I just finished reading Don's tutorial on the tapered tangs, Thanks Don it was great, but have one question. How do you do dovetailed bolsters and a tapered tang on the same knife? The way I figure it the angle on the bolsters will not be the same as the angle on the slab unless your taper runs right to the front of you bolster, but most bolsters don't have a square front so .........I am confused. :confused:
Hopefully this makes sense to somebody and they can explain it to me.
Thanks
Steve

BTW The Novi show was excellent, lots of makers. Thanks again Don, didn't see you when we left, I think you were pickin and grinnin. The CKG nametags would definitely have come in handy.

In the tutorial section there is also a tutorial by Don about tapering tangs. Yu will see there that he tapers his tangs completely through the ricasso.

This gives you a flat surface to work the dovetailed bolster tutorial.

You know I watched that tutorial a number of times and I that part just didn't click. Got it now.
Thanks
Steve

What Bob said. ;)

I have done this quite a few times and here is the tecnique that works for me.
1) Have the bolsters dove-tailed and flat surfaces true.
2) Apply layout die to tang of blade.
3) Position bolsters on blade useing pins of appropriate dia. to insure tight fit,(don't peen ).
4)Scribe a line at dove-tail base where they meet the tang, then remove bolsters.
5)Taper tang to this line.
Voila there you go, this works well for me, and gives a cool look to the knife, as the taper stops at the dove-tail and this transition stands out quite nicely