How many pins???

[Martyn]

Seems like a silly question, but I've just traced out the outline of a fairly large bowie onto a piece of 3/16" 01 for my first attempt at grinding. I want to do a stub tang and I was wondering what the minimum in "pinnage" I could get away with while retaining good function and strength. The reason I ask, is I see a lot of knives with 6 or more pins - is this purely aesthetc or is their a *need* for this. I have a Paul Chen Shinto katana with a 36" blade. The blade is held in place with a single bamboo peg about 1/4" dia. I belive this is the traditional method. If a small bamboo peg is good enough for a 36" battlle blade, what is necessary for an 8" bowie?

Thanks

[Mike Hull]

On a handle like that(I am assuming mitered, or inletted), one or two pins, as well as epoxy. If you want more, around the edges, they would be stricktly decorative. I would think, six, evenly spaced.
You might want to consider 3/32" pins, as they, IMO, will give you a cleaner look than 1/8" pins. Just a thought.

[Martyn]

Thaks Mike. I was thinking of using just one pin, mabe 2 would reduce the stresses.