Tapered tang question

D

DougB2

Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
346
I have a couple knife blanks with tapered tangs. When I install and shape the handle scales, should the outside of the scales be parallel to the taper (still tapered) or should they be parallel to each other? I hope I made sense there.

Thanks!
 
I'm not a knife-maker, but from what I've seen, the scales should be parallel to each other. Seems to make sense; other wise, the grip would be more narrow as you go from the blade to the butt.
 
Tapered tangs usually do not have handle scales. The tapered tang would be inserted into a handle. Like a soild block of wood with a drilled out area for the tapered tang. Then pinned.
 
The handle shape is irrespective of the taper. Take, for example, a nice coke bottle shape on an Adventure Sworn. Its actually fatter at the back end, even with the taper.

Have a look around the fiddleback forge sub forum. You'll see lots of great tapered tang handles.

I'm sorry ... 115Italian 115Italian a tapered tang is absolutely done with scales. You are referring to a hidden tang. The OP is asking about a tapered full tang.
 
Last edited:
Here's a spine shot of a tapered tang with contoured scales.20170523_192202~01.jpg

Here is the same one while gluing it up. You can see the taper, but the slab sides are parallel before shaping...
IMG_20170510_205613_969~01.jpg
 
115Italian said:
Tapered tangs usually do not have handle scales. The tapered tang would be inserted into a handle. Like a soild block of wood with a drilled out area for the tapered tang. Then pinned.
Click to expand...


That’s a stick tang
 
I'm going to posit that while it's not a strict rule but that a knife made with a tapered tang will be stronger.

Why; you ask.

Because the tapered tang requires attention to detail. And that attention to detail will be present across the entire knife's production and a thusly the quality will be higher.

The maker won't pour effort into making the tapered tang; a subtle feature than many users won't see and then drop the ball on other details.

Small details like that add up to a better knife.
 
Ummm completely ignore everything I just said. Mistook stick tang for tapered. I was assuming tapered all around
 
Sonnydaze said:
I'm not a knife-maker, but from what I've seen, the scales should be parallel to each other. Seems to make sense; other wise, the grip would be more narrow as you go from the blade to the butt.
Click to expand...
You can have it both ways.

You can reverse the taper on the scales so as the tang narrows they widen and the feel is consistent or you can let them narrow toward the butt end if that's the feel you're looking for.
 
Thanx, Danke, of course you can shape the handles to your preferred shape after the glue-up. I've owned several beautiful examples from FiddleBack Forge. Andy Roy states that he builds knives with full tangs and tapered tangs, just because folks tend to prefer one or the other.
I believe that one tang design is about as strong as another, at least until you test the knife to complete destruction...at which point I suspect that the full tang will survive a bit longer than the tapered. (Thicker steel is stronger than thinner steel.) I just note this, as Andy Roy's knives are made with the same care and precision regardless of tang shape.
 
There are 2 main reasons for tapered tangs. The first is esthetic - the maker can show off his skill in evenly tapering the tang on both sides of the knife. It is not easy and takes a fair degree of skill. The second reason is that it balances the weight in the center of the blade. By removing metal from the tang you end up with approximately the same amount of metal in the tang as in the blade end. Since the maximum stress the blade sees is in a prying motion, the maximum stress is at the thickest part of the blade, the middle. I prefer the outside edges of the scales to be perpendicular but it is up to the maker. Some like the edges to be perpendicular, some don't.
 
I taper the tangs on all except the smaller of my knives. Just make sure they are flat as well as tapered and the scales are flat as well. The only other thing I do is to elongate the pin holes so the slight angle that the pins will come in doesn’t bind them. I use my Fordom Flex shaft & a Carbide burr to cut out the tops or side that’s closes to the blade or ricasso area so the pins side in smoothly. You could chuck up a Carbide burr in a drill press to, just go easy on the drill press so you don’t give it runout.. I hope this helps...
 
Sonnydaze said:
Thanx, Danke, of course you can shape the handles to your preferred shape after the glue-up. I've owned several beautiful examples from FiddleBack Forge. Andy Roy states that he builds knives with full tangs and tapered tangs, just because folks tend to prefer one or the other.
I believe that one tang design is about as strong as another, at least until you test the knife to complete destruction...at which point I suspect that the full tang will survive a bit longer than the tapered. (Thicker steel is stronger than thinner steel.) I just note this, as Andy Roy's knives are made with the same care and precision regardless of tang shape.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah for sure you can find super high quality blades with straight or tapered and even a stick tang if you're so inclined.

But when comparing various knives cold the taper is a good sign of quality work.
 
Thanks for all of the responses! I'm looking forward to working on the ones I have. Might be a week or two.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top