Guard on Hidden Tang (lots of pics)Finished knife photo added

[Kevin Evans]

Great job Lin!
This would have really helped me out a while back these guys don't know how lucky they are to have such great illustrations.

[imskippy]

Wonderful work Lin. Any chance you want to continue the build along with the handle material aswell? I'm about to start my first hidden tang and would love a little help. Thanks Skippy

[Lin Rhea]

Yes, I will try to go through the process when I inlet the handle material. I usually build mortised tang handles, which is what this one will be. I will do this Saturday or so.

Ian, If I am making a stick tang, I usually just drill a series of holes and connect them with files or a broach. A broach is a "reach in there and drag out the material kind of tool". Lin

[skullworks]

Awesome stuff Lin! Thanks for taking the time to show us how you do it! This is one of the things I love about this site!

[kbaknife]

Thanks for showing this, Lin.
I hope guys realize how not only doing the work, but then taking the pictures, editing them and then doing a tutorial makes a 2 hour job a four hour job!!!
Looks to be one heck of a knife.
Anxiously waiting.

[mastin03]

ill say it again, thanks for taking the time to do this Lin....truly priceless stuff here for the beginner!!

[Wampus]

Nice tutorial and impressive photography skills too!  Just wanted to mention that for those who can't or don't want to make their own jigs, Riverside Machine (Uncle Al) sells pretty similar setups under "knife fixtures".

 http://www.riversidemachine.net/productCat0.ivnu

[Montauks]

Thanks Lin!...

[amicus]

Thanks Lin, That was awesome.

Gilbert

[Butts2]

Never can get enough of these tutorials. Thanks

[Doug Campbell]

Great tutorial Lin, looking forward to seeing the finished product.

[2Knives]

Very nice tutorial!!
Its so good that it almost makes me think I could do something like that. I'm still at the stage of learning not to get bit by the sander!  

[Lin Rhea]

Thanks guys.

I am in the process of finishing the handle. I tok some photos along the way and will get some up before long. Thanks, Lin

[Lin Rhea]

Today I am finishing the handle on the hunter. The wood I'm choosing is Desert Ironwood and here are bookmatched scales.
 

I have angled the front of the scales to better allow me to get the shape I want as well as to get the pretty burls into the handle of the finished knife. I have the tang just stuck between the scales to help get thing oriented. A little planning at this point will pay off. The drawing of the handle shape is rough and oversized, but gives me an idea of the flow I want from blade to handle.
 

You can see the tape that creates a hinge for the bookmatched scales. This just helps for a number of reasons, mainly to keep from getting things mixed up and the scales backwards. You also can see the slight angle of the front of the scales. They naturally oppose one another in that posititon. I'm holding the guard tight to the angled front and marking the tang's profile.
 

Now it's time to inlet the scales to fit the tang. Since the glue joint should be down the center of the knife, the inletting should be centered too with half of the mortise into one scale and half in the other. I taper the tang, so this means that the mortise should be deeper toward the guard progressively getting shallower toward the back. I use a small milling machine for this, but it can be done several ways, including small chisels, routing, dremel, etc.
 

In the above picture, I marked where my pins will be. Look in the mortised groove. I take a very small bit and drill from the inside of the groove out to enable me to find the exact pin location later. I do this on one scale, not both.

The scales are ready to be glued up to one another. I rough up the inside surface and degrease it before applying super glue. You have to be carefull, of course. Get your vise or clamps ready before hand and get things lined up as close as possible. This will make the wood grain line up as well as line up the two halves of the mortise. I pay special attention to the front that joins up with the guard. Naturally  it seems, there will need to be some fine tuning of this area after glue up. Here is a picture of the front of the joined scales after the two halves have been evned up.
 

Now the guard and handle fits up good and the tang is good and snug with hardly any movement from side to side or up and down. When done right it wont take much epoxy at all. The handle looks ugly because it's still in block form, but I have the pin location taken care of with the small locator holes. No problem. Just glue it up.
 

Now, I have this clamp that I like to use for some knives that I saw somewhere and made one for myself. I'll show it to you in a few minutes. I have to get a picture. Be back shortly. Lin

[kbaknife]

Hurry up.

[Lin Rhea]

I'm back.

The blade/guard and the handle block has been epoxied and needs clamping. Here is the clamp I mentioned. This works well for me. This clamp has a detachable end which can be taken off and notched to accept the blade so the front of the guard will press against the jaw. With just a little pressure you can get a good joint.
 

Notice in the above picture that the small pin locator holes alloed some epoxy to squeeze out. That was why I put tape on the side of the handle to limit this. But I actually wanted to see the epoxy come out, since this allowed some air to vent and got he epoxy all the way down around the tang. Here the handle profile is roughed in and the sides are checked to make sure all is parallel. If not make the adjustments while in relative block form. This will allow you to drill your pin holes square with the centerline of the knife.

Using the locator hole, I drill pilot holes through the handle, tang and all. Then enlarge the holes to fit the small part of my step drill. While I'm drilling and since I have the handle generally profiled, I drill a pilot for the lanyard tube. Here the handle is piloted and the pins and tubing laid with it. Notice that I roughed up the tubing a little in the area that will be in the middle of the knife's handle. I feel like this will add some strength to the glue joint not only for the lanyard tube itself, but will lend this strength also toward holding the scales together, serving as an additional pin of sorts.
 

Here is the step drill. Notice the "step" will have to be just deep enough to allow the pins to screw together applying pressure to the scales and connecting through the tang. This takes a little practice, but is not too difficult.
 

I might mention that the pins I am using are 3/16 X 1/4 with the pilot being the 3/16 and the larger part of the pin being 1/4 inch.

To get a good idea of the depth that you want the "step", I do this.
 

I'm just taking note where the steps are in relation to the handle sides. There is a little play here, but not much. Get this as close as you can without going too deep. Of course if the steps are not deep enough, the pin halves wont reach and connect. Here is the handle after the pins and tube are installed.
 

Now the handle is ready to be shaped. I use amy grinder with a rotary platten attached for some of this.
 

You can use files, rasps, or other means to get to the same place. I am almost finished with the knife. I just have to do some hand finishing here and there. Here is the handle after some work with the rotary platten.
   

I will post pictures after I get completely finished. This might take a couple of days to get the photos. Thanks for being patient during all of this. Lin

[Emmons]

Awesome!!!  Thank you for taking the time to put this together.  

Hopefully I can put it to use soon.  Been gathering equipment since we moving here to Canada, to get a small knife shop together.  

James

[prarieboy]

Lin You do awesome Work and to echo bowhunterinchile Thanks for taking the time to share Your knowledge        C-Ya Bob

[Kevin Evans]

Thanks Lin for the session.
I am still learning to press fit I think the part about the SHARP file is very important!!What a beautiful piece of wood!!
 Lin can I bend Nickel silver??(Trying to make a special guard) Thanks Kevin

[Lin Rhea]

Thanks. Kevin, yes you can bend it. If you get worried it might crack you can heat it to red and bend it that way. I have watched David Anders actually forge nickel/silver into shape with a hammer.
                        Lin