Beginner - Question about Tangs (for scales)

[JamesK]

So as a beginner with a very very cheap workshop, I don't really have the tools to make hidden tangs yet, as I don't have money or space for a drill press yet. Because of this I'm stuck to scales, which means I have to shape my tangs into what the handle will eventually look like. My issue is that my steel I use is thick and when I finish my blade and start my tang, the area for my tang is usually heavier, making the blade a bad balance. So I'm basically stuck with drawing out my tang to eventually have a flatter material. When I draw out my tang, how do I make sure that the metal for the tang stays through the midpoint of the knife so that when I eventually flatten the tang, part of it doesn't protrude either above or below the blade? I know this seems like kind of a stupid and obvious question, but it was an issue with one knife I made and I want to make sure I don't make this mistake again!

[Joshua States]

What are you using for a grinder? Can't you simply grind the excess off? When I make a full tang knife, I use a template to scribe the profile to and grind the knife to shape after forging. I think that full tang knives actually take more tooling than hidden tangs, but that's just me. You can accomplish a hidden tang using a hand drill and holding the handle block in a vice. You just need a steady hand. Start with a small bit and continuously upsize and redrill to help keep the hole straight.

If you have scales and want to make a hidden tang, you could always mortise the tang into the scales and glue them together. Or, you could try a frame handle design like this.

[jake cleland]

You can easily make a hidden tang knife without a drill press. You cannot really make a full tang knife with scales without one. To answer your question, though, you just alternate between working the steel on the edge and on the flat.

[JamesK]

22 minutes ago, Joshua States said:

What are you using for a grinder? Can't you simply grind the excess off? When I make a full tang knife, I use a template to scribe the profile to and grind the knife to shape after forging. I think that full tang knives actually take more tooling than hidden tangs, but that's just me. You can accomplish a hidden tang using a hand drill and holding the handle block in a vice. You just need a steady hand. Start with a small bit and continuously upsize and redrill to help keep the hole straight.

If you have scales and want to make a hidden tang, you could always mortise the tang into the scales and glue them together. Or, you could try a frame handle design like this.

Thanks, and yea I'm bladesmithing as a hobby and only bought super cheap tools. I have a $80 vertical grinder, 4 x 36 belts, so nothing fancy at all. I have just ground out the tang before but since I have basic tools I like using them less, so I try to learn more forging techniques to minimize work on my grinder/angle grinder

[Joshua States]

You might think about getting an angle grinder for the heavy work. Other than that, Jake has some good advice on the forging. In another thread you asked about forging the tip. Forging a knife blade (and tang) is about rotating the piece as you forge so that you forge bevels and profiles at the same time. It's a constant forge, adjust, forge, adjust process.

[JamesK]

3 minutes ago, Joshua States said:

You might think about getting an angle grinder for the heavy work. Other than that, Jake has some good advice on the forging. In another thread you asked about forging the tip. Forging a knife blade (and tang) is about rotating the piece as you forge so that you forge bevels and profiles at the same time. It's a constant forge, adjust, forge, adjust process.

Thanks, and yes I do own an angle grinder, It does help a lot but right now I only own two super heavy duty metal grinders which work good, but yea I prefer forging it but thanks for the advice