HIDI part 6; More guards and pre-shaping

 So a little more milling of a fighter guard:

With the size of these mills (a bit fragile) I drill a series of holes to remove some of the material and then connect the dots.

To bad you pay for everything not just what you use!

I guess they fit okay?  These are straight from the mill, 0 file/hand work.

Guards fitted; I am note sure were the 6th went in this picture.

Drilling for pins. Notice the guards just look like chunks of steel:

Pre-HT rough guard shaping.

If I have done it correctly I can remove most of the soon to be waste material and take a bit off of the guard shoulders and create a seamless fit (the reason it is pre-HT).

Guards fitted, pin holes drilled, and I had to go do one more thing:

I collect chute knives; I had to go ol' skool and put lanyard holes in the Chute's guard.

A pile of blades:

Ready for HT

HIDI part 5; Some handwork and starting the guards.

Sorry it has been a while I have been busy making knives.

So we left off with the "rough" grinds.  I take my blades to 400 pre-HT and then start back at 220 after.

Loveless hunters have a square spine and bottom of the ricasso.  The next few pictures really only apply to fighters; most of the time.:D

So the Chute is clamped ready to radius (don't make fun of the size of my vise).  I have 5 different vises and I can't get comfortable doing small/detail work with the larger ones.

I use a file with a safe edge to file against the shoulders

And check for perfection.

The Mini-Wilderness with the top an bottom of the ricasso radiused

One of the crowning moments of my career so far.  Fighters only have the clip sharpened.  So to add strength and character there is a nice taper from the top plunges to the break in the spine.  Not the easiest and looks killer on the finished knife.

The line-up ready for guards. All ground to 400 on the bevels. Flats are out to 800.

Another one of my finds. A manual Index brand mill.  This company is still in business and still made in the USA. They still have records on when mine left the factory and who it want to. I hope eventually to restore it; most of the parts are still available. Just as encouragement, shop around. My mill, vertical band-saw, and surface grinder cost a total of $1950. You will see how accurate the mill and I are in a moment.

Milling some 416 for the Utility, Chute and Mini-Wilderness to nominal size. I am able to get 416 for the Stiff Horns close enough.

Surface grinding to final dimension.

Cut to size. (that's just a fancy push stick to the right; safety first

I hate parallels, so I made a pair of aluminum jaws with two steps milled in for different stock thickness. Here milling the guard for the Utility. 

Finished.

Part six will be more guards ad getting ready for heat treat...