We will now interrupt the regular ones that old program for this good old ones, microphones. On this episode, I'd like to talk about bolsters, fit up and finish. Alright. Um, I've been known for my bolster finishes and setup, and I really specialize in dovetails. But in fitting up bolsters, there are some caveats to it because you can either do do or execute a bolster correctly or a bunch of wrong ways. All right. And what I mean by that is that a proper bolster fit up has a few elements of consideration. The first is that any pins you use are hidden absolutely. You do not want to have exposed pins or uh divots in pins or areas where you did not pee in them or press them correctly where they show up. Now, once hand um bolster material oxidizes, the game changes a little bit. Because if the alloy on the pins and the bolsters is not exact, it can patina differently. For instance, you can hide pins on nickel silver. You can use nickel silver pins that by and large are the same approximate alloy, however, they may very well oxidize at different rates. So you want to try to match the pin material to your bolster material as closely as possible. Um, in the knife makers guild, when I was going through the probationary uh inspection process, one of the guys had told me that they actually turn pins from the same material that they use for bolsters, and that's the only way that they've been able to get them to match up and hide correctly. Um in the case of like 416 alloy, uh stainless alloys have gotten a lot better and they they tarnish at such a slower rate than nickel, silver, or brass or copper that it's a lot easier to match them up with the pin material, even if you buy it separately. But um what you'll want to do especially is make sure that your pin material is as closely matched to your bolster material as possible. The other thing about bolsters is that when you are attaching them, if they are not aligned properly, they will make the knife look horrible. It's the first thing next to the the overall form factor of the knife that people will look at because the lack of symmetry uh compared to the handle material will be apparent and fairly quickly. That's further compounded in dovetail bolsters because you have two points on the back of the knife or the spine and two points on the handle side or the you know the lower side of the knife that people can compare against for symmetry. In addition, they'll also either have a contour where the Ricasso is at, so where you round off the front of the bolsters, or points on the bolster at the front if you're doing a square a square mount that they can check as well for geometry and fit up. And anytime you're fitting up bolsters, if your geometry is not exact, then there are places where the eye will naturally gravitate towards, and thus people will be able to tell the quality and time you put up uh put into the fit up itself. One way that I will align bolsters is I'll use a file guide. It is probably the easiest and most effective way to attach a file guide to the Ricasso where your bolsters are supposed to meet, and then buttress those bolsters against the file guide when you're peening so that way they stay flat. When I am drilling the holes for my bolsters, I will use the file guide and I'll use super glue to make sure that those holes are aligned correctly on both the left and right sides, and the holes are straight and they don't walk. If you're contouring, it's a little bit different. So if you're adding a radius to the front, because you can you can get away a tiny bit with a with a minute lack of symmetry. Like I'm talking maybe a thousandths or two, but the the closer you get to square angles, the easier it is to see symmetrical differences. What I do to help guard against this is on my left and right sides, I will actually do any milling or finishing on a single piece of bolster material. So I will measure out the width of my blade where the bolster material is supposed to connect, and I will add a little bit of material onto each side to make sure that I have ample room to grab it and to grind off afterwards. Then I will cut that bolster in half and do a little bit of cleanup, and then I can attach it to either side with the glue and the file guide method, and then drill my holes and make sure that the front of the bolster is finished all the way, and then pean them and grind them uh flush on the profile. When you're profiling them, it's easy enough to do a 45-degree angle at the bolster by where the spine connects, and then round that over either by slack belting or knocking off the corners until the entire radius is gone, and then uh using a slack belt from there. Once the bolsters are entirely contou and they're brought up to near the finish that you're going to have on the final knife, then you can attach the handle material and you don't have to worry about dishing or anything like that. But um it benefited me greatly to have a disc grinder in the shop because it's easier to finish out bolster fronts on there. If you have a horizontal grinder, that's also fairly easy. But the milling machine is another viable option if you can take the bolster material in its single, like larger piece form and do your 45s or or whatever for the front and the back, and then you can use abrasive to finish those out and buff them before you put them on the knife. Bolsters are kind of a complex beast. Um, it is easier to use a file guide in order to line them up, and I would highly recommend if you don't have one to get some type of pin press set up because the the motion from pinning bolsters on will walk the bolsters oftentimes and you won't know it. And it it they might pop off the bottom of the file guide and cause problems. Uh, so the slow, steady pet pressure of a pin press uh is a lot easier to control the connection between the pin, the hole, and the bolster material to the tang of the blade. One other thing that's really important to note about material that is supposed to be flat to the tang is if you have a surface grinder and you can, you should surface grind your handle material down to the tightest tolerance you can. I will hold my bolster material that's been cut up to the light, pressed against the tang, and if there is any light that passes through that, there is too much gap. You can handle this by lapping it. You can run it on the surface grinder again to get a tighter tolerance if the if the surface grind was too rough. But make sure that that bolster material is flat to the tang, and that there's no light shining through. Otherwise, you will start to see gaps when you're grinding it down, and that is also going to be something that draws the eye to it. I hope these tips helped. Ask if you have any questions, and this is another episode of the Good Old Blades Micro Podcast.