Best tool for fullers and slotting guards

[Kreg Whitehead]

I took a deposit on a commission dealio. I might be giving it back.

He wants a american-ized tanto with a stacked and groved leather handle, guard and a fuller.

I think I have wrapped my head around a way to pull the handle off.

But I have no way to pull a fuller off that I think will be acceptable.

I hear people talking about using a mill to slot guards......would the same tool be good for a fuller?

How much am I looking at for something that wont be so cheap its a waste of money(personal pet peave when I buy a tool thats not up to the task.

I thought about clamping some guide metal and going at it with a grinder.....but I dont think I could ever make it look perfect.

This guy is gonna be pickier than the average. I dont know if any of ya have seen the netflix show dream home makeover....he is the owner of that.

My boy recently started finish cabinets/wood for them.

I think I could pay a machine shop and come out time/money ahead opposed to attacking it with a grinder.

 

[Alan Longmire]

Yeah, I think the price of having it machined with a ball end mill will be cheaper and faster than buying tools and learning the curve. 

 

OR

 

Scrapers are great for this, and cheap, and easy to make.  But they are a pain to clean up after if there's any chatter, and there often is.  

 

Finally

 

if it's a relatively wide shallow fuller, like 1/2" wide and 1/8" deep, I do those with the 2" rubber wheel on my grinder.  Florian Fortner and Peter Johnsson here on this forum have had excellent results on narrower fullers with a guide clamped to a die grinder.  I haven't tried that, dunno how hard it is to do or to clean up after.  

[Kreg Whitehead]

Thats what one of my online fb blade buddies recommended as far as the guide/grinder combo.

What would be an example of a decent mill thats not over or underkill for something like this.

I have no idea what I am looking for .....or how to use one for that matter.

 

[Alan Longmire]

Mills are expensive if they can do the job, and since I don't have one I have no idea either.  I have a lathe with a milling attachment, but it can't do a lot of things.  I broke all my small end mills trying to learn that...

[Al Massey]

You could try a die grinder with a piece of metal bent at one end and hoseclamped to it for a guide. Do it before HT and finish with files.

[Charles dP]

1 hour ago, Al Massey said:

You could try a die grinder with a piece of metal bent at one end and hoseclamped to it for a guide. Do it before HT and finish with files.

I have an image of that, which I got off this forum. Wish I could find the thread it came off of.

 

Edited January 11 by Charles dP

[Doug Webster]

I've always wanted to try putting a bend in the blade before heat treated and using a hand file to create the fuller.  I saw this technique somewhere on the forum. 

[Bill Schmalhofer]

On 1/11/2023 at 1:35 AM, Charles dP said:

I have an image of that, which I got off this forum. Wish I could find the thread it came off of.

 

Pretty sure this is from @Joshua States

[Kreg Whitehead]

I found this.....I think I get the gist of it. And If I do get the gist of it I dont really see it grinding a defined fuller. More of a grand canyon.

Anyone used or seen something like this. So far the best price I have found to pay to have one done is 125.00

Thats pretty much what this attachment costs. 

[Alan Longmire]

That's a small wheel attachment for a 2x72 grinder (I know you know, that's just to help others).  They don't do fullers well, because there's not a good way to get the blade on the belt.  If the small wheel is big enough to stick out past the mounting points, and rubber-coated for use as a contact wheel, they can do fine with a work rest to keep the blade from flopping around. 

 

Like I said, I use the 2" contact wheel on my grinder. It makes a decent fuller, and you can vary the width by varying the depth.  How wide are you wanting the fuller to be?  If it needs to be 1/4" or less, just make a scraper.  

 

Here's what the 2" wheel does:

 

 

 

 

 

[Joshua States]

13 hours ago, Bill Schmalhofer said:

Pretty sure this is from @Joshua States

And I'm pretty sure it's from this thread. On page 2. For the record, these fullers were cut after HT.

 

@Dave Stephens has a thread about a small wheel attachment he made for doing fullers here.

 

@Florian F Fortner has a thread about the fuller scraping tool he made here.

 

@Aiden CC has a WIP thread in last year's KITH about his fuller scraping tool here.

 

And seeing as this is some sort of Tanto type blade, @Kevin Colwellhad a fuller scraping tool post way back in 2009. The description of how it was made is still there, but the photo is gone.

 

There is more than one way to skin this possum.

 

 

[Joshua States]

Oh yeah, there is always forging the fuller in and using any of the sanding/grinding gizmos to do clean up afterwards.

 

[Kreg Whitehead]

On 1/12/2023 at 2:36 PM, Alan Longmire said:

That's a small wheel attachment for a 2x72 grinder (I know you know, that's just to help others).  They don't do fullers well, because there's not a good way to get the blade on the belt.  If the small wheel is big enough to stick out past the mounting points, and rubber-coated for use as a contact wheel, they can do fine with a work rest to keep the blade from flopping around. 

 

Like I said, I use the 2" contact wheel on my grinder. It makes a decent fuller, and you can vary the width by varying the depth.  How wide are you wanting the fuller to be?  If it needs to be 1/4" or less, just make a scraper.  

 

Here's what the 2" wheel does:

 

 

 

 

 

Upgrading my grinder is for sure on my to want list. I have worn ol griz pretty much out.

I found a local guy for this fuller.

I wouldnt mind playing around with the scraper deal for the future. 

Where exactly do I find the carbide bit or what ever it is for making a scraper?

Rather than quote Joshua also.....my next question/comment was going to be to ask for pics of a home grown guillitione set up.

Think thats what they call the ones where ya beat em in by hand.

No press or powa hammer here.

I think if I am gonna try and pull one off it will be a combo deal like Joshua said.

Start there....then go to the scraping and grinding/sanding.

As far as size.....I had in my mind somewhere between the 1/4 to 3/8" range.

I dont think anything wider would look right on a blade thats gonna be somewhere between 1.25 and 1.5" range.

[Alan Longmire]

The scraper bit doesn't have to be carbide, anything hardenable works.  Mine are 1095 and w1.  The geometry is the hard part.