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The North Carolina Custom Knifemakers Guild Forum The North Carolina Custom Knifemakers Guild. Raising the general awareness of custom knives and the people who make them. |
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Making Dovetailed bolsters
I'm going to try to take you through my way of making dovetailed bolsters . And feel free to ask questions .
#01 The knife and two piecse of 416 SS cut to length. #02 I mill the two insides of the bolsters flat. #03 Now sand the two bolsters to take out the biggest mill marks. #04 Next I mill a 30?angle for the dovetail. You can see my high tech setup way of clamping in the angle vice. Last edited by ArtinNC; 01-26-2013 at 01:46 PM. |
#2
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#05 Milling the 30? angle on bolster .
#06 If you don't have a mill I use to grind the 30? on a disc grinder. #07 Now I tape the blade to keep from getting scratched. #08 With the right bolster squared to the knife and clamped I drill the first hole in the bolster. Using the knife as a template. |
#3
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#09 Then I put a pin in the hole I just drilled so the bolster to keep the two holes alined while drilling.
#10 Now put the two out sides of bolsters together And make sure the points are square against the 1" square block again and clamp together. #11 Now with both sides clamped together drill the first hole in the second bolster. #12 And again put a pin in the first hole and set them against the 1" square block to make sure the dovetails are in line and clamp. #13 And drill the second hole in the second bolster. |
#4
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#14 Now I put the right side bolster on the left side of the knife .
#15 And mark the outside where the bolster will be finished to. You can see my marks. #16 Now With the two insides of the bolsters together and pins in both holes . I mark how far I'm going to round the front of the bolsters . About .100 from the edge. #17 Another view. |
#5
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#18 With the two bolsters clamped together I just radius the front of the bolsters to the
.100 mark on both sides, and grind the front till the line between the two bolsters disapears. #19 I see in the picture I don't have the same radius on both , but will correct that when I grind the 60 grit marks out with a 400 grit belt. #20 Now I clamp in the vice and hand sand with 600 grit paper. Because I didn't have any 600 grit belts . Then still clamped together buff the front of the bolsters to a high polish finish. #21 This is a step that no one does . I use a 1/8" tappered pin reamer and clean up the inside of the rivet holes . And don't ream to the bottom of the hole in the bolster , because you need to a tight hole in the bottom to keep the right and left bolsters lined up when riveting. |
#6
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#22 Showing about how long the pins are on both sides .
#23 Show the pins peined flat. #24 Bolster ground slightly round and shaped to the knife. #25 Just another view. Last edited by ArtinNC; 01-26-2013 at 01:52 PM. |
#7
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#26 And finished knife.
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#8
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Well Done good show of how to do them .
Sam __________________ R. Yates 13 & On Forge Live and Let Live , Do Not trespass on Life or Me! As we are not so kind or forgiving ! |
#9
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Thanks Art. I really appreciate you taking time to post "how to" threads like this. I am gonna try my luck with some straight cut bolsters first though!
Robb |
#10
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straight cut bolsters Works the same way just don't have the 30? angle cut .
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#11
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excellant tutorial again......can we make Art's (and others) tutorials a sticky?........Lou
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Tags |
angle, art, blade, block, bolsters, drill, edge, flat, hand, how to, knife, make, making, pins, polish, post, sand, tutorial |
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