Sgian dubh Build-along

[cavscout]

Keep it coming, this is great stuff!

[Rab Gordon]

Some tips for putting the tang in the handle, of course, this is just my experience and there may be better methods;

drill to just over the tang depth with a drill bit slightly larger than the thickness of the tang.
use a short, slightly smaller endmill to make the slot - you need to be very careful and take extremely shallow cuts with the endmill or it'll grab.
use a small chisel and file to finish off

use a 2 part epoxy resin to embed the blade - its strong stuff - you can mix in a little wood dust or colouring if you like if there's any visible gaps.

Another method is to heat the tang red-hot to burn a hole to exact shape, but of course you can't do this with a blade you've just heat treated and there's a danger of splitting the wood or at least making it brittle where the heat affects it.

hope this helps,

Rab

[Tartan Hiker]

The final installment, in which I mount the handle.

Rab is spot on in his last post. Drilling a hole in the block larger than the tang and then packing with epoxy will work just fine. In fact, if you are using antler this is the only practical way to proceed. As he mentioned the only tricky part is cutting the notch where the flare at the butt of the blade tapers into the tang.
I decided to use a different technique, just to show you some options. I have access to a band saw, which makes this easy as pie. Very careful sawing with a thin back saw would achieve very acceptable results if you have no band saw. I'm illustrating these steps using a block of cherry so the lines and cuts show up better in the photos. This will be my eldest son's blade. (The finished sgian at the end of this post is hafted with American Black Walnut).
Here is the block of cherry squared up and ready.



The first step is to split the block. Note how I split it perpendicular to the grain. That way the flat of the handle will show edge grain, making it far more interesting. Mark one end of each slab with a dot so that you will get them back together the right way.
Lay the blade, with the bolster in place, on the block and trace around the tang with a pencil. Be sure the blade is centered and pushed down firmly as it will be in the finished knife (note that when I took this photo the blade had shifted slightly, so it doesn't look like it is snugged up). It really helps if the width of the bolster is exactly the width of the block. Also note that I used ink dots to mark the bolster and the blade, indicating the orientation of the bolster when it fits best to the blade.
Also notice that I used a triangle file to cut some notches in the tang, which will make for a stronger glue bond.



Next use a drill to hollow out the area you've marked. The depth should be slightly more than one-half the thickness of the tang. This would be tricky with a hand drill, but inexpensive drill stops can be purchased that fasten directly to the bit to limit the depth. I used a drill press and a 1/4" forstner bit to do this job. By taking the line you are sure that the hole is larger than the tang itself. Clean up the hollowed area with a round file.

[Tartan Hiker]

Clean up the slots and check for a good fit. Ideally the tang will be a little loose. This insures room for the glue and allows the slabs to fit together tightly. If it's too tight, work out some material with a file or paper...don't try to re-drill it.
If you haven't already done so, polish the side of the bolster that will show with steel wool. Use a nail or other sharp point to score the side of the bolster that fits against the handle wood so that the glue will grab better.
Prep the blade and bolster by scrubbing it well with hot soapy water, drying, and wiping down with alcohol.
Prepare a good quantity of two-part epoxy glue. Apply glue to the blade notches and press the bolster into place. Now pack the handle slots with glue. Cover the flats of the slabs, and the underside of the bolster, with a thin coat of epoxy as well. Assemble the knife, making sure that all of your dot marks are in the right place. Apply two rubber bands to compress the slabs. Using a vise or clamps seems to encourage the slabs to slip out of place.
This photo shows the assembled knife dry fit (no glue yet). Note that all four dots are visible and that the seams are really tight.



After you get the glue and rubber bands in place, place a paper towel or newspaper on your work bench. Stand the knife point up and press firmly down on the blade. This seats the bolster and ensures that the two slabs are in perfect alignment. Glue will be oozing out of all the seams. Let it ooze. All this will be ground off later, anyway. Walk away and let the epoxy set.

After the glue has cured (give it plenty of time!) you'll need to remove the excess material. I don't have a sanding station, so I clamped my belt sander to the work bench. If you do this be sure that the belt is turning towards the floor. This same job can be done with files and paper, but the sander moves material much faster. Note that even thought the blade is not sharpened I'm using a leather glove on the blade hand. Not visible, but essential, is hearing protection, safety glasses, and a respirator.



Grind down the wood to the profile you desire. The bolster aluminum will grind down just like the wood, making a seamless transition.
The down side of a belt sander is that it is just too wide and flat to create curves in the handle. Hand filing or using a narrow grinding belt can accomplish this. My finished handle looked a bit too much like a kitchen knife, so I added an engraving (that matched my wedding ring!) to the handle with a dremel tool. Not art, but acceptable. Watco Danish Oil finish was applied to the walnut for long-lasting protection.

So here it is..my first knife.



Cheers,
Bill

[cavscout]

Very Nice! Great Project. Thanks for Documenting it so well.

[KiltedCodeWarrior]

Absolutely outstanding Tartan Hiker! I did not think that I would ever want or need to make my own sghian dhub, but this has got me very interested and I own almost all the tools except the specialty sand papers.

Although given the price of a sghian dhub on Track of the Wolves site...but I really do not like their handle.

[Tartan Hiker]

Silicon carbide is available at any hardware store, and is not much more expensive than regular paper. For a bit extra you can get the cloth-backed waterproof kind, and using it wet works better than using dry paper.

[minimalistix]

That's freaking cool.

How do you get this finish though?

[Rab Gordon]

The blade in the photo is made from Damascus steel (2 different steels folded together many times) but even then, you need to etch with acid to show up the pattern. Damascus can vary from quite expensive to very expensive.

Some of the blades I use and make.

Rab

That's freaking cool.
How do you get this finish though?

[Rab Gordon]

Looking good, I can see me being out of a job at this rate :-)

The final installment, in which I mount the handle.

Here's a tip that I use to align the two halves of a handle using the split down the middle approach;
Drill a few small holes right through from one side to another near the edge of the block in the waste wood that will later be sanded away.
When you come to reassemble the block for clamping and gluing use dowels for a perfect realignment with no slipping.
I use wooden cocktail sticks as dowels - simple but very effective.

Coat the blade and bolster where you don't need glue with a release agent - hot candle wax should do it. Makes it easier to clean up the excess epoxy without spoiling your previous polishing work.
The epoxy is a lot easier to work with and flows into gaps better if it's warmed up.

Are you going to make your own sheaths for these ?

Best Regards,
Rab