Hey good video. May I throw out a suggestion... just as the guard/tang joint reaches critical temp, apply the flame to the top of guard and apply solder to the bottom of guard. The capillary action will wick the solder up the joint leaving you with little to zero clean up in the exposed surface of the guard. Note: I gently clamp two steel plates on the blade to sink heat just in case the temp gets away from me a bit. Cheers!
Thanks Jeremy for your comment. I have used that method, and I also put a bead of supper glue on top which creates a dam against any extra solder accumulating on the finished side of the brass guard. Since this video, I have switched to JB Weld for the joint. It has proven to be very strong and no heat being applied to the blade. Best regards, Cliff Reeves
Thank you, thank you!!! I have NEVER had such an easy time silver soldering guards to blades, until I watched your video! I followed it to the letter, and WOW! what a difference. You sir have earned my subscription!!! Thank you again. I'll be watching!!!!!
Soldering has evolved over the years. The Loveless book was written around 1977, and most makers used a low temp lead/tin solder back then. By the 90's Loveless had transitioned to a lead-free Eutectic 157 solder, by the early 2000's no solder was used at all based on the bank vault tight fit Loveless could get on his guards. Since the solder is supposed to be a moisture seal instead of holding the guard on numerous makers have abandoned it all together in favor of JB Weld, especially on Damascus blades. No worries of excessive heat or errant flux leaching out causing corrosion between the tang and guard. I have been using the JB Weld route for nearly 20 years and never had any problems. But in the end there is more than one way to achieve success in a given task.
I couldn’t agree with you more. The art of being able to cleanly and effectively solder non-ferrous metals such as copper or brass to ferrous metals is a true art in itself. Getting good solder joints in wire and electrical repairs is also an art. There are many opinions and methods, but a good solder joint is a thing to behold. That said, the bravado of “soldered knife guards” does seem to be a bit misplaced. The presence of the acid flux in the sealed up and soldered joint can be problematic, but my biggest concern is the heat. Any kind of temper-affecting heat flares in the already tempered blade steel should be avoided at all costs. Even in this video, where he does make a good solder joint, he comments that some heat got in the tang area but not the blade. I would be inclined to think that any heat past desired temper in any area of a finished knife compromises its structure esp. under potential heavy use. JBWeld is effective at keeping out moisture, it’s much less time consuming, involves no heat and it can even be touched up in the future with more JBWeld if really needed.
TIP TO SAVE SOLDER CLEANUP: Just did my first bolster on a chef's knife. Did a LOT of research first, and found one great bit of advice to keep from having to clean up solder mess on the blade and front of bolster -- *keep the solder from sticking there*. Folks use either *yellow ochre* (you can buy the powder at an art supply store as pigment for oil paint and mix w/ water or alcohol), or *soapstone* stick (you can buy from any welding supply or many hardware stores - they're used to mark metal for welding. Me - I figured that since everybody emphasized how much you need to clean, degrease, lightly sand, etc. your surfaces or the solder won't stick, well, let's do the *opposite* where we *don't* want solder! :-) So I put just a wee bit of thin oil (the camellia oil that's good for coating carbon-steel blades) on the front of the bolster and where it meets the blade side. Obviously then I couldn't solder from that end, but my bolsters are curved and I couldn't balance bits there anyhow. So I put the knife spine-up in the vise, applied the solder from the spine, and *wow*. PERFECT. All my runout was either on the handle-side where cleanup marks would be under the scales, or on the spine or handle-belly where I'd be sanding flush anyhow. The brass and steel look like a single piece of metal that just changes color at the boundary - amazing.
