Building A New Bowie Knife

[Zonie]

My son bought me the parts for building a Bowie knife from Crazy Crow Trading Post for Christmas and I have some questions.

To let you know what I have, the blade is the 6" Bowie they offer. The tang is .160" thick X 1/2" X 4" with one 3/16" hole thru it.

He bought 5 rivet sets? There are two brass rivets in each bag. One is solid, one has a hole in it but it seems to be too small for the solid one to slip into it without pounding.
The body of the hollow one is .150" diameter X .62 long. The solid one's body is .120 diameter X .62" long. The heads are .305 diameter X .04 thick.

For a handle, I got a block of curly maple that measures 2" X 2" X 6".

The guard is a flat oval shaped piece 3/16" thick X .71" wide X 2.25 long.

The Butt is a shaped, round piece 1.09" in diameter at the large end, .870" at the small end. It has a .510" X .390" deep hole in the small end that does fit over the tang and what appears to be a .400" diameter hole for a screw in the large end.
It looks like this

I think my first question is, should I cut the wood in half and carve out a pocket in each piece to clear the tang?
I don't think drilling a 1/2" hole in the block to clear the tang and then filling it with epoxy would be a good way to go.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I think my first question is, should I cut the wood in half and carve out a pocket in each piece to clear the tang?
I don't think drilling a 1/2" hole in the block to clear the tang and then filling it with epoxy would be a good way to go.

Actually that is probably the best way to go. If the tang doesn't fit it can be heated (protect the blade from the heat with a wet wrap) and fire fit into the hole. Drilling the pin holes will be the challenge. Locating first then drilling for the tang is best approach. But have an extra piece of handle wood ready if disaster strikes.

 

[Nyckname]

Drilling the pin holes will be the challenge. Locating first then drilling for the tang is best approach.

Make a cardboard template. After fitting the handle, line up the template over the blade to know the location of the tang.

There are two brass rivets in each bag. One is solid, one has a hole in it but it seems to be too small for the solid one to slip into it without pounding.

Pictures would help.

 

[Zonie]

...


Pictures would help.

 

[Nyckname]

Fairly certain that they're supposed to be really tight, as the end of the solid piece doesn't actually flair over like it would with a rivet and burr.

 

[smo]

Cutlers Rivets , I've never used them on a wooden handle only leather on throwing knives..

But they should work, just don't pound on them too hard....

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

I put a knife together a really long time ago.. a Bowie type. I forget where the blade came from. The nephew I built it for wanted a solid handle. I had some nice dark hardwood, can’t remember what it was. I cut the wood to length plus a bit. I drilled a few holes through the handle, very close to the thickness of the tang, and closed to the height of it. I either read somewhere, or was told by somebody way older than I was to heat the tang, and slowly press the handle onto it. The hot metal burned out the paper thin bits of wood left over from the drilling. I took my time, and it turned out about as close to perfect as I could hope for.

I filed some notches into the edges of the tang, spread some two part epoxy on the tang and into the handle. The whole thing slid together and finished out really very nice.

The nephew has given the knife to his son now. It was made over thirty years ago and is still solid, and well used.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Make a cardboard template. After fitting the handle, line up the template over the blade to know the location of the tang.

Yep. Simple as falling off a mountain. Hope it worked OK for you. In theory that is the best way. In practice there is often a reason to shout dirty words.

 

[Artificer]

I think my first question is, should I cut the wood in half and carve out a pocket in each piece to clear the tang?
I don't think drilling a 1/2" hole in the block to clear the tang and then filling it with epoxy would be a good way to go.

Zonie,

The original method of drilling the hole for the tang was to drill a hole down through the center of the block with a drill bit that was just a bit undersize for the thickness of the tang. Not the width of the tang, mind you, but the thickness of the tang. Then they opened that hole with hand files to where the rear end of the tang would just begin to enter the wood block. Then they heated the tang in a forge and the blade was covered by a coating of clay so it would not ruin the temper of the blade. Then they forced the heated tang into the grip block, so it would burn a pretty tight fit of the tang all the way through the grip block.

A modern replacement for the clay to protect the blade is Brownell's Heat Stop Paste. I have used this stuff and it works, but DON'T leave it on the blade for any length of time after burning the hole in the grip because it will leave fine pitting on the blade, if you let it set for an hour or two. It hardens when heat is applied and you just break it with a mallet or hammer and then clean the rest off the blade.
https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-...es/heat-stop-heat-control-paste-prod1121.aspx

If you have or can get a piece of Iron or Steel that is the same thickness as the tang, you can cut it out to very close undersize or even full size and burn the hole with that, instead of using the knife tang. If it is still too tight of a fit for the knife tang, then you can lock the blade into a fair size vise (to act as a heat sink) with just the tang sticking up. Then heat the tang and force the grip block over it.

I had to drill an oversize hole, something like you described, when I mounted a piece of crown antler on a tang for a knife I made for my Dad back in the mid 1980's. I didn't want to risk "burning" the tang into the crown antler because it was from a Buck he had taken and it fit his hand perfectly. I used Loctite EA 1C Epoxy Kit to fill up the space left by drilling with an oversize drill bit, because I knew how heat and shock resistant it was and remains. This because we used it for years to glue handguards on NM Rifles. You can call the folks at this website and get a single kit, though I also highly recommend the EPL0151 Clear Kit, if you have a need for that.
https://www.aircraftspruce.com/cata...erm=4580977758698486&utm_content=All Products

BTW, when Dad had to give up hunting due to advanced age, he gave that knife to his oldest Great Grandson. I just sharpened that for him before deer season this year and the Epoxy is as strong and tight as ever.

Gus