Couple of question about working with jigged bone

[Jeffinn]

I was just reading Dales excellent tutorial on fitting bone handles to the scales when I came across an unfamiliar term, what does it mean when he says" Now I am ready to haft the stag down to the thickness of the bolsters where the bolster and stag meet and then assemble the knife."? I'm not sure what haft means.
Additionally, once the bone scales are epoxied to the liners, are they still pinned?
I was just browsing the website over at Culpeppers and there's some fairly affordable jigged bone available in smaller sizes. I may order some to try and see how it is to work with.
Thanks in advance for any advice you might share!
Jeff

[#goldpan]

I think Dale means to use a belt sander or equal to remove material from the back of the slab until its the same thickness as the bolsters before attaching them to the liners. As to pin or not after gluing is up to you. I do both. There are some cases where you just use a good adhesive only. An example would be working with stone or other material that difficult to drill through.

[muskrat man]

hafting refers to blending the bolster - stag/bone junction usually with the contact wheel of a belt grinder, or it can be done by hand with files or a dremel tool.

[americanedgetech]

I believe the main purpose of the epoxy/adhesive is to keep water, dirt, debris out of the join between the handle, and the frame. It is a side bonus that it keeps things in place.

For stone, and other similar materials... Yes it is primarily an adhesive but the bonus is keeping the join clean, and clear.

[edge213]

Ken, as you know we all love pictures. Would you post some pictures of some of the knives you have rehandled?
I don't have the ability to be a quality knife mechanic. So I enjoy seeing others work who have that talent.

[Mumbleypeg]

I was just reading Dales excellent tutorial on fitting bone handles to the scales when I came across an unfamiliar term, what does it mean when he says" Now I am ready to haft the stag down to the thickness of the bolsters where the bolster and stag meet and then assemble the knife."? I'm not sure what haft means.
Additionally, once the bone scales are epoxied to the liners, are they still pinned?
I was just browsing the website over at Culpeppers and there's some fairly affordable jiggled bone available in smaller sizes. I may order some to try and see how it is to work with.
Thanks in advance for any advice you might share!
Jeff

Maybe this video will be of some help. The hafting process starts about 3:30 into the video.

As the term is used here it means shaping and finishing the covers to fit the frame and bolsters of the knife, removing any excess handle material.

Ken

[Bill DeShivs]

"Jigged," not jiggled.
Jigging is the act of cutting the surface of the bone into a pattern.

[americanedgetech]

Ken, as you know we all love pictures. Would you post some pictures of some of the knives you have rehandled?
I don't have the ability to be a quality knife mechanic. So I enjoy seeing others work who have that talent.

I'm still in the process of setting up shop.
It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to understand the process tho... Just sharing information from other threads/sources.

As you know, Bone, antler un-stabilized wood are all porous materials, and will hold water/debris. Water/debris and dirt are the enemy to both the handle material, and most of the metals used.
Sealing them out is a good idea, no? So is sharing what I have learned...

[Jeffinn]

"Jigged," not jiggled.
Jigging is the act of cutting the surface of the bone into a pattern.

LOL! I'm an excellent speller but a lousy typist! So you don't know anything about jiggling bone then?

[orvet]

[orvet]

I was just reading Dales excellent tutorial on fitting bone handles to the scales when I came across an unfamiliar term, what does it mean when he says" Now I am ready to haft the stag down to the thickness of the bolsters where the bolster and stag meet and then assemble the knife."? I'm not sure what haft means.
Additionally, once the bone scales are epoxied to the liners, are they still pinned?
I was just browsing the website over at Culpeppers and there's some fairly affordable jiggled bone available in smaller sizes. I may order some to try and see how it is to work with.
Thanks in advance for any advice you might share!
Jeff

One of the problems with posting tutorials about work you have done is that over the years sometimes your methods evolve and change. I am not sure which tutorial you looked at, if you could post a link I would appreciate it. The method I currently use in fitting bone to the handles involves using a playing card cut in half to get the proper angles of the bolsters so that the bone will fit to the bolsters.
If you read that tutorial you should be in good shape if not there is a better way to do it.

When it comes to hafting the bone or stag to fit the bolsters there are at least a couple ways you can do that also, you can sand down the handle to fit the bolster from the top or you can thin the handle out before you install it by sanding it down. This is most easily done on a belt sander. Usually with heavily jigged bone or stag you still have to do a little haft and from top as well. Some people don’t like to see anything but jigged bone right up to the bolster; other people like to see some smooth bone where it has been hafted. I fall into the latter category because I believe that bone can be an absolutely gorgeous material and sometimes the contrast between smooth and jigged bone even increases the beauty to my eye.

[Jeffinn]

Hi Dale,
There's nothing wrong with your tutorial (viewtopic.php?f=38&t=33927), I just wasn't sure what "hafting" meant. I think I've got it now!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Jeff

[orvet]

Jeff,
This is the post that Bob made where he originally shared the playing card method. I think I did a tutorial on it also but I am not sure. I have been using this method that Bob shows since he posted it. It works far better for me than the method that you used from my old post from 2012. Bob posted this in 2013 about a year after the post of mine that you used. I have far fewer problems using Bob’s method and I highly recommend it. I am posting this link in here so you and anyone else who wants advice on fitting handles to bolsters will also have this link. Using my old method I still had errors from time to time in fitting. It still happens once in a while but far less frequently than it used to. I highly recommend Bob’s playing card method.

viewtopic.php?f=37&t=35714&p=336081&hil ... es#p336081

My earlier method, the one that you used, does work, I just found I made significantly fewer errors using Bob's “playing card method.”

[americanedgetech]

Thank you for taking the time to find, and link that thread Dale.
I was thinking templates made similar to your original tutorial would be fine but as you pointed out... Less room for error in Just Bob's method.

Thank you to Bob as well for sharing the idea.

[Jeffinn]

Thanks Dale!
That seems like the simplest way to accomplish what I'm trying to do. I'll definitely give it a try.
Jeff

[Jeffinn]

When you get to the point where you need to drill holes in the bone scales are you doing that at high speed or low speed? I'm assuming a sharp bit at high speed but since I haven't done it before I figured I would ask.
Thanks.

[orvet]

I use sharp drills, drills that I use for bone and wood primarily. I keep a backstock of all of the number drills in the sizes that I use most frequently. For example number 51 is the number drill I used to drill the holes for 1/16" pins.
I use my drill press on low speed, and I don't have a problem with chipping.

If I am working with ivory I always use a new drill bit!

Hope this helps.

[Jeffinn]

Thanks Dale.