Yesterday I got lazy and instead of working with file I worked with pencil. Not ready to start doing "real" work on my KITH project yet, but I just wanted to put on paper and idea I have... First of all, I have never done this type of knife and sheath before and I will be learning on the go. So, please feel free to comment and advise. I have not decided yet for the handle material. Front bolster will be 8-10 mm brass, the rest - Osage orange, baked curly maple or walnut. I'm leaning towards Osage orange, but I will see when the time comes...
Both look pretty nice, but I think I'm drawn more towards the bottom design. Looks a bit more decorative with the double spacer in the handle. And, yeah okay, you draw better than I do, Roman.
Jim, I like the bottom one better too. But there is no spacer there. This is going to be a one solid piece of wood with some curving/sculpturing. The upper design is 3 pieces of cross-cut Osage. The idea is to combine growth rings and curving surfaces...
Both are great looking and working with the natural cross section is a very cool idea. Whichever design, I know this is going to be a very handsome piece. (For me, brass and walnut are always so rich looking together.) Dan
Today I officially started working on my project. Fitting of the bolster is pretty loud work as it requires some hammering, so I can't really do it in our apartment and have to find time at work. Made a little progress today but, as we say in Russia, it hard to start... First things first - cut a 12 mm piece of brass rod. Then I filed it flat (or almost flat to be correct), drew some symbols on it and cut excess on sides. This way it's easier to hold it in the vice. Then I drilled an array of small holes. I only have a hand drill, so the holes are not perfectly straight, but this doesn't really matter. And then lunch time was over and I had to get back to work...
Today I did some more work on fitting the bolster. First I filed those holes into the slit using needle file and then made a larger hole on the back. Now I can start hammering bolster on the tang. I do it using a split piece of board. Pretty loud, but the work goes fast. After every few centimeters I take the bolster off and file down that burr which forms on the soft brass. Not sure if you can see it, but this is the best photo I could get... This is it for today...
Looking good man. I will be following this closely to pick up tips as I have a hidden tang on the go. Thanks for the pics. Dan
Dan, I think fitting the bolster is the biggest issue with the hidden tang. The fit has to perfect as any opening between the blade and bolster makes it look not good. There are many ways to do that, but I think I do it in the most time saving manner... One thing that I didn't mention here is that before I started hammering bolster on the tang, I checked that tang very thoroughly for thickness. It is the best to have it slightly tapered and at no any point it can be thicker than at the place where the bolster will be installed. I had to file it down in a couple of spots.
So if the tang was to be thicker in the middle, the slot in the bolster would have to be filed to get over that thickness, then a gap would appear when the bolster is in its forward position (where the tang is thinner). Makes sense. Taper all the way up to the ricasso?
Here are a few more photos of my progress. So, bolster is fitted and I also shaped it a little bit. I also cut and threaded tip of the tang with M5 thread. Nothing interesting here and I forgot to take photos. So, next is cutting out and fitting wooden parts of the handle. I'm using round pieces of Osage orange which a friend of mine sent me from Kansas. He got them from his colleague at work. This wood was not properly dried and stored, it was just cut and left outside. So, it is cracked and full of worm holes. Tailoring a few nice pieces was a real challenge... This is what they look like close. Worm hole on that small piece appears to be at the right place - I will drill through it. But if I discover another worm hole coming out somewhere, I will just fill it with epoxy and call it done...
A couple more photos. Work goes really slowly as I have to more commercial projects to complete... Fitting handle parts. First I make concave surface using my home-made drum sander, then I shape convex surface on the next piece, drill a hole and install it. To achieve a perfect fit I use a piece of carbon paper. And here are all the parts. After tightening the nut on the tang a nasty crack appeared between bolster and first wooden part. Need to fix that before I can start shaping the handle...
