Struggling with guard shaping/design, input requested

Hey Paul,

I think she's looking pretty good. Can you snap a photo of the blade with the guard off so we can see the tang shoulders? It looks like you might be able to drop the guard down a smidge (lower it on the vertical axis so the slot drops down a bit. Might have to take a little of the top of the wide tang right there to do it? Maybe you would then have just enough room to work those curves to match up with the ricasso lines? Just a thought, not sure if it'll fly, but maybe....

Otherwise if you started a new guard, looks like you might have to trim the tang a bit so your slot can be not so long, thus leave you more wiggle room to cut in the curves on the guard and get the handle profile to match up with the blade ricasso profile.

All the best, Phil

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Hello, Phil,

Thank you for your input, as I'm still scratching my head as to what specifically I need to do differently. At this point I'm thinking the main problem is with the guard slot/tang shoulders preventing the handle from matching up with the lines of the ricasso, but I'm not sure what else is amiss.

Here are 2 more pics, one with the guard slid back off the shoulders and another with it totally removed. If I could save this one somehow (I put more hours into it than I care to admit), that would be great; if not, some advice on what to do differently the next time would be appreciated.
 

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P J 234 said:
That's funny, Dustin. Do you have any pics, and was yours on purpose or happenstance like mine?
Click to expand...

Sorry, I don't have any pics now. Actually, I just grabbed a flat bar of steel and started grinding. The ricasso end is different but, the shape of the blade is just like yours.
 
The back of the tang shoulders don't have to be the same width as the front. Thus the back of the guard slot doesn't need to be as wide as the front. The disassembled knives I've seen from top makers generally have a pretty sharp tang taper from the initial shoulders down to
the width that continues through the handle.

In your case I'd consider griding down the rear part of your tang shoulders so that they
meet the rest of the tang smoothly instead of at a sharp angle.
 
P J 234 said:
Also James, I'm not totally sure I follow this part...could you clarify a bit:

"Next time, cut the guard slot... etc"

Thanks much.
Click to expand...


Wish I could explain this better. Perhaps one of these gentlemen has a link to a tutorial? Dan said it better than I did, I think.

Don't throw any of it away! The blade and guard are both cool, I just think you'll be happier in the long run if you make a new guard for that particular blade.

The handle has to be wider than the slot in the guard, or the slot will show. So, to cover up that particular slot, the handle would be wider than the ricasso is. That will look and feel weird. (Just my opinion of course! :) )

Or.... you could make a spacer on the back (handle side) of the guard. Cut the slot only as wide as the tang is at that point, the wide slot in the original guard is concealed, no one will ever know. Except you. And us. :D

You will never regret doing it right the first time... even if it takes a couple of tries! :)

I hope that helps!
 
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Thanks gents for the additional help; this stuff is so hard to communicate about over the internet!

If I'm understanding correctly, I should grind away the step in the tang behind the ricasso so that the shoulders (where the guard meets it) go directly into a tang that is the same width (or maybe a slight taper) all the way back to the end. This would allow a small hole in the back of the guard, thus allowing lots of latitude in size and shape of the handle material where it meets the guard...

yes?
no?

If so, I don't really know why I did it this way other than I just didn't know any better. I did read a tutorial that I followed that recommended filing the guard slot so that it was flared out larger towards the back, which seems to be the opposite of what most are recommending here. It also seems to show a somewhat wide tang in the pictures, not unlike how mine looks to me.

http://tzknives.com/articles/GuardFitting.pdf

Anyway, aside from this whole issue of the guard slot/handle width, etc., does the size and shape of the guard fit the blade in your opinion? Again, I was going for a scaled down 'mini' fighter or bowie, as I thought that's what the little blade resembled. For some reason, trying to achieve the correct appearance in a reduced scale has me thrown off as well.
 
The guard looks a tad big, but it may come out just fine by the time you smooth everything up. If not, keep shaping.
 
P J 234 said:
Thanks gents for the additional help; this stuff is so hard to communicate about over the internet!

If I'm understanding correctly, I should grind away the step in the tang behind the ricasso so that the shoulders (where the guard meets it) go directly into a tang that is the same width (or maybe a slight taper) all the way back to the end. This would allow a small hole in the back of the guard, thus allowing lots of latitude in size and shape of the handle material where it meets the guard...

yes?
no?
Click to expand...

Yes, a smaller hole in the back of guard.
 
I reworked the tang and thought I better post a pic this time before I dove in and started another guard. The top shoulder could be cleaned up a little, but does anyone see any issues with how it looks now?

Thanks for the help.
 

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