Bolster Material

[mwhuston]

I've done a couple of searches, but haven't found what I"m looking for.

I am trying to find out what width of material to use for bolsters. I'm going to try some on a knife soon and want to get it ordered.

I think 1/4" thick by 2" wide by 12" would be enough for a couple of knives. I'm planning on using SS416 or SS410 unless someone has a better idea?

What size of pins should I use? 1/8 will probably work, but if I need bigger please let me know.

I have seen several tutorials on doing this, but none that I've seen have the thickness of the material.

Thanks

Mark

[Ray Rogers]

Like any other element of a knife's design, the thickness of a bolster is defined by the overall design of the knife. If your knife is large and has thick scales you would probably want thick bolsters so that the scales don't look ridiculously fat compared to the bolster. Or maybe the design requires the bolsters to be heavily shaped and contoured in which case starting with thicker material would be necessary. Get the idea?

Take into account that big heavy bolsters add a lot of weight to a knife and that's not usually a good thing. 1/4" bolsters on a 4" hunter might look and feel.....odd. Might not too, all depends on how you execute your ideas. As for pins, 1/8" is probably the most common size used in bolsters, it is difficult to peen anything much larger than that especially in stainless.

I have a poor opinion of bolsters myself and only used them a few times before they lost their appeal to me so its hard for me to find anything positive to say about them. Probably the best thing for you to do is just try them in different sizes on different sized knives until you decide if they are worth the trouble to you or not .......

[cbsmith111]

Consider doing bolsters in a seperate, contrasting handle material. For example a black micarta handle with ivory micarta bolsters. It won't add unwanted weight and will be easy to shape as it will sand away at the same rate as the handle. Just something to consider. Not as traditional, but it is a nice look in my opinion.

[damon]

I use 3/16" or 1/8" stock with four 1/16" pins. this may be overkill for some, but works well enough for me.
with a .125"- .175" blade thickness using bolster stock in the 1/8-3/16" range will still have a comfortable feel in the hand.

[SVanderkolff]

I normally use 3/16 or 1/8 stock 416 for the bolsters and 3/32 pins. You can get 3/32 416 pin stock virtually anywhere you get the 416. The 3/32 pin stock works well for peening on the guards as well, i would think that a 1/8 pin stock would be too thick for guard peening. But as Ray says, you need to match you bolster thickness to your knife design.
Steve

[mwhuston]

Thanks Everyone.

cbsmith111 - that's an interesting idea. I may try that in the future.


I found some SS304 3/16" and 1/8" round stock locally. I realize its not the best material, but it will work for bolsters, and I can use it to learn. This way I don't have to worry about shipping times when I'm trying to learn.

Mark

[GHEzell]

Also consider that the thicker the pins the larger the holes for said pins, and bolsters are by design there to strengthen the blade/handle junction, not weaken it....
Traditionally brass, copper, nickle-silver or other metals are used for bolsters, but as Ray said, this adds weight. Many knifemakers today are using lighter, non-metallic bolsters which help to keep the weight down, and as cbsmith111 mentioned can be used as a contrasting aesthetic element. The only limit is your budget and imagination....

[AAK]

on the flip side to most everyone here it seems, i always use 1/4" thick material on my bolsters. Generally the front of the bolster is about 3/16" when finished and the back end of the scale about 5/16" as well as being fairly heavily crowned so i need the extra material. It all comes down to the shape and contour of the handle as well as blade thickness (thicker blade, less room for a thick handle, etc). I would buy the 1/4 inch and try it out and if you end up grinding tons of it away then switch to 3/16". Just my 2 cents