1/30/04 Here you can see the front of the bolsters have been shaped and finished to a mirror polish. They are still pinned in place so they match up perfectly. This is the jewelers hand vise I use to finish all bolsters with. If you are knife maker following this, you need this hand tool.

1/30/04 The bolster fronts have been polished, the dovetails are done and the pins have been cut to size. The knife has to be trial fitted several times to ensure every thing lines up properly. If you peen the bolsters and they don’t line up, you have to drill them out, grind them off and start all over. I’ve had to do this more than once so I’ve learned to check each step very carefully now.

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1/31/04 Looking from the top of the knife you can see the pins proud of the bolster material. Each pin has been polished and crowned. They are polished so there won’t be a dark ring around them when they are ground down flush with the bolster.

1/31/04 The blade is taped to protect it from scratches and me from cutting myself. It hasn’t been sharpened yet but it is still sharp enough to cut. I have been cut more often with not yet sharpened blades than I have with sharpened ones. The very last step in making a knife is sharpening the blade. JB Weld is used to give a seal between the bolsters and blade. Some knife makers use solder but I’ve seen too many knives have corrosion problems years later from soldering process. The pins hold the bolster, the JB Weld (or solder) is only to keep moisture out.