Tapered Tangs

[Jason Fry]

Yes, drill the holes before the tapering if you're grinding post HT. I typically grind on the platen, holding the blade vertically with a welding magnet, looking at the skinny end of the tang that I've marked center on. Then I true up/flatten on the disk grinder.

 

[ScarFoot]

For those who are tapering post HT, are you generally doing this after or before you grind the bevels?

I drill pin holes and grind bevels before HT and taper tangs after. Depending on handle layout I generally run the taper up to the plunge line because it’s easier to blend the finish there.

 

[Lorien]

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.

View attachment 3154400

Schuyler was a class act, a real mensch and it makes me sad he's gone. He was a hell of a great knife maker- one of the rare 'knifemaker's knife makers'

 

[J Lensmire]

Here’s my first attempt at a free hand taper tang. This is a test blade that I tried a Sorrells Brick for the initial bevel.