Hello again.

I bought this small German nicker at a flea market a few days ago. For various reasons I'd like to give it a new chape in the style of a South American gaucho knife with a drag on the end. The puñal criollo shown about halfway down this page is the general shape that I'd like to use, although probably much more detailed than I'd be able to achieve.

How do you make a chape with a drag? The only methods I could figure out are that the chape is made in a front and back half, and the drag is an extension of one or both halves, which are then soldered, brazed or welded together, or that the drag is made separately with tabs inserted into slots or between the halves of the chape and again soldered/brazed/welded.

Also, could anyone venture a guess about what metal the fittings are made of? The green patina seems like verdigris (I can scrape it off with my fingernail), so I would guess maybe nickel silver?

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White brass, on your scabbard and knife fittings. The missing fitting had no additional "drag" or ball end. The gaucho trend of a fan like or other addition simply brazed or soldered on (no additional slots or tabs used or needed), although some are castings in and of themselves.

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Cheers
GC

Okay. Certainly examining some originals firsthand would be informative, but I do believe a back-seamed chape with a drag made of 1mm plate would be the most realistically attainable compromise. The other way of fabricating one, given my technological limitations, would be more complicated and prone to failure.

Alternately, I was thinking of maybe ordering a blade from Weber Messer next year or the year afterward for another project and adding a German-style chape would only cost a few dollars more. It would take away some of the artistic freedom, though.

About the solder, I have some Lukens AquaPure -- something like that? Contains silver but with a melting point of less than 500F.

Yup, that is very similar stuff and would be plenty strong for such an application
https://www.cooneybrothers.com/ASSETS/DOCUMENTS/ITEMS/EN/AquaPure_data_sheet.pdf

Clean and flux. Too much heat just makes it run away. If you have a piece of scrap, you can practice heating the pieces until it just starts to flow. The mechanical join of slotting or pegging would surely make a greater join but it is something that would not be under great load.

Something I have had no luck with is the gold paste solder.

My own workshop is kind of in limbo now, in condo life.

Cheers
GC

Thanks. I'll do a test hopefully over the weekend.

Ed.: Just tested it -- good recommendation. I was eventually able to break the bond, but I'm pretty sure any accident exerting as much force as it took would crush the chape itself unless it were made of much thicker metal than I was planning, so yeah, that's plenty strong enough.

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