Here is how I do dovetailed bolsters with spacers. After the blade has been profiled, drilled, ground, heat treated, and polished (whew!), clamp a piece of bolster material to one side. It is helpful to scribe right on the bolster which side it is for, and which end goes forward.

Make sure the edges line up, and the ends will be where you want them.

Drill the first hole.

Immediately put a temporary pin through the bolster and blade. Shift the clamp so you can drill the second hole, again checking the alignment.

Set the first bolster aside, and repeat the process for the other side. When you have both bolsters drilled, pin them together and hold them in a hand vise or a pair of vise grips to allow you to hold them while you grind the leading ends.

Go through all the grits, and finish with a buffer, since you will not be able to go back and finish this part once the bolsters are attached to the blade.

Remove the pieces from the hand vise, and with them still pinned together, grind the ends even. The table on the disk sander should be set at right angles to the disk.

Now you can remove the pins. Reset the table on your disk grinder to the angle you want for your dovetail. Being very careful to remember which side is which, grind the chamfer on the inside of each bolster, taking off small amounts. Pin them back together to check for symmetry and evenness. NOTE: Do not change the angle on your grinder table until you are through making this knife.

When you have them perfectly even, pin them to the knife blade.

Peen the pins well to spread them out.

I usually follow this by roughly grinding the bolters to shape, since they get quite hot in this operation. If you already had handles attached, it could weaken the glue joint or scorch the handle material. Note that I tape the blade to protect it during all the remaining operations. A hand rubbed or mirror finish is easily nicked or scratched around a grinder.

The next step is to pre-glue the liners and the scales. This means that you will only be handling one piece per side instead of two, which greatly simplifies assembly and gluing. Select the scale material you want to use (in this case, I used stabilized Osage Orange), and make sure that it is dead flat. Cut a piece of spacer material of the proper size to cover it, and epoxy them together. I use a weighted board to “clamp” the parts together on the flat surface of the workbench. Be sure to put some waxed paper underneath so the assembly doesn’t get glued to the bench.

It’s time for the liners and spacers.

This is a sheet of .035” nickel silver, and a sheet of the vulcanized fiber material commonly used for liners in knifemaking. I cut a strip of each (carefully, so as not to bend or deform the nickel silver), and scuff up the surface of the metal with fine sandpaper. I wipe down both surfaces with acetone, and then use epoxy to make a nickel silver sandwich with red “bread.” It winds up looking like this.

This sandwich is cut up into strips to fit between the bolster and the handle material. I find it easiest to handle if you chamfer the end on the grinder (same angle as the bolsters) before you cut it to size. Your handle slabs are also chamfered at the same angle on the grinder, but you are effectively grinding the outside this time; just the reverse of what you did on the bolsters. With the knife securely held in a vise, glue up one side: bolster to spacer, and spacer to scale. Make sure all the parts are in alignment and fitting tightly. Let it cure.

With the knife securely held in a vise, glue up one side: bolster to spacer, and spacer to scale. Make sure all the parts are in alignment and fitting tightly. You will note that, in this case, I have added red pigment to the epoxy. This will help to make certain that no glue lines appear in the finished knife. Let it cure. Next day, you can drill through the attached scale using the holes in the tang for a drill guide. Repeat the gluing job on side two, and let it cure.

Saw off the excess scale material on the band saw.

You can then drill this side through from the side already drilled. Epoxy in your pins, and let cure again. This is a good time to rough out the handle, getting the sides flat and the scale material approximately flush with the tang.

You can then drill the new side through from the side already drilled.

With both scales drilled through, cut the pins to length, and notch them about halfway along the length. This “step” will give the epoxy something to grab when you glue them in place, and make sure that they stay put.

Epoxy in your pins, and let cure again. You can now start finishing out the handle shape, and when you get to this point, you will either be very pleased, or wretched if something slipped out of alignment.

This is the way that has evolved for me after much experimentation and lost sleep. I believe it will work for you too.

The finished product:

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