For my knife I decided to add some bolsters onto the handle to add a bit more class and workmanship to the knife. You will want to have two pieces of brass that are the same thickness. I placed the blade onto the piece of brass and drew around the profile of the blade with a black pen – this can be shown in the picture. Clamp both pieces of brass together and file the profile that is going to be located nearest the blade end (the ricasso area). This is done first because once the bolsters are glued and pinned you will not be able to work on that area. Once you have that same profile on both pieces of brass, write the words ‘right’ and ‘left’ on the back of the pieces of brass so you know which side they belong on. Although the profile should be the same there might be slight differences between each piece.



Take one of the bolsters and clamp it to the handle in the correct position. Using the same drill bit that was used to drill the bolster holes, drill though these as a guide and then through the brass. Put that bolster to one side and then drill through the other one. On the outside of each bolster you will want to put a small countersink in the hole. This is so that when the brass bar is peened, it has a little area to expand, thus gripping the bolster.



Cut two pieces of the 4mm brass bar so that when the bar is placed through the bolsters and the steel blade, there is about 5mm on either side.



Mix some of the epoxy and spread it on the areas where the bolster will be in contact with the blade. Try not to put too much on as when the brass is clamped together, the glue will be forced out. Place both bolsters onto the blade and push the brass bar though. It might be a little tight as the hole is exactly the same size as the bar so a little gentle encouragement with a hammer should do the trick.



When the brass bar is through both bolsters and the blade with equal distances on both side, lay the blade on its side on a hard metal surface. Ideally you would use an anvil for this but I just used the back of a metal vice instead. Take the peening hammer (with the semi-spherical dome head) and begin hitting the metal pin whilst it is supported underneath by the metal surface. Keep hitting the pin and turning the knife over so that both sides are worked equally. This will cause the end of the brass bar to mushroom and in doing so will grip the bolster. Once both sides of both brass bars are mushroomed, leave for 24 hours until the epoxy has fully cured.



Once the epoxy has cured, you can begin sanding down the brass bar until it is completely flush with the bolster. If you have done this step correctly, as shown in the picture, the brass bar should completely disappear and become invisible to the eye. If not, you will end up with a small circle on the side of the bolster but that is not the end of the world! You can use a file and begin filing to top of the brass so that it becomes flush with the blade and likewise on the bottom. I added a small radius to the edges using sandpaper. This gives a nice ergonomic look to the handle and takes away the harsh sharp edges.