Tapered Tangs

P

PatrickKnight

Joined
Jan 24, 2012
Messages
1,950
I asked a question about this one another forum but that was a bit more generalized. Have you guys found any disadvantage when it comes to a tapered tang vs a SFT? Having never owned a TT knife before my only concern is that the rear of the handle would be thinner due to the taper, and I am not sure how that would feel in hand.
 
The thickness of a Fiddleback handle is not dependant on the steel thickness or tang tapering. It actually depends more on me and my performance during shaping of that handle. Each one is different, and I stop when I see the curves relating to each other in the proper way. That is complicated to envision. Imagine me sitting next to the grinder in an office chair with my mask and earmuffs on. The 8" wheel attachment is running as fast as I can get it. I shape handles with a brand new 36 grit blaze belt, so there is a lot of cutting power going on and the work is basically getting done a foot from my face as I sit and face the side of the wheel. This is the position I am in when I start to shape the handles. At this point there is no set thickness to the handle, but I have a general idea of what I want the piece to look like after this step. I cut 4 hollows in a handle with a palm swell. The hollow should leave more meat on the spine side than the leading side. This gives the handle the proper egg shape profile from spine to edge. If the cut goes perfect the first time, I stop and set all the other curves by that one. If they all go right and things relate correctly then I don't have to ajust the first cut. Every time I have to ajust the lowest cut to meet some new low I have made on the other cuts I have to re-shape all the cuts except the lowest one. Think of how your barber cuts your hair. They make a cut, then cut everything else to match that cut. If they cut off too much somewhere else, they have to cut everything down to match the new low. All stock removal works this way. When everything matches up and looks like a comfortable professional knife handle, I stop.

Many knives don't have to deal with this because they just round the edges of the scales. That way both sides always match. This makes for a much more consistantly shaped handle. It would also mean that a tapered tang knife would be thinner at the pommell. Thats not the case for Fiddlebacks. I basically ignore the tang when shaping. I view the handle as a single entity to shape. My handles are organic instead. It is very time consuming (taking 2/5 of my time each week).

Does that help?

I've done some facebook live video's showing this process if you are interested.
 
I'm picky when it comes to tapers and prefer a nice thin taper because then the balance seems to shift a bit more towards the middle/front. I just don't get outdoors but imagine if I did, then the additional weight in a knife might be welcome if you needed more inertia whacking on something. Or a lighter knife could be welcome to lighten the overall load. Depends how you look at it I s'pose. And then there's just the aesthetic part and I'm partial to a sexy looking taper.
 
Fiddleback said:
The thickness of a Fiddleback handle is not dependant on the steel thickness or tang tapering. It actually depends more on me and my performance during shaping of that handle. Each one is different, and I stop when I see the curves relating to each other in the proper way. That is complicated to envision. Imagine me sitting next to the grinder in an office chair with my mask and earmuffs on. The 8" wheel attachment is running as fast as I can get it. I shape handles with a brand new 36 grit blaze belt, so there is a lot of cutting power going on and the work is basically getting done a foot from my face as I sit and face the side of the wheel. This is the position I am in when I start to shape the handles. At this point there is no set thickness to the handle, but I have a general idea of what I want the piece to look like after this step. I cut 4 hollows in a handle with a palm swell. The hollow should leave more meat on the spine side than the leading side. This gives the handle the proper egg shape profile from spine to edge. If the cut goes perfect the first time, I stop and set all the other curves by that one. If they all go right and things relate correctly then I don't have to ajust the first cut. Every time I have to ajust the lowest cut to meet some new low I have made on the other cuts I have to re-shape all the cuts except the lowest one. Think of how your barber cuts your hair. They make a cut, then cut everything else to match that cut. If they cut off too much somewhere else, they have to cut everything down to match the new low. All stock removal works this way. When everything matches up and looks like a comfortable professional knife handle, I stop.

Many knives don't have to deal with this because they just round the edges of the scales. That way both sides always match. This makes for a much more consistantly shaped handle. It would also mean that a tapered tang knife would be thinner at the pommell. Thats not the case for Fiddlebacks. I basically ignore the tang when shaping. I view the handle as a single entity to shape. My handles are organic instead. It is very time consuming (taking 2/5 of my time each week).

Does that help?

I've done some facebook live video's showing this process if you are interested.
Click to expand...


Perfect explanation!!

Thank you very much for taking the time to explain it sir.
 
