Hidden Tang

Hi All

I have several questions concerning hidden tangs. Say I forge a blade 6" long, 1 1/8" wide and a little less than 3/16" thick. How heavy should the tang be? Is there some rule of thumb for this? I have read about threading the tang and soldering a nut to the pommel in other fourms-posts. If the tang is flat how do you thread it. If it is round, how do you get the guard on and still keep a good fit between the guard and the blade?


Thanks
Brian

Brian,
Your talking two different things here. Hidden tang normally goes a little past half way threw the length of the handle. What your talking about with having a nut on the end of it is a threw tang. As for the width of the tang on a 1" wide blade I'll come in top and bottom 1/4" leaving a half inch wide tang next to the knife. The tang should have some taper to it also. You can either make a long tang or you can braze a piece of threaded rod to the tang if your wanting to nut it one way or another. If the tang is long enough it can be rounded off to accept a die. You should only need to thread a small portion on the tang, plus as long as it has thread top and bottom it should do the job. Ray

Brian,
I believe I have read that the tang should be around 2/3 the length of the handle. There are several different ways to prep the wood to accept a hidden tang; one being to drill the handle to the appr. depth and taking a small chisel to remove the extra wood for a snug fit. After that is done, fill the hole with just enough epoxy to have some squeeze out when you insert the blade. I have found that a slow set epoxy works best for me. Pin holes can be drilled after the epoxy has cured with alot of handle materials. Keep in mind your design and make sure you have enough wood to contour/shape your handle with out going to far and getting into the tang.


Mike K

Ray

Sorry about the confusion. You are right, I am talking about a through tang. I don't want to make a knife with a through tang that will break during use. That is why I am worried about size.

Thanks
Brian