416 Bolsters

[R K]

Greetings Steve,
I have a question about pinning 416 bolsters. I currently use bolsters about 5/8 wide + or - a tiny bit. I use two 3/32" pins to fasten them in place. Are two pins enough? How wide do your bolsters have to be before you use more pins? and how many do you use?
What grit do you flatten your bolsters to before fastening them on the knife?Thanks.

[Steve]

2 is probably OK on that size. In that small area it is very difficult to peen the pins without getting into problems with the adjacent pins. If you get much wider I would put four pins in them, say 3/4” to 1” and more.
I make sure that the choil is polished before I put bolsters on, but I rough up the surface on the tang underneath the bolsters before I attach them.

[TWITHERS]

Hello Steve,
You say you rough up the tang under the bolsters, what does that achieve? I have gone back and forth on attaching bolsters. First I thought I had to solder them, then I thought epoxy to keep moisture out. I spoke with another maker, and he does neither. He says stainless on stainless requires only a good pin peening. I am assuming if you rough them up, you solder or epoxy? Thanks Steve.

[Steve]

I rough them (Polish the choil ahead and slightly under the front of the bolster) so that they don't slide around when pinning, though they are clamped in place, also. No epoxy, or solder. If you solder bolsters, you'll get flux trapped under them and it will seep out and corrode the tang, choil, in time. Wow this is long overdue, I apologize!

[Steve]

Another thought to mull over: Some guys use heat treated 416 SS, it doesn't get very hard, maybe 45 RC, or less, as I recall, but it IS more rust resistant after hardening. I've never had a problem of corrosion with un-heat treated material, but if I can get it heat treated, I'll choose that over the annealed.