Knife help - how to fit a guard

[sledgemeister]

Hi knife gurus out there, first off let me say I am not trying to make a politically correct anything, I need advice on making a guard for a knife blank I have brought.
see below

I plan to use Tasmanian Hardwood for the scales and I will use brass to to pin them on, the little knob bit on the end I intend to grind off as I dont like the look of it.
I would like to put on a brass guard or even a copper one however I am unsure how to do so as I have never done so before. Is there any literature about to say or show how to make and attach?
Yes I am a knife newby!!
any help appreciated

 

[rogerpjr]

The knife blank you have wasn't intended to have a guard, just a metal (usually brass) bolster pinned in place (the two small vertical holes) at the end of the handle material, but you don't need to do it that way. You can take two pieces of brass, or whatever you want to use, of the thickness you want and solder (silver solder is best) them in place. You can pin them on by drilling holes through the material to match those in the blank. Then slightly countersink them on both faces. Put the pins in the holes and peen them to fill the countersinks. Then smooth off the excess material. Be sure the material you use is square where it will meet the handle scales so you get a close match. It would be possible to make a guard that slips over the blank from the bottom and then either solder or pin it in place, but it will take some careful work to be sure it fits tight.

 

[paulvallandigham]

YOu can put a one sided guard, or finger stop on that knife, by taking guard stock, cutting a slit from one end into it, the width of that blade, drilling holes in the thick sides of the guard material for the pin holes, pin it, and then shape the end that extends down below the edge to whatever shape you desire . That can keep you from injuring yourself by accidently letting your fingers slide forward past the bolster and onto the blade. With that long pointed shape to the blade, you or someone will want to stab something with it. That is a good way to have that accident. A Half Guard, as they are sometimes called, or as I prefer to call them, a finger stop, can be a very handy design addition.

First decide on the shape you want on that handle. Then choose some thick brass stock, or aluminum, or silver, or steel, or whatever, for the bolster/finger stop. If you are going to drill holes for the pin holes already in the blade, you want the guard to be at least 1/4 inch thick, and probably even larger. That is often why some knife makers will use aluminum for this purpose- you can get the added thickness, without adding a lot of weight to the knife.

If you want that knife to be better balanced in your hand, you might consider reshaping the back end of the tang so that you can put some kind of endcap on the tang, to add weight, and even length to the handle, so that you can balance that blade at the bolster/finger stop. Its fun to see people's reactions when you hand them such a big knife, and they find it is not blade heavy at all.

 

[sledgemeister]

Thanks for the info and ideas.
I like the idea about the finger hole paul I can see the merit in that a great deal, I have no wish to become a digitless person quite yet. Its got me to thinking about the weight issue as well for a little balance, I was thinking if I have a finger hole then handle grip will not be much of an issue as previous thought, I might try and get some thick copper bar stock from a scrap merchant and make the whole thing out of it, copper will certainly add weight to the handle and should look a little different from the norm, after all its my first go at all of this and something of an experiment. I shall update as the project entails, after all I have to get it past our dicey custom dudes first.
thanks all.

 

[paulvallandigham]

MY preferrence would be aluminum, since it is so much lighter in weight, than copper, and both are about equally as soft to work. I was not suggesting a finger ' hole ", but a finger stop, or half hilt as they are sometimes called. This is an extension of the bolster at the bottom of the knife, where the edge of the blade nears the handle. There are knives made with a bulky piece large enough to cut a big hole in them for your index finger, but I think they destroy both the lines, and balance of a fine, long blade like yours. Just my $.02.

 

[BlackNet]

that should be quite simple if you have the right tools for it.

what you want to do is made a slot guard like this

and drill 2 pin holes in it where the front 2 holes are already located at. Then you just glue it in place then peen the pins at the same time and shape on the belt sander.


=- OR -=


the other option is just use metal bolsters and not a true guard.

2 sections of metal with holes drilled and marked where to cut

then shape them as needed, epoxy in place with the pins thru.

epoxy one side of the handle in place and drill the pin holes. epoxy the other side and drill the pin holes using the holes from the first scale and the frame.

then belt sand to shape, put the pins in the handle, peen them or screw (if you are using corby's) and do the final sanding to fit.

except dont sand to much after you peen the pins in the metal as they will start to show. To work around this you could use mosaic pins and NOT peen them in place but just sitting there. If you use good glue like loctite 324 speedbonder, loctite E-120HP or golf shafting glue you are in no danger of it coming off anytime soon.

Ed