The "Gunflint" Bowie

Looks awesome so far Karl - can't wait to see the fully-finished pics.

Roger
 
Wow Karl, after reading through your thread it's scary how similar so many of our knifemaking procedures are :thumbup:

This is already a beautiful knife ! I can't wait to see what she looks like when finished.



You bring'in this one to Ohio :D LOL :D


Again, I'm lookin forward to getting together ! It won't be long now....... ;)





:cool:
 
Phil Dwyer said:
THANKS soooooooo much for all this Karl!
I have difficulty imagining how to drill for the pins to line everything up spot on. It seems like it would be easy to drill the guard as it is flat with two opposing parallel surface for the front and back sides so drilling would be exactly perpendicular, but how do you line up the handle and drill it? It is already not just a square rectangular block so clamping it up so the drilled holes would be exactly square and exactly in the same lines as the drilled holes on the guard would be hit and miss for me. Also, what size drill bit do you use for what size rod stock?

Thanks again!!!!
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Phil, don't over-think it.
Firstly, I just use - I think I said above somewhere - .625" (5/8) long by 1/16" dowel pins from Fastenal. You can get either hardened O1 or stainless. I use stainless. #52 drill.
It helps to have a threaded tang that you can tighten. I just randomly drill the holes in the guard anywhere they seem to fit.
Press the knife together with the threaded tang and the holes transfer a little circle to the face of the handle block. Lock the handle in the mill and drill perpendicular to the handle face.
You're done.
 
David Wesner said:
Wow Karl, after reading through your thread it's scary how similar so many of our knifemaking procedures are :thumbup:

This is already a beautiful knife ! I can't wait to see what she looks like when finished.



You bring'in this one to Ohio :D LOL :D


Again, I'm lookin forward to getting together ! It won't be long now....... ;)





:cool:
Click to expand...

David, I guess there's only so many ways a person can build a knife. It's not surprising so many of us do things similarly.
See you next week.
 
A quick little walk-through of making the finial.
I've made them in many configurations, slotted for screw drivers, made to fit matching pins in an additional take-down wrench to name a few.
But if one was to not have the exact tool to fit the finial, one wold be in trouble - wouldn't one?
So I came up with one that would utilize an everyday tool - the allen wrench.
I turn a 416 rod and machine in a shoulder that catches the ledge in the finial insert, thus pulling everything together.

CHb-1.jpg


Then I drill and tap a hole in the exterior butt end to receive a stainless 10-32 socket head cap screw. I'm going to silver braze the screw into the butt, and this requires an absolutely CLEAN! surface. So I sandblast both the screw and the finial.

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Then, silver braze them together with 56% silver rod.

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Looks a little messy at first (until I turn it again)

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Here you can see the silver braze. On the first couple I did, I wondered how strong the braze job would be. I was told that the braze joint was STRONGER than the host materials? Really. I guess so. I locked one of my test screws in a vise and tried to turn the screw out. I even had to use a small pipe on the allen wrench and I twisted off the wrench! I broke it off.
Good enough for me.
CHg-1.jpg
 
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A few random shots of the finished knife.
(I like to flatten a small facet and then polish it on the leading edge of a guard like this. I do it with my oval guards as well. I especially like to do it on the hot blued guardsand butt caps. It really makes it dance when the light hits it at a knife show!)

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Karl B. Andersen said:
It is my opinion after making literally hundreds of these knives, and abusing countless numbers, that the pinned guard/handle, threaded tang and finial affixed into a solid position, is the single strongest assembly available for the hidden tang knife.
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What do you mean by pinned guard/handle? I do not see any pins in this build. Did I miss something?

Thanks for the WIP it is so informative.
 
That turned out just terrific Karl. I really like the contrasting polished / brushed finishes on the guard.

Roger
 
RogerP said:
That turned out just terrific Karl. I really like the contrasting polished / brushed finishes on the guard.

Roger
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Roger, I did that on all but one of my JS knives, the hot blued one turned out especially nice. (They were ALL take-downs, too!)
 
Karl, what kind of comments have you had from users of this style handle? Specifically about the flat sides transitioned to the round with a definite edge, rather than blended in. Without having handled one, it seems that edge could either be a "hot spot" or could help "index" the blade with different grips. Either way, a VERY beautiful handful of knife!
 
As usual Karl, Very sweet. I agree that this style of construction has been proven over centuries of use. You have taken it to a new level though. Great Job
 
black mamba said:
Karl, what kind of comments have you had from users of this style handle? Specifically about the flat sides transitioned to the round with a definite edge, rather than blended in. Without having handled one, it seems that edge could either be a "hot spot" or could help "index" the blade with different grips. Either way, a VERY beautiful handful of knife!
Click to expand...

Jeff, I've created that transition zone on knives from hunters, fighters, bowies, you name it. I'm not sure how to say this - it seems as if it's more a VISUAL thing, than a PHYSICAL thing. The actual gripping of the knife takes place more in the center of the hand, than where those transitions are. The angle at which the transition from flat to round takes place, is at such an obtuse angle as to barely even be felt. They're not sharp and acute.
Having not seen a picture of one, and not knowing they were there and then picking it up blindly, one might not even notice they exist.
That ARE that subtle.
Quite comfortable.
 
Wonderful WIP, Karl. I definitely learned a few things and thoroughly enjoyed watching this superb knife come together! Thanks for the time and effort you put into this.
 
+1! Thanks for taking the time to put this together! I do have one request though (pretty please :) ). Can you please show a pic of it in your hand for a size reference? The pic with it laying at your feet makes it look like it was built for a giant's hands!
 
tedinatl said:
+1! Can you please show a pic of it in your hand for a size reference? The pic with it laying at your feet makes it look like it was built for a giant's hands!
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Are you talking about this picture? It's not laying at my feet - it's laying on the handrail of my deck.:)

CHi-1.jpg



Here's a picture of it in my hand: and I just have medium/average hands.

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