During my recent trip to Canada, I used two different knives, one with a taped tang and one skeletonized full tang. Both had the same blade thickness 3/32. one a Fiddleback Fiddleback Gaucho and the other an @Osprey Knife & Tool Mamushi. I'd be lying if I said I noticed one had an advantage over the other with regards to the Tapered Tang vs the Skeletonized Full Tang. The tapered tang blade definitely got more questions comments. That said, both knives received quite a few ooohs and aaahs being the fine knives that they are.
 
I LOVE Andy's tapered tangs!

In the kitchen business, usually nicer knives have noticeable distal tapers, aesthetically, it offers that extra element of fit and finish. I also like the weight forward advantage of a thinly tapered tang, not to mention the overall weight reduction.

In the bushcraft business, some people like the thicker tang, in case they have to whale on the end of the knife. I spend many nights in the woods and have never had to hit the end of a knife with anything more than my hand.

Fiddleback handles are amazing, thick or thin. I love 'em all! I personally think the handle feel and look is superior to anything I have run across!

-Will
 
Patrick,

I leave the technical suff to the technicians. I'm sure a debate could rage on for days on the pluses and minuses of Tapered versus Skeletonized tangs.

I am just a user, and a rather primitive one at that. For me it's more about the balance than how it's achieved. In anything but a dedicated chopper. I prefer a nice neutral balance.

I have purchased some knives, that on paper I should have loved. And when I first picked them up. They felt OK. Then I get to using them. Handle heavy knives just seem to tire me out.

It isn't like it exhausts me. But I can feel the fatigue. Fatigue invites mistakes. Mistakes can be painful. After a while, I just lose interest.

Tapered or Skeletonized? Your call. Personally I do like the look of the Tapers better. But the balance is what matters to me.

Quite some time ago. I saw a photo of Andy grinding. Dust mask, check. Hearing protection, check. Eye protection, check.

But something I hadn't seen on other grinders was the magnification lenses. Perhaps that explains why Andy's fit and finish is spot on. Or perhaps he is blind as a bat. Who knows.

The only other place I have seen magnifiers like that was on a dentist. It makes sense if you think about it. Better view, better chance for perfection.

Andy's knives being hand ground and finished, may not be perfect. I am a very picky individual. Some would say anal. Yet I have never held a Fiddleback Forge knife where I studied it and thought it could be better. They may not all be the exact same. But they are all extremely welll done.
 
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LOL. In the last year or two my eyesight has decided to crap out. My entire life I've had 20/20 vision so it was a suprise to me when I couldn't see to tie a fishing line. Thats where it showed up first. I got a set of readers and whoa, all of a sudden I noticed that without them text was blurry and I had just been dealing with it. So I rigged my mask. It was amazing. I had been making knives without really seeing what I was doing for a while.
 
Fiddleback said:
LOL. In the last year or two my eyesight has decided to crap out. My entire life I've had 20/20 vision so it was a suprise to me when I couldn't see to tie a fishing line. Thats where it showed up first. I got a set of readers and whoa, all of a sudden I noticed that without them text was blurry and I had just been dealing with it. So I rigged my mask. It was amazing. I had been making knives without really seeing what I was doing for a while.
Click to expand...

Making knives "Zen Style":thumbsup:
 
Fiddleback said:
LOL. In the last year or two my eyesight has decided to crap out. My entire life I've had 20/20 vision so it was a suprise to me when I couldn't see to tie a fishing line. Thats where it showed up first. I got a set of readers and whoa, all of a sudden I noticed that without them text was blurry and I had just been dealing with it. So I rigged my mask. It was amazing. I had been making knives without really seeing what I was doing for a while.
Click to expand...
This explains why my knives look the way the do over last two years.
 
OP, my unscientific thought is tapered tangs are just plain cool. I have two FF’s with a TT, and they’re fantastic. My TT Sneaky Pete is pure magic.

I have four smaller knives a SFT, and they’re fantastic as well. It’s really a no lose situation in my book, but given a choice, I’ll go TT every time.

Andy, it really is a drag getting old (er). I’m to the point where I need special bifocals to shoot. I simply cannot bring the front sight into focus, even with my normal readers (apparently they’re set to a different focal point).
 
After using a larger Fiddleback with a standard tang and a skeletonized tang, I prefer the lighter tang. I own one with a tapered tang and it's lighter then stock too. Skeletonized tangs cost less, but don't look as nice. Either is fine by me.
 
Fiddleback said:
The thickness of a Fiddleback handle is not dependant on the steel thickness or tang tapering. It actually depends more on me and my performance during shaping of that handle. Each one is different, and I stop when I see the curves relating to each other in the proper way. That is complicated to envision. Imagine me sitting next to the grinder in an office chair with my mask and earmuffs on. .
Click to expand...

This stage
FT62_zps16c48b98.jpg
 
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