tapered tang

D

dmarx

Joined
Sep 17, 2006
Messages
59
Okay, another stupid question. I'm starting to work on my first tapered tang, and it dawned on me. How do you drill the darned thing? (the scales) I've searched a bunch of tutorials along with my videos and it's always glossed over. Am I overthinking or do you really need a master decoder ring or something?
 
You clamp(with toolmaker's vise) your blade horizontally(so handle hangs out) at bolster area where both sides are parallel. When you drill overhanging handle. Нou'll need to support it so it won't bend downward when drilling.
 
When I do a tapered tang I usually drillit before I taper it.Seems out of placebut I have found it to be the easiest for me.
 
I too drill the tang before tapering. The question then becomes how do you drill the pin holes in the hande material - along with a whole lot of other questions, like

  • Do you put uniform width handle slabs on and have the whole finished handle tapered or do you taper your scales to give consistent handle thickness.
  • What angle does the guard form with respect to the tapered tang - and how the heck are you going to duplicate it with the handle slabs?
One answer to the drilling problem is to borrow from the hidden tang technique. Just drill the tang hole oversize enough that you can hit it blind. Glue on both scales - drill through for the pin and use enough epoxy to fill any gap left by the oversize hole in the tang. (This actually allows for a little exoansion / contraction give and take.)

The rest of the details are in the hidden compartment of your decoder ring. :cool:

Rob!
 
Go with Alexmin. That is the best way unless you do one with no parallel area at all. I do it his way on a pretty regular basis.
 
In re-reading your post, you ask about the scales. Not the tang. Yes drill the tang before tapering. As to the scales, I fit the scales one side at a time. Cure with your favorite adhesive. Assuming that your scales are perfectly flat. Both top and bottom. I place the handle with the scale down on the mill table. I use a ---get ready for the big secrete---- A round wooden tooth pick under the butt end of the scale. I then move it toward the guard until the blade is level with the table. Think parallel. It usually end up between the rear bolt hole and the thong tube hole. The opposite side is done exactly the same way. As are the counter sunk holes for the bolts. Hope this is clearer than mud! The amount the tooth pic needs to be moved forward is decided by how much taper is in the tang. Sometimes I go over board. To the point of being only a few thousandths thick at the end of the tang. Mike
 
Hah, thank you one and all! You've given me exactly what I was looking for. I figured you had to drill the tang before tapering, but dreaded the thought of putting the same angle on the scales in order to drill them. And without a mill and tooling that would have been a fun project. And, 2 hours of searching failed to reveal the secret compartment. :cool:

BUT, toothpicks??? That's absolutely brilliant!! I would have spent days and not thought of that one. Now I'll spend days chuckling about it.

Next question......... which one of you guys has the "Grand Unification Theory of Everything" figured out? Let's hear it.;) ;)
 
I recently got a drilling clamp, kind of like a vise-grip, for pinning material down on the drill table. This works great for my technique for drilling the holes in the slabs.

I drill the tang before tapering, then cut the slabs to be parallel and flat. I then measure the butt end with calipers and add layers of masking tape to the underside of the handle material until I have packed it out so that the blade center line will be parallel to the drill table.

I will certainly give the tooth pick method a try since it sounds like it might be faster than using multiple layers of tape (or other shimming material).
 
Another variation you can use on your drill press. Cut two pieces of dressed timber about a foot long X 2" X 3/4". Hinge together at one end. Temporarily glue scale to one side of taper with a couple of spots of super glue. Place scale on top of two bits of timber, tang up. Slide a 1/6 to 1/8'' drill bit between two bits of timber at open end. Using your vernier (good metal rule will do) measure the distance from centre of the blade at the ricaso to the bottom face of the bottom piece of timber. Slide the drill bit further in or out untill the hieght at the end of the taper matches. Use the holes in your tang as template. When finished glue on other scale, flip over and repeat going thru holes in first scale, tang and second scale. A sharp tap will release the scales ready for proper gluing with epoxy. Pins shold always be a slide fit. never tap/hammer them in, you will crack your scales.

peter
 
Yeah, the tooth pick thing is a little UN-professional sounding. Haa! I was using a drill bit a little under 3/32", but then you some times hit it when breaking through the back of the material. The tooth pick wont kick out, or damage your drill bit. Another way to do it on a more pro basis, is to make an aluminum jug that will bold down on the blade in front of the guard. Use a plate of alu. at least 9" long. Make two sets of jaws 3/4" thick, the width of the plate, and 1" wide. Drill and tap the plate to accept them. You want them toe look like a file guide used for filling ricassos. Bolt them to the plate so that you can clamp the blade parallel to the drill or mill table. clear as mud!!! I need to make one, but there is no place to buy alu. plate around here! Mike
 
Mike, the two bits of wood eliminate that problem as you can safely drill into the surface of the ramp/jig. When one side has too many holes drilled in it to allow the scale to sit flat, I flip the jig over and use the other face. When that one is stuffed I unscrew the hinge and cut two new bits of timber.

peter
 
Drill before taper. I would like it better otherwise because of thinner steel to drill through but - drill before taper. For scales: I clamp my scales tight to the tapered tang and drill. I do not taper the scales before affixing to tang. I make the difference up in the handle surface grinding phase of the knife making. A horizontal edge grinder works very well for that type chore.

Gauge the tang center portion and perimeter of tang out well before taper grinding. Saves a bunch on belts and time.

rlinger
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