My first Bowie/present for a friend WIP (fingers corssed)

Too big, try maybe 1/8th and peen it like Mr Wheeler does :cool: He just did an entire video series on how he does it (although he uses I think 1/6th pins) :thumbup:

-Paul
 
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Yes too big.
Even 3/16 is on the chunky side but can work if thats the aesthetic you're going for.
 
I can't remember, but he may be using a mosaic pin. In that case, 1/4" will work, but is a bit large.
For plain stock, 1/8" to 3/16" would be better.
 
Yeah I have a mosaic pin that is a star pattern the sheath will also have a stingray inlay with a star in the center of it
 
sjklfh;asf;'a;igjmari;aweokj;ah;jguo;'fj;'kafkavhearpamp['graui.......... Okay so tonight I drilled everything. The tang, the handle for the pin, everything looked good when it went to together. Saw clean through the hole so I knew the pin wouldn't hit the tang I was feeling pretty good about myself. Polished up the front part of the handle where the spacers are and took the handle up to 600 grit planning on having it glued up shortly and finally finishing this thing. Then I went to put the pin in just to see how it fit and it was TIGHT, like barely went in much at all. When I pulled it out I got a chip out right at the edge of the hole :mad:. The chip was still there and I grabbed some wood glue, tweezers, and my optivisor and got it as close as I could to fitting back in place. As of right now it's raised slightly and hopefully the tiny bit of glue I used will hold it.
 
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On any hidden tang handle that is being glued, I ALWAYS make the tang hole larger than the pin ( and usually slightly elongated)....ALWAYS.
That is the only way to avoid the problem you encountered and several other swear word inducing problems. I also never use a snug fit on the rivet. I like what I call a slip fit, where the pin slides back and forth easily.

Use a drop of thin super glue on the chip and let it cure. Let it dry and add a second drop. When sanded out it will probably be invisible. All this is another reason it is good to leave a little sanding room for after handle assembly.
 
Just a mini rant here: I have to say I'm a bit disappointed in buying this pin. I just tried running the 1/4" drill bit through the whole knife assembled and all and it went off without a hitch. So if I was pinning this with a drill bit everything would be great. Since Mosaic pins aren't necessarily cheap I would think that when I spend the money for a 1/4" pin it should fit in a 1/4" hole without me having to chuck it up in my drill press and sanding it down to fit.
 
Well your pin isnt exactly 1/4" and neither is your hole.
Even the tiniest amount undersize or out of round means your pin wont go through nicely.
 
Ta da.



Now dumb question:

When I glue this whole thing up since the handle has been bedded and whatnot when I go to glue it up what's the best way? Should I just coat the tang in Acraglas and slide it on, then put it on the pin and slide that through? When I bedded the handle I poured it all into the handle and then slid the tang in.

Also is it advisable to pit a little glue where the handle and guard meet up? I checked and there is a TINY gap between the handle and guard (I know Stacy is probably nodding his head LOL) but I can't even fit a piece of paper between it. You really have to inspect it (which we all do) and catch it at the right angle. So I'm thinking a little glue in there will make it even less noticeable?
 
When I glue this whole thing up since the handle has been bedded and whatnot when I go to glue it up what's the best way? Should I just coat the tang in Acraglas and slide it on, then put it on the pin and slide that through? When I bedded the handle I poured it all into the handle and then slid the tang in.
Yes, but be sparing...and use slow set resin. The last thing you want is to have the handle refusing to go on the last millimeter and then cure up on you.

Also is it advisable to pit a little glue where the handle and guard meet up? I checked and there is a TINY gap between the handle and guard (I know Stacy is probably nodding his head LOL) but I can't even fit a piece of paper between it. You really have to inspect it (which we all do) and catch it at the right angle. So I'm thinking a little glue in there will make it even less noticeable?