Hi Cliff, great work. I'd like if I may to clarify a point you made at the start. As a jeweller and silversmith I would not refer to this method as silver soldering. The solder you are using is Tin based, with some small silver content. This is low temperature solder designed for electrical and electronic work. The small amount of silver adds to its electrical conductivity. But I'd still refer to this as electrical tin soldering. Silver soldering, as done by a jeweller requires solder which is almost pure silver (and can be hallmarked as such). Typically silver (jewellery) soldering ranges from 600c to 700c centigrade, Just below the melting point of the silver jewellery. Obviously it would be difficult to get a bolster to that temp as the blade acts as a heat sink. If you did, then 700c would likely be detrimental to the blade temper as you point out. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience, hopefully my silver knowledge also adds to the collective wisdom. Kind regards. Dave
Hi Dave, I appreciate your comments. I use Stay-Brite Silver Solder sold by Jantz Supply. It contains 4% silver and 96% tin free flowing at 435 degrees.
thanks for taking the time to make this video. I've had a varied relationship with this process, and watching this helped me get back on track. Particularly useful was the advice to cut the solder into smaller chunks and really clean the parts well. I've found two things that helped me; accepting that there will be cleanup, and making some brass chisels. 1/4" brass rod ground into a round point for burnishing and a flat/square for removing solder works great with a tiny professional-looking bead. Thanks again!
Thanks Brendon for your comment. Your comment is correct. I have two methods of soldering. The second method is running a bead of Super Glue gel along the blade side of the guard. Let it dry for several hours. Then invert the blade in a vice with the handle up. I then solder from the top and the super glue keeps the solder from dripping down on the blade. I learned this method from Ed Fowler published in Blade Magazine. I don't always use this method because there is a risk of a void of solder between the blade and guard. If the blade is 1095, I solder from the blade side to eliminate a chance of a void. I use 1095 steel when forging a blade. On stainless steel blades I don't worry as much. Cleaning up the brass with solder is more work, but I just consider it part of the process of a high gloss finish on all of my knives.
Thanks for the video. I agree with the ideology of having a real guard on a knife. I see so many knives with shiny bolsters, that are pretty, but do nothing to keep your hand from slipping onto the blade.
A large guard is preferred by a lot of my customers. It is my biggest seller. I like the feel of it and I think it looks great. I also make knives with smaller guards for those who like that style. It's the customers choice.
I would have liked to have seen your cleanup methods. Also, have you ever thought about just clamping a couple blocks of aluminum to the blade to keep it cool? Kind of how you use aluminum plates to quench stainless steel when hardening. It would definitely keep the blade cool. Just an idea.
great video---may i suggest making a 2X6 wood block, about 5 1/2" square. drill a hole in the center with a hole saw just the size of the mapp gas bottle, then glue a piece of 1/4" plywood to the bottom. this will allow you to place the cylinder in the holder without worry of it falling over just when you are busy with other things.
As Celtic Dreams says, that's not high strength real silver solder - which I don't think could ever be considered as an option with the temperatures required. Believe it or not, I've used JB Weld in similar circumstances, and never had anything let go. When you get right down to it, that's not the area of the knife that is likely to fail. Well filmed vid., though. It would do a good job of filling any gaps, and it's worth having as an option just for that, but I doubt it adds to the structural integrity of the finished knife
That's the same solder and flux I use. Lol Great video but, never seen the solder get cut up like that before. That's works great. But, I'll still do mine without doing that.
Great Vid- Thank You! As a "newbie", I certainly defer to you. But why are the pins not adequate enough to secure the gaurd? Is the soldering for strength or to close any gaps between the brass and steel? Thank you!
Thanks for your comment. The pin serve three purposes: first to add strength to the overall weld, secondly provide additional areas for the solder to sweat into, and lastly to hold the guard in place while soldering. The peening of the pin closes the gap of the pin whole and puts the pin firm in place. I have soldered without pins when the knife has a partial tang. In that case I use a special clamp to hold the guard in place while soldering. I have also used pins in tapered holes done by a tapered reemer, then peened the nickel silver pins down very flat, (you really need to beat the crap out of it), that will hold pins in place without soldering
Now it makes sense. Cliff, quite gracious of you to take time to reply. Your vid is beautifully clear and edifying. Perhaps I will be able to track down your email and receive a hard nosed critique. Many Thanks, Ian
Robert, The silver solder that I use is Stay-Brite Silver Solder, sold by Jantz Knife Supply. It is 4% silver and 96% tin for free flow at 435 degrees. This is not a plumber's solder. Thanks for asking. Go to: reevesknives.com for more information on how my knives are made.
