Hidden tang via stock removal

[Busto]

I have a piece of AEBL I could use. I'll do that. Picked up some needle files last night so I should be good to go. Thanks busto

Anytime Amigo....that AEB-L will work just go slow make the piece larger than the handle then grind and sand down to match the handle shape. Refer back to that WIP thread as you go for fitting and don't be afraid to grind one edge side of a flat file smooth so you don't take off to much material when you round the slot for the radius on the ricasso.

 

[Justin Schmidt]

Will do man. Now I have a better understanding of whatI'm doing so as long as I go slow it should go a little smoother

 

[Justin Schmidt]

Well I ground out a new blank.

Ground the bevels, and began to slot a .250 g10 as a guard.

Somehow I still have a gap between the g10 and the tang.

I went slow, and used needle files to cut the slot. The files were actually thicker than the 7/64 (I think) drill bit I used for the holes.
If anyone has tips I sure would appreciate it. I was thinking of getting some black food coloring and mixing it with gflex to seal that gap.
Or maybe I'll just have to use a smaller drill bit?

 

[Busto]

Did you heat treat and do a final polish of the Ricasso to final dimension?

How thick is your blade material did you use calipers to measure after grind thickness? If you have more grinding and polishing no sense trying to fit the guard until you are finished. Any ricasso material you take off now will enlarge that gap. Smaller Drill bits for sure. Measure the thickness of the Tang and the width of the slot one is under size(tang) one is over size(slot) this will tell you what drill size to use and how much you can file to get a tight fit.

 

[Justin Schmidt]

No I guess I got ahead of myself again. I haven't final sanded the blade and riccasso after I heat treated it. I grabbed some very thin coping saw blades to use to help slot the guard. Hoping the work on the next one.
Still don't have a set of calipers to measure everything properly.

 

[Justin Schmidt]

Alright fit the blade and riccasso sanded. Idk how high of a grit y'all go but 220 grit seems just fine to me. Went up to 800 on one side and actually preferred the 220.
And here is where I stopped before daddy duty called. So close.

Gonna have to square those shoulders up.
But I gotta say I am enjoying the process of the hand work.

 

[T.Saslow]

Use the Micarta for a Guard. Have you drilled for the pin hole yet? One Trick I have used is to Mix up Epoxy and fill the cavity with the mixture....HOWEVER before you get carried away make SURE that you WAX the Tang or use Vaseline on the tang so once the tang is in place and the epoxy is set up you can pull the tang out! This is an old trick I have used with "Acraglas" on handles and on Rifle Barrels when making a Bedding Block for the rifle.

Busto: I have heard of this trick a few times and it sounds like a really good way to get a decent fit. The part that has always confused me however is how to clean out the cavity so you can get good adhesion with the final fit/ glue up. How do you go about getting the left over Vaseline or wax out? Maybe I'll try this next time I do a hidden tang, thanks for reminding me if this!
-Tanner

ETA: nevermind, I kept reading and found the answer. Thanks for the tip, really clever

 

[Willie71]

Alright fit the blade and riccasso sanded. Idk how high of a grit y'all go but 220 grit seems just fine to me. Went up to 800 on one side and actually preferred the 220.
And here is where I stopped before daddy duty called. So close.

Gonna have to square those shoulders up.
But I gotta say I am enjoying the process of the hand work.

A Bruce bump file guide really shines for this step. While not cheap, the time savings pay for it by the second knife,

 

[Justin Schmidt]

Yeah I'm beginning to see it's importance. It's on my short lost of things to get.
I did just see that aldo has some .130 15n20 so I'm hopingbthe thicker stock will make life a bit easier when I order some next month

 

[Justin Schmidt]

Had to take a break for a couple of days do to family issues. But I'm back.
So the original guard had too much gap so I thought I'd be slick and slap a spacer on top of it. Yeah that didn't work out. Had to start with a new one.

The first one had 7/64 sized holes drilled in it. Went down to 3/32 still too thick so I had to start over again and used a 1/16 bit. Much bigger PIA because even a needle file wouldn't fit in. So it was a VERY SLOOOOOW process. But I got it fit up.

Shaping the guard...

Excuse the cluttered work area. I have one bench for my grinder, drill press, bandsaw, vise and this small free section.

And this is my primitive jig to hold the guard in place while the jb weld sets up.

This has been fun so far. Can't wait to use some 416 next month for guard material.
So far I prefer this over full tangs

 

[Willie71]

Well done! Perserverence paid off here. Keep trying until you get it right, rather than saying “good enough.”

 

[Justin Schmidt]

Thank you. It's been a test of my patience