Riveting a tang

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Forager
Mar 9, 2011
178
0
Angus, Scotland
Hi all,
I've had a good search on the interweb and here and had no luck.
I'm about to build my first Sami knife with the tang riveted over at the end of the handle.
So the question is, how much tang do I leave sticking out in order to form a good rivet?
All my knives so far are hollowed out wood/bone combos in a pukko style and no rivet. The blade will be a Lauri carbon 95mm from Brisa.

Thanks.
 
Whenever i've done rivetted tangs i leave about 3-4mm for peening over.If you leave too much it either doesnt peen all the way down(if you get me)or it splits around the edges.
 
Thats what i left when i done a tang on Brisa blade i had.That one had a small disk of brass that was countersunk on the drill press so the steel end of the tang went into that and then it was polished smooth.
 
Sometimes I put a heavily compressed leather washer under a brass or copper washer and peen the tang down over that. It protects the handle material in the event that you get a little over keen when riveting :rolleyes:

I do this by squashing the leather in a vice, tightening it up every hour or so until I can't get it any tighter and then leave it clamped overnight. I do a similar process when making leather washers for stacked leather handles.

Some folks simply bend the end of the tang over and I've seen a few done that way in Norway and Sweden, but most are riveted with only a small amount of the tang protruding.
 
I am not sure how hard the lauri tangs are, you may have to draw some hardness first. If is too hard it will be a begger to form a rivet
 
Xunil,

Thanks for that. I might try a small washer over the bone.

Shinken,

According to the Brisa site, Lauri carbon blades are HRC59 tempered carbon steel. I think I have a wee bit of tang let from a previous job somewhere so I'll give that a beating and find out!

Cheers.
 

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