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Fit & Finish Fit and Finish = the difference in "good art" and "fine art." Join in, as we discuss the fine art of finish and embellishment.

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  #1  
Old 07-08-2004, 01:21 PM
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Mike Routen Mike Routen is offline
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Symmetry in Guard

I'm getting ready to put some guards on some blades, and I'm wondering what is the best way to make oval guards that don't look like a 3 year old trying to draw a circle? How do other knife makers produce beautiful, symmetrical, centered oval guards for their knives? I hand forge my blades, so I will probably not start with a true square tang and I can work with that. It's the curves at the top and bottom of the guard that are really torqueing my brain.

If anyone can offer some suggestions, I'd really appreciate them! :confused:

Thanks!

- Mike


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Old 07-08-2004, 01:26 PM
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rhrocker rhrocker is offline
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Mike, I have a mess of patterns and templates that I use. I made a series of guard "tops" and "bottoms", and can add in whatever length I need. Like you, I forge the guard, then put the pattern on the blank, and draw it out. I either mill, or drill/file from there. Just keep it balanced (visually) side to side, and you'll be fine.


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Old 07-08-2004, 02:06 PM
navajas navajas is offline
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I use oval templates I got from a blue printing supply house.
Roland
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Old 07-08-2004, 02:07 PM
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Chris Daigle Chris Daigle is offline
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Mike,

I can give a suggestion as to how I've done it in the past. Below is an oval guard I did for a small bowie. All I did was to use a drawing program on the computer (in my case, Adobe Illustrator) and printed an oval I was happy with. Start grinding, place it on the paper to compare to the print out, and so on. Once I was within the print out just sllightly all the way around, I knew it was closer than I could have ever gotten by eye. Worked out fine for me.

Chris

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Old 07-08-2004, 04:04 PM
ragnik ragnik is offline
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I am with chris on this one. I had a heck of a time trying to get them look right, then the wife siad hey and printed off some from the computer under microsoft paint I think. Long story short, I cut it out and then just taped it on the piece i was grinding and ground it to the paper.

Good Luck

Ross
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Old 07-08-2004, 04:06 PM
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Mike Routen Mike Routen is offline
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Good ideas guys! I can imagine creating a number of ovals of different sizes and shapes and printing them all on a page. This could be slipped into a plastic cover and kept in the shop as a reference sheet when making guards.

Things that make you go 'hmmmm'.

- Mike


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Old 07-08-2004, 06:13 PM
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rhrocker rhrocker is offline
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Another thing I do when forging is to trace around the pattern right onto the anvil, then when I'm shaping things in, I can put the steel over the drawn pattern, and see where I need to correct, or whatever. This idea came from Goddards Cable Damascus tape.


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Old 07-10-2004, 08:52 AM
cactusforge cactusforge is offline
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I do it all by free hand and by eye, when it looks right it is and then I quit. Gib


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