Butter the tang with a light coating of resin and put a light layer on the end of the handle. Dying the resin the color of the handle, or at least a similar shade, will make any gap invisible. Fit everything together and use a 3" long pin made from1/4" steel or brass to make sure all fits. The ends of the pin should be slightly tapered. Once the handle is fully seated and the pin fits right, slip out the test pin, put some resin in the pin hole and on the mosaic rivet, and place the rivet in the handle. Make sure you "clock" the mosaic so a point is exactly at 12:00.

Now, I am going to tell you something you have done a bit wrong, an the probable cause of the chip -
The mosaic pin should be left about 1/4" or more longer than the handle thickness and the ends chamfered a bit to ease insertion. If not...it will make a chip on the wood. It should NOT be sanded to a finial fit prior to glue up. Once you slide the rivet in the handle, you need the extra length to rotate the rivet to clock it. Once the resin is cured, file down the excess and sand the handle one last time.

A great tip is to use a hack saw to cut a little groove across the rivet aligned with the way you want it to be in the handle. ( often called a north-south line). Do that on both sides to make sure the rivet gets clocked right.
 
Thanks again Stacy for all the info. The chip actually occurred when I was trying to fit the pin originally. It was a bit bigger than the hole so since it was so tight when I went to pull it out (it wasn't even in an 1/8") it chipped the wood pulling it out. But I did the wood glue and super glue like you suggested and knock on wood it's barely noticeable. We'll see what happens when I polish the handle up after its glued up. It's currently only sanded to 600. I'll take it up to at least 4000 with those polishing cloths. That pic was just sliding it in flush to see what the pin looked like in. I still haven't cut out down yet.
 
So just a quick update, I'm further along than these pictures but I'm happy to say everything has been a success. Everything got glued up, you could never tell there was a gap at the guard, you can't see the chip out, that held up solid. Pin has been filed flush with the handle and I'm starting on taking it to 800 grit. I modified the handle a bit and put a bit more curve in it towards the butt. I'll take some more pics after I get it completely sanded at 800 and from there it'll make it's way up to about 4000 to 6000 grit.

My fancy handle clamp (I think I used enough rubber bands lol). I have the blade wrapped up in a paper towel then electrical tape around that and it actually pulled it down about a quarter of the way down the blade after I got done clamping it.




And a close up of the pin the day after everything cured.

 
Way to go Matt! I know she will be really proud of this when it is presented.

You will love it when that handle is taken to a really fine polish. That wood has a wonderful satin like sheen and rolling curl. I would use the 3M papers and go all the way to 8000, then hand buff with a soft cotton cloth. While doing the fine sanding, remember to wipe down the handle often so as not to rub in the fine grit swarf and make the handle get "muddy".
 
Okay Got some photos of it at 800 and I finished the handle up today.

Here are the 800 Grit shots.











And here is the handle finished....



















































Wait for it.......... :D





























































































POW!!















Here's a close up of the pin. Guess which side had the chip out ;)







Some of the shots are a little meh, I took them real quick. Once it gets unwrapped and I put my mark on it I'll take more. I was thinking I should've marked it before I assembled it, I originally planned on putting it on the left side of the blade which is where I usually do them. But I'm thinking I want to do this one on the ricasso area right next to the guard.... Probably should've done that before I put it together but it's kind of a superstition thing where I don't usually mark the blade till I'm ready to sharpen it.
 
Well I got probably my deepest etch I've ever done and am happy about that. HOWEVER.... The thing didn't darken when I flipped the switch on my etcher I don't think there's an easy fix for this. When I peeled the stencil back it looked dark and I had some black liquid kind of all over the mark so I assumed all was well and peeled the stencil off to start cleaning it up. Once I got it cleaned up I noticed my mark wasn't dark at all. At certain angles it looks great but I think when there's too much reflection on it my mark looks fuzzy.

Is there any way to easily darken this thing? I don't think I'm going to get the stencil to line up perfectly over this to darken it. It's deep enough that it's not going anywhere but I really wanted this to be dark. :confused: Any help is appreciated.

Certain angles the way the light hits it it looks great like this.



