Western to wa

Is it possible, without damaging the blade, to grind down a western and fit a wa to it?

yes

The hard part is finding someone with the time to do it. Dave Martell is taking some new work, but I don't know if that includes conversions right now. Not sure who else does conversions and doesn't have a real long waiting list.

Be well,
mikey

I recently found an eight inch forgie for a few bucks at a flea market so I thought I would try this out. I did the major steel removal with a grinder and finished it on a belt sander. I used an extra shig handle I had lying around. It worked out surprisingly well.

Vesteroid said:

Is it possible, without damaging the blade, to grind down a western and fit a wa to it?

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If the knife does not have a bolster, it is an easy conversion. It's the removal of the bolster and cleaning up the area where it was welded or brazed on that is the time-consuming part.

Pensacola Tiger said:

If the knife does not have a bolster, it is an easy conversion. It's the removal of the bolster and cleaning up the area where it was welded or brazed on that is the time-consuming part.

Click to expand...

It's also possible to keep bolster and make octagonal hidden tang handle. Would save an hour or so.

But there could be problem if original tang was skeletonized (has holes in it to save weight). If those holes are in the center, it would be nearly impossible to make WA conversion. I've seen two such knives in my life (though one of them wasn't a kitchen knife).

icanhaschzbrgr said:

It's also possible to keep bolster and make octagonal hidden tang handle. Would save an hour or so.

But there could be problem if original tang was skeletonized (has holes in it to save weight). If those holes are in the center, it would be nearly impossible to make WA conversion. I've seen two such knives in my life (though one of them wasn't a kitchen knife).

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When you say holes you mean not rivet holes right? As in the hole is a piece of steel cut out.

(This is the handle, the O are the rivet holes)

------------------------------------
| O | <hole here> | O |
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Hope you like my illustration of the handle.

sharptools said:

When you say holes you mean not rivet holes right? As in the hole is a piece of steel cut out.

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here's a picture

That's not a kitchen knife, but it doesn't matters here. Lots of makers are doing same thing to reduce weight on their knives. As you can see, this knife would be nearly impossible to convert into hidden tang/WA unless you can weld new tang.

Yes that makes sense. Thanks!

If you have a good square wheel on your grinder it doesn't take that long really. Just have a bucket of water to cool it when it gets warm to the touch. I have never seen a kitchen knife drilled out like that hunter.

I recently tried experimenting with this. I have limited space and tools and it actually worked out pretty well on my practice knives. I have attempted several methods but the best so far is a combination of dremel with a aluminium oxide grinding wheel and a hand file. I mark the tang with a sharpie and go to town. it does get a little dusty so you should have the proper safety equipment, do it outside etc. One other thing to note is that the metal part you are grinding down does get hot so you may need to space out how long you grind for.

I know Moritaka cuts and welds a stainless tang on their knives, so in theory wouldn't it be possible to convert even a skeletonized tang?