I have had a hard time figuring out how to do this on a full tang blade.  What I'm now using is a very small pean hammer called a repousse' hammer.  With my forged blank red-orange hot I hammer/push the metal out from my finger guard.  It seems to come out OK.  Just wondering if anyone else is doing this and what is your method...tippit

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hmmmmmm....Honestly Jeff, I've never seen that done before. I have been thinking (purely coincidentally) about the exact same thing though.
It looks like you've pretty much figured it out. A quick sand up with a wheel or round stick & it'll be there.

The only option I came up with was to form the curve in flat steel & then either weld or braze it in place. Tht's the fabricator in me though!  :D

I likey... I copy!!!!           I just got done hammering a file into a knife and would have given this a whirl if'n I would have seen it first .     I do think I seen it done on a knife somewhere before? Looks great Doc.<><

You talkin' about the "Joe Keeslar look"?

Joe Keeslar does a lot of his knives with a similar finger guard, but I don't know what method he uses to do it.

Here's a pic of some samples Joe had out at Batson's bladesmithing symposium, but I was there for the silver inlay demo so I did't see him forge these:

he could have made a special tool to do it that is the simplest way i could think of to get that good of a look...from an engineers perspective

sorry i have no room to talk here i am by no means a smithy

Does Joe make the knives for Great Northern?  If not, the custom knives that Rick and Jerry sell have the same finger guard and I was thinking about trying to add it to one of mine.  

Robo - I was thinking of adding it with the ole mig welder as well - I am an old fabricator too.

Bob Urban

Does anyone know what Joe Keeslar uses to do that.  Dan Winkler also does something similar.  I seem to be more blacksmith than bladesmith...just trying new ideas with my hammers    tippit

looks to me like he has a tool specifically made to do it,like a piece of round bar as a "sideways" hammer? What do you think,Jeff?

Can that be done with a hammer or is it a power hammer thing?  Maybe pound a round piece of bar stock into the groove at orange hot?  I have tried using my round hardies but seem to get too much distorsion on back of the blade.  Help...tippit

This is just another reason to get our Aiken house & barn finished so Molly can be there for the winter and I have a resting place to go to the Batson's bladesmithing symposium and hunt hogs with Ray!  Of course this is mainly for Molly    tippit

karl thats where I seen it. There was 3 of hism older knives on E=ay awhile back. bids went higher then I could spend at the time.Doc I like the rough look you got better.<><<><

See that second one from the right? Still has the square tip?
OK - just set the square tip on the anvil with the handle up in the air and use your cross pein and beat it down!
There's no special tools - just a hammer.

Hammer??>>> that's what I gotta get a good hammer. <><

Karl,  So simple and I was trying to do it by beating down on my round harty.  The anvil will protect the back of the blade.  Thanks...tippit

Karl beat me to it (pun intended).  I spent an afternoon in a blacksmith shop last year and watched him work on a bunch of stuff, asking questions as he worked.  It's amazing how much you can move metal around with just a hammer!

MS Ray Smith does a similar guard as well, but couples it with some fancy scroll work.  Anyone wondering where I got the inspiration for the St Jude knife two years ago should check out  His Site  .  I talked with him a bunch and got my dad a day at his forge for Christmas.

This thread has got me thinkin'!
I'm thinkin' W2 with a clayed hamon and black cord wrap starting off with a turk's head....
hhmmmmmm........

Ok I have a ??? for ya Karl. How do you keep the blade from bending when ya hammer the finger gaurd? <><

Guys,
       Joe Keeslar was one who taught me to forge. The way he forges the Brute de forge is like this:
            He forges the handle to shape including the distal taper.

     After heating what will soon be the guard area to orange, He then turns the handle up in a strong vise, the guard area just above the jaws and clamped tight. The bottom of the knife is now toward you.

   Using a hammer made for this, he then strikes down toward the vice onto the small ledge  that is to form the guard. The material is upset in an even manner to form a sort of guard.

   All of the above has to be thought out in advance so as not to waste the heat. It might take a couple or more heats, being that the vise will soak it away so fast.

    Only after he is satisfied with the handle/ guard area will he forge the blade. This backwards to the steps for forging most blades. The pictures in the post above are accurate and can be used to picture what I'm saying. One thing, in the above photo, the sequence starts from right to left.

   I have made myself a hammer to perform the forging of the guard from an old brick hammer. I just rounded the claw to about a 1/4 inch radius leaving the actual thickness to about 1/2 inch.

  I hope this helps. I'll try to clarify, if I can. It's really neat way to construct a knife.                      Lin

Lin ya got a pic of the prize custom hammer? If it is a secret i understand.<><