the guard shoulders on the knife, BOTH guard shoulders, and the face of the handle material ALL need to be on the same plane and perfectly flat.
If your pins are NOT perpendicular - I mean 180 degrees - to these surfaces, when you tighten things up, you've got a row of gaps.
Phil, by the time you've got the first one done correctly, with no gaps for even light to shine through, you'll have busted all the windows out of your shop, shot the cat, and beat dents in your truck hood with a hammer.
 
Phil, I thought I might add that surfacing both sides of my guards, slotting the guards, drilling and fitting my handles to fit the tangs tightly, threading tangs, turning pommel screws, fitting alignment pins, and getting this done with no gaps, regularly takes me 1 1/2 days. Also, like on a bowie, there might be a spacer as well. This complicates procedures and makes perfection of variables even more important.
Then, throw on a butt cap!
Figure guard shoulders, face of guard, back of guard, face of spacer, back of spacer, face of handle material, butt of handle material, face of butt cap - ALL need to be on the same plane. If you have one side of the guard or spacer that is .002" ticker than the other side, you've got a gap. And that variation throws the whole alignment off of the other pieces! then you've got gaps down the whole line.
I'm talking Take-down now, becasue there's no epoxy used to fill gaps.
And I build my fixed assemblies to the same standards as the take-downs.
One of those pins is canted, you're screwed.
 
A mill would greatly simplify the procedure. You could make sure that you are drilling perpindicular to the guard face by indicating the surface before drillng the holes. On a mill, you can drill the holes a certain distance apart within about .001".

This can be repeated on the handle material, and the face of the handle can be milled flat if needed before drilling.

I wish I had a mill!!

Mike L.
 
Karl i like the description the threaded tube in the vice grips tightens the handle up but you still epoxy the shaft correct.
 
logem said:
A mill would greatly simplify the procedure. You could make sure that you are drilling perpindicular to the guard face by indicating the surface before drillng the holes. On a mill, you can drill the holes a certain distance apart within about .001".

This can be repeated on the handle material, and the face of the handle can be milled flat if needed before drilling.

I wish I had a mill!!

Mike L.
Click to expand...
Sure. The pins are the easy part. A drill press will work just fine.
It depends on what you are trying to accomplish that complicates things.
It's the entire "package" of a take-down assembly that is difficult if you truly want tight tolerance fits on all of the components.
 
Raymond Richard said:
Mike, As far as the butt goes Karl should have gone with some desert ironwood so it would have a real brown eye.
Click to expand...

Maybe Karl's had a close look at the bullseye on the south end of a northbound sambar stag and chose a realistic color? :confused::)
 
Karl,

Thanks for all the encouragement and letting me know how easy it will be to do. :eek: I appreciate your confidence. :( A good pep talk every now and then is of great value. :D

Oh and that's, "those guys are too much for TV!" ;)

All the best, Phil
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top