Other times it just looks fuzzy/barely readable. Also again at certain angles the whole area around my mark has almost like a different look to the steel. I don't want to call it a halo but it almost looks like a oval around the mark. Any way to eliminate that without mucking up the nice hand rubbed finish I have this thing to where I like it.

If I could have it dark I'd be ecstatic but I have a feeling I'm stuck with this unless someone has a fix.
 
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I think the etch you got will be fine.


The problem you have demonstrates why you should mark the blade before handle assembly if possible. The "Halo" area is where the steel etched slightly by the electrolyte creeping under the stencil. Your pad is probably way too wet. I take my pad and blot it almost dry on a paper towel before making the etch. You only want electrolyte in the path between the pad and the steel directly under the stencil image.....too much will almost always make a fuzzy and shallow etch.

Sometimes you can lessen or remove the halo with a light clean up with the last grit paper used to remove the haze around the image. Use a hard and flat backer and make very light strokes. On a really nice knife like yours I would not do this only unless the problem was severe. From what I see in the photo, I would just leave this one alone.

The non-dark marking step can be caused by many things, but is often a problem of too short a marking time. You will probably have to figure out what was the problem with some experimentation on scrap steel. Again, if the blade was not mounted, there would be remedies not suitable on a finished knife. You can darken the mark by rubbing with FC and letting the area darken, then surface clean the area with very fine sandpaper. This usually darkens the mark. You have to neutralize the blade well after this, which is why it isn't a good thing to do on a finished knife.
 
Okay these aren't the "official" presentation pictures since I still have to do the sheath.... Gotta find my DVD on sheath making since I've made one so far lol. Just snapped these real quick outside with my phone. I also might have to order a few things to make the sheath look the way I want. I was going to use a snap but I might just put one of those studs on it where the strap wraps over the guard and goes through the hole in the strap. (Technical talk there :D)

This is the Stingray skin I'll be using for the inlay on the sheath (not sure if I posted it before and too lazy to look)







These are the only areas I'm a little unhappy with and I'm assuming it has to do with the wood itself?

About 3/4 down the handle it has that light "smear" looking thing. Don't know what that's about it didn't really show up till the handle was polished.




And this looks like file marks that are white in the grain but no matter how much I sanded this spot it never went away and you can't feel any grooves in it. Handle is like glass. But they're more noticeable in person. I'll try for a better pic when I have time.



I will say there is a nice amount of changes in the handle as the light reflects off it, it moves in your hand basically.


I'm sure I'll thank again because this build isn't officially over till it's ready with the sheath. But I want to give a big personal THANK YOU again to Stacy for all his help start to finish on this and also to Shawn Knowles for having me up to his shop and spending the day with me working on the guard. It wouldn't have come out like this without the help of you two as well as the other folks who have chimed in with advice on this. I'll be posting up ideas for the sheath before I pull the trigger on cutting it out too so stay tuned :D
 
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Matt, That has come out really nice. I know you see only the "flaws", but trust me, a person who didn't make the knife will only see a stunning knife. BTW, you really aligned the grin well and got perfect concentricity in the grain rings on the handle aligning with the blade, as shown in the last photo.

Those "smear" places regularly show up in dyed and stabilized wood. It is places in the grain and such where the wood is denser, and takes the dye different ( or not at all). Because of the alignment of the grain that is most attractive for a knife and the flatter surface of the sides, they show more on the handle sides.

The flecks of white are often caused by buffing or sanding in the wood dust and/or polishing compound when finishing. In other cases, it is the lignin and dried sap/rosin. or other things in the wood grain, that does not dye and remains lighter color..... which shows up as flecks and speckles. Sealing the wood before the last couple grits in sanding may help, but in any wood dyed a darker shade, it is hard to avoid. Buffing very lightly with very little polish on the wheel helps. (On lighter woods, it sometimes shows up as dark flecks in the wood for the same reasons.) I actually like the white flecks on many handles. Sort of reminds me of the silver back look of an old bear.
 
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