Tapered Tangs

J

J Lensmire

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 30, 2021
Messages
248
To all who taper tangs, two questions.
Pre Heat Treat or Post?
Minimum stock thickness you feel is advantageous?

I have a few blade shapes that I feel definitely could benefit from a tapered tang. The one pictured below as an example.
OAL - 6.75” Edge - 2.75”
Stock- 9/64” (3.5mm)
Thoughts?
IMG_1681.jpeg
 
It depends. If it is a steel that is at high risk for warpage like AEBL...post HT. Most others pre.

As far as weight or balance advantage...sure, but more so a way to showcase skill. I even taper the tang on .090 thick stock...just because I can.
 
I almost exclusively use 14C28N at this time, due to cost, as I’m still working on my skills. So my thought was to do Post HT.
I’ll give it a try and post results.🤞
Thanks everyone for your responses.
 
There are two (somewhat related) things to watch when executing a tapered tang that can result in annoying flaws. Does the transition happen too close to the scale, so that the front edge of the scale is just thinking about lifting away from the tang? Did tapering the tang create scratches that will appear in front of the scale, or a gap to the scale from smoothing that area?
 
My blades and handles are all fully hardened so I taper after hardening. That taper transition tends to warp, so leaving full thickness helps to keep the knife handle area straight.
A lot of my full tang knives are about .160 - .170. After tapering, the butt end is about .040.
 
Richard338 said:
There are two (somewhat related) things to watch when executing a tapered tang that can result in annoying flaws. Does the transition happen too close to the scale, so that the front edge of the scale is just thinking about lifting away from the tang? Did tapering the tang create scratches that will appear in front of the scale, or a gap to the scale from smoothing that area?
Click to expand...
I run the taper past the front of the scale so there is no gap. I finish the taper with a A45 Gator belt after the 80 grit taper.
There are no scratches.
 
I hollow grind then rough taper the handle prior to heat treatment. After heat treatment I final taper with 60 grit on a 12" 2HP Burr King disc grinder. Then I put blue layout die on the handle and check it for flatness with a 120 grit disc grinder. As my old, departed friend Schuyler Lovestrand once told me, "Nothing gets a tang flatter than a disc grinder." (unless you have a surface grinding machine of course)

It makes sense to me to remove most of the metal prior to heat treatment then do the final tapering after heat treatment - uses less abrasives that way.

City-Knife.jpg
 
Post HT to decrease the chance of warping. If the stock is thick enough to make a knife out of, it’s thick enough to have a tapered tang. I often taper down extremely thin.
 
For those who are tapering post HT, are you generally doing this after or before you grind the bevels?
 
As someone who forges most of the knives I make, I always taper the tang before HT. The reason for this is that I have already roughly forged in the taper, and flat surfaces are always easier to drill accurate holes through (which is a process that must be done pre HT).
I'm assuming those who do stock removal drill the pin holes before tapering the tang, right? For myself that's not really possible, but it definetly seems like a simpler process as with my method I have to calculate/estimate the correct angle for drilling.
 
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