Tapered Tangs

[Judcargile]

From what I have seen here, I think that I hollow out the center before HT and then taper after, primarily because I will plate quench.

I have seen many different ways to fit the scales to a tapered tang.

I have not seen anyone drill the handle material pre taper. That seems like the most straight forward appoach or am I not accounting for something?

 

[Richard338]

If you drill straight holes through parallel slabs, and then set the slabs on an angle, you will no longer have straight holes that can accept a pin.

I did one recently tapering 3/16" down to 1/16". You do drill the tang holes before tapering. For the slabs, I drill through the tapered tang. I add a shim at the butt to compensate for the 1/16" reduction on that side. You do the same on the other side and presto when you hold it all together you'll see straight through.
Here's mine after drilling the holes, and again after a bit of shaping.

 

[Judcargile]

Thank you so much!

 

[Natlek]

From what I have seen here, I think that I hollow out the center before HT and then taper after, primarily because I will plate quench.

I have seen many different ways to fit the scales to a tapered tang.

I have not seen anyone drill the handle material pre taper. That seems like the most straight forward appoach or am I not accounting for something?

If you make lot of tapered tang knives you should make tool to hold blade while you drill holes in scale .You will need ate least 3mm flat ricasso so you can fix knife in tool . It is simple to make that tool

 

[navman]

I make mostly tapered tangs and use either a drilling set up like Natlek or a shim, depending on how large the ricasso is on the blade. I also taper my tangs prior to heat treat, steel dependent. On S90V or 10V, taper pre-HT, AEBL...post HT.