Thanks for your comment John. Close tolerance between the bolster and guard is an issue. I do the filing of the guard slot by hand, so sometimes there is a little gap. But most of the fit is tight. I also peen two 1/8" pins through the guard and bolster. This also makes a stronger soldering job.
I use Stay-Brite Silver Solder from Jantz Knife Makers Supply. It has 4% Silver, 96% tin for free flowing at 435 degrees. Most knife makers use this because it is stronger than most ordinary solders. Works great on steel, stainless steel, nickel, brass, and copper. I have had great results using it for the last 20 years in making knives.
I'm not sure what you people are doing with these knives that you'd need such a big guard, or any guard at all. Are you using the knife to pierce very tough material?? Elephant hide, perhaps? Seriously, what are y'all doing? I've been using knives all my life and making them for about 7 years, and I've never once had or made a knife with a guard like that. I've also never lost my grip field dressing a deer or performing any number of bushcraft skills and lacerated or amputated a finger. What's up with that ???
john ek combat knives had no guard, he was criticized for it when demonstrating the knife to military leaders who were deciding if to contract him; Ek greased up the handle completely, grabbed it with one hand and stabbed it into their wooden floor so deep it was hard to get it out..his hand didnt slip; they were convinced and went with him.
Hey good video. May I throw out a suggestion... just as the guard/tang joint reaches critical temp, apply the flame to the top of guard and apply solder to the bottom of guard. The capillary action will wick the solder up the joint leaving you with little to zero clean up in the exposed surface of the guard. Note: I gently clamp two steel plates on the blade to sink heat just in case the temp gets away from me a bit. Cheers!
Thanks Jeremy for your comment. I have used that method, and I also put a bead of supper glue on top which creates a dam against any extra solder accumulating on the finished side of the brass guard. Since this video, I have switched to JB Weld for the joint. It has proven to be very strong and no heat being applied to the blade.
Best regards, Cliff Reeves
In south carolina we have been soldiering knives since the 60s.
Great video
Thank you, thank you!!! I have NEVER had such an easy time silver soldering guards to blades, until I watched your video! I followed it to the letter, and WOW! what a difference. You sir have earned my subscription!!! Thank you again. I'll be watching!!!!!
Soldering has evolved over the years. The Loveless book was written around 1977, and most makers used a low temp lead/tin solder back then. By the 90's Loveless had transitioned to a lead-free Eutectic 157 solder, by the early 2000's no solder was used at all based on the bank vault tight fit Loveless could get on his guards. Since the solder is supposed to be a moisture seal instead of holding the guard on numerous makers have abandoned it all together in favor of JB Weld, especially on Damascus blades. No worries of excessive heat or errant flux leaching out causing corrosion between the tang and guard. I have been using the JB Weld route for nearly 20 years and never had any problems. But in the end there is more than one way to achieve success in a given task.
Thanks for the comment. I will try using JB Weld.
I couldn’t agree with you more. The art of being able to cleanly and effectively solder non-ferrous metals such as copper or brass to ferrous metals is a true art in itself. Getting good solder joints in wire and electrical repairs is also an art. There are many opinions and methods, but a good solder joint is a thing to behold. That said, the bravado of “soldered knife guards” does seem to be a bit misplaced. The presence of the acid flux in the sealed up and soldered joint can be problematic, but my biggest concern is the heat. Any kind of temper-affecting heat flares in the already tempered blade steel should be avoided at all costs. Even in this video, where he does make a good solder joint, he comments that some heat got in the tang area but not the blade. I would be inclined to think that any heat past desired temper in any area of a finished knife compromises its structure esp. under potential heavy use. JBWeld is effective at keeping out moisture, it’s much less time consuming, involves no heat and it can even be touched up in the future with more JBWeld if really needed.
TIP TO SAVE SOLDER CLEANUP: Just did my first bolster on a chef's knife. Did a LOT of research first, and found one great bit of advice to keep from having to clean up solder mess on the blade and front of bolster -- *keep the solder from sticking there*. Folks use either *yellow ochre* (you can buy the powder at an art supply store as pigment for oil paint and mix w/ water or alcohol), or *soapstone* stick (you can buy from any welding supply or many hardware stores - they're used to mark metal for welding. Me - I figured that since everybody emphasized how much you need to clean, degrease, lightly sand, etc. your surfaces or the solder won't stick, well, let's do the *opposite* where we *don't* want solder! :-) So I put just a wee bit of thin oil (the camellia oil that's good for coating carbon-steel blades) on the front of the bolster and where it meets the blade side. Obviously then I couldn't solder from that end, but my bolsters are curved and I couldn't balance bits there anyhow. So I put the knife spine-up in the vise, applied the solder from the spine, and *wow*. PERFECT. All my runout was either on the handle-side where cleanup marks would be under the scales, or on the spine or handle-belly where I'd be sanding flush anyhow. The brass and steel look like a single piece of metal that just changes color at the boundary - amazing.
Thanks for the tip. I will try that next opportunity.
Hi Cliff, great work. I'd like if I may to clarify a point you made at the start. As a jeweller and silversmith I would not refer to this method as silver soldering. The solder you are using is Tin based, with some small silver content. This is low temperature solder designed for electrical and electronic work. The small amount of silver adds to its electrical conductivity. But I'd still refer to this as electrical tin soldering.
Silver soldering, as done by a jeweller requires solder which is almost pure silver (and can be hallmarked as such). Typically silver (jewellery) soldering ranges from 600c to 700c centigrade, Just below the melting point of the silver jewellery. Obviously it would be difficult to get a bolster to that temp as the blade acts as a heat sink. If you did, then 700c would likely be detrimental to the blade temper as you point out. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience, hopefully my silver knowledge also adds to the collective wisdom. Kind regards. Dave
Hi Dave, I appreciate your comments. I use Stay-Brite Silver Solder sold by Jantz Supply. It contains 4% silver and 96% tin free flowing at 435 degrees.
thanks for taking the time to make this video. I've had a varied relationship with this process, and watching this helped me get back on track. Particularly useful was the advice to cut the solder into smaller chunks and really clean the parts well. I've found two things that helped me; accepting that there will be cleanup, and making some brass chisels. 1/4" brass rod ground into a round point for burnishing and a flat/square for removing solder works great with a tiny professional-looking bead. Thanks again!
Thanks Brendon for your comment. Your comment is correct. I have two methods of soldering. The second method is running a bead of Super Glue gel along the blade side of the guard. Let it dry for several hours. Then invert the blade in a vice with the handle up. I then solder from the top and the super glue keeps the solder from dripping down on the blade. I learned this method from Ed Fowler published in Blade Magazine. I don't always use this method because there is a risk of a void of solder between the blade and guard. If the blade is 1095, I solder from the blade side to eliminate a chance of a void. I use 1095 steel when forging a blade. On stainless steel blades I don't worry as much. Cleaning up the brass with solder is more work, but I just consider it part of the process of a high gloss finish on all of my knives.
Thanks for the video. I agree with the ideology of having a real guard on a knife. I see so many knives with shiny bolsters, that are pretty, but do nothing to keep your hand from slipping onto the blade.
A large guard is preferred by a lot of my customers. It is my biggest seller. I like the feel of it and I think it looks great. I also make knives with smaller guards for those who like that style. It's the customers choice.
I would have liked to have seen your cleanup methods. Also, have you ever thought about just clamping a couple blocks of aluminum to the blade to keep it cool? Kind of how you use aluminum plates to quench stainless steel when hardening. It would definitely keep the blade cool. Just an idea.
Thanks Commando340, That is a great idea to make my knife shop safer.
great video---may i suggest making a 2X6 wood block, about 5 1/2" square. drill a hole in the center with a hole saw just the size of the mapp gas bottle, then glue a piece of 1/4" plywood to the bottom. this will allow you to place the cylinder in the holder without worry of it falling over just when you are busy with other things.
As Celtic Dreams says, that's not high strength real silver solder - which I don't think could ever be considered as an option with the temperatures required. Believe it or not, I've used JB Weld in similar circumstances, and never had anything let go. When you get right down to it, that's not the area of the knife that is likely to fail.
Well filmed vid., though. It would do a good job of filling any gaps, and it's worth having as an option just for that, but I doubt it adds to the structural integrity of the finished knife
Very good Mr Cliff, thanks for sharing!
I clamp a few pieces of steel on the blade. They act as a heat sink and keep the heat from migrating to the edge.
Another great idea.
That's the same solder and flux I use. Lol Great video but, never seen the solder get cut up like that before. That's works great. But, I'll still do mine without doing that.
As a precaution, would it be a good idea to wrap the blade in a damp cloth to keep it from getting too hot?
I'll try that on my next project. If that works out I'll make an update. Thanks.
Thank you for sharing, I am going to give it a try.
Great Vid- Thank You! As a "newbie", I certainly defer to you. But why are the pins not adequate enough to secure the gaurd? Is the soldering for strength or to close any gaps between the brass and steel? Thank you!
Thanks for your comment. The pin serve three purposes: first to add strength to the overall weld, secondly provide additional areas for the solder to sweat into, and lastly to hold the guard in place while soldering. The peening of the pin closes the gap of the pin whole and puts the pin firm in place. I have soldered without pins when the knife has a partial tang. In that case I use a special clamp to hold the guard in place while soldering. I have also used pins in tapered holes done by a tapered reemer, then peened the nickel silver pins down very flat, (you really need to beat the crap out of it), that will hold pins in place without soldering
Now it makes sense. Cliff, quite gracious of you to take time to reply. Your vid is beautifully clear and edifying. Perhaps I will be able to track down your email and receive a hard nosed critique. Many Thanks, Ian
is that silver solder or just plumber's solder?
Robert, The silver solder that I use is Stay-Brite Silver Solder, sold by Jantz Knife Supply. It is 4% silver and 96% tin for free flow at 435 degrees. This is not a plumber's solder. Thanks for asking. Go to: reevesknives.com for more information on how my knives are made.
SO YOU AR.E FILLING THE GAPS. WHY NOT MAKE THE GAURD A BETTER FIT.
Thanks for your comment John. Close tolerance between the bolster and guard is an issue. I do the filing of the guard slot by hand, so sometimes there is a little gap. But most of the fit is tight. I also peen two 1/8" pins through the guard and bolster. This also makes a stronger soldering job.
BECAUSE they can not soldier.
This is Tinmans solder not lead and certainly never 'Silver Solder' 95 % tin with lead and maybe 2% silver. Don't believe what it says on the box .
What ever the content is for Stay Brite Silver Solder is, it makes a good joint. Thanks for your comment.
"legalists"... 🙄
Do you peen before or after soldering?
I peen before soldering. That way, the solder will sweat into the tight area between the pin and guard. This
will give a strong bond
This is NOTsilver soldering.This plumbers lead solder. Why upload untruths ??
I use Stay-Brite Silver Solder from Jantz Knife Makers Supply. It has 4% Silver, 96% tin for free flowing at 435 degrees. Most knife makers use this because it is stronger than most ordinary solders. Works great on steel, stainless steel, nickel, brass, and copper. I have had great results using it for the last 20 years in making knives.
I'm not sure what you people are doing with these knives that you'd need such a big guard, or any guard at all. Are you using the knife to pierce very tough material?? Elephant hide, perhaps? Seriously, what are y'all doing? I've been using knives all my life and making them for about 7 years, and I've never once had or made a knife with a guard like that. I've also never lost my grip field dressing a deer or performing any number of bushcraft skills and lacerated or amputated a finger. What's up with that ???
Tell that to Mr.Ruana!
john ek combat knives had no guard, he was criticized for it when demonstrating the knife to military leaders who were deciding if to contract him; Ek greased up the handle completely, grabbed it with one hand and stabbed it into their wooden floor so deep it was hard to get it out..his hand didnt slip; they were convinced and went with him.