Broken Tang

[Windy Wilson]

[strike]If[/strike] I have a knife with a broken tang, can that be welded?
It's some variety of stainless steel, apparently, and there is some sentimental value to the thing.
Just want to know what the consensus is before I go out seeking welders.

Edited to strike through. Such conditionalism is wimpy.

[Slash]

The short answer is: Yes.

A longer answer is: Yes, but whether the knife will continue to be a useful cutting tool depends on a few things. Stainless can be welded, of course, but it takes a bit more skill and knowledge than the normal DIY'er so a pro may have to be consulted. Depending on how close the break is to the blade, the knife may need to be re-heat-treated. Handle or grips removal and installation must also be considered, i.e. is it a matter of removing a few rivets or pins, or do you need to de-glue the material.

Do you have a pic?

[Denis]

If welding isn't feasible for the reasons Slash mentions, brazing or hard (silver) solder might do, or it might be possible to drill the blade and rivet (or rivet and glue) a tang or tang extension on.

[Bullspit]

It can be done. If the knife has sentimental or other great value it might be worth it. If not, then I'd get a new knife.

I've heard of Bark River Knife and Tool doing such a repair for someone. You might check them out if you are looking to get this done. They will do a complete refurbish on a knife and I've seen some nice examples of their work.

[Windy Wilson]

It's been completely dismounted from the handle; I was repairing the handle and removing the home made rivets to replace them with real cutler's rivets when the break occurred.

[ZeroGravitas]

Is the break close to the blade?
Is it a through-tang or a full tang?

I ask because welding will change the hardness in the area of the weld, and more area in a full tang than a through tang
Heat treating stainless is for a pro, but not all that expensive, about $30 IIRC, from Texas Knifemakