knife tangs

[jasontn]

so far about 95% of all the knives i have made, either from store bought blanks or cut up oldies, have had full tangs, or full half tangs. the one im planning on doing with this saw blade will have a stick tang. the blade is 3/16 thick. what im planning on doing is making an S cross guard and end cap out of some scrap i have, or maybe out of a section of the saw blade itself. the handle will be an elk antler tine and im planning on drilling it thru, and peening the tang over the endcap. i had thought about cross pinning it, maybe midways or a little higher too. i dont have  lot of experience with stick tangs and was wondering about thier durabillity and putting one together. i know it will have to be annealed, but should i stop annealing it at the point where it passe thru the guard, or should i anneal it a little above it. i had thought about annealing a little above it, and going a bit further up the spine of the blade. will this work, or is there a better way?

[oomcurt]

Well....just my two cents.. I have never been that keen on stick tangs, always preferred full tangs on my knives. Why? Well...again it is just me....but I never fully trusted them as far as being a strong knife. That said, I do have one knife that a friend made for me...elk antler handle and one big blade...big handle as well...it looks like a million bucks...but....would I take it with me if I had to choose just one knife? No way. It would be my luck the dang thing would either loosen up and I wouldn't have any means of tightening it OR, and this is my real fear....that material on the inside of an antler is not the most stable or strong in regards to wear or abuse...and the blade would come out at the very moment I depended on that knife to save my hide.

[jasontn]

thanks curt. the way im planning on putting it together, it would have a lot holding it in, plus i am going to fill it with epoxy too on the inside after pinning it on. it comibng loose was a bit of concern for me too. i have seen pictures of a lot of older knives in madison grants pictures that had stick tangs.

[LRB]

No need to worry about the strength of stick tangs. 9, of 10 swords have stick tangs, and a sword has to take way more punishment than any knife.  If you use epoxy, and peen the end, you have all the strength you will ever need, and then some. Anneal from just behind the guard position. It will be fine. Another point to ponder, is that Randall Knives made a reputation using stick tangs. If you are using a simple steel, such as a 10XX type, quench point in first, and stop at the guard area. Then you won't have to anneal. Ah, if you are using that saw steel, you probably will need to anneal at least the area you want to peen.

[jasontn]

thanks wick. it will be made out of the saw. i kinda thought all the randall knives were that way, but i wasnt sure. im planning on doing some experimenting with this material and workin on my fit and finish, i have a lot of room for improvement there.

[melsdad]

Be sure and keep us posted with some pictures once you complete the knife!

[jasontn]

im going to try and get some pics tomorrow, i have the blade blanked out, tang finished, and most of the blade grind done. im down to sandpaper and the block on the blade taper now. im not sure the proper wording, but i tapered the blade from the guard to the tip, from about halfway up the blade to the tip. it came out 9 inches long, 1 3/6 wide at bottom, with a little over a 1/4 wide tang.

[BEAVERMAN]

Sounds like a goodn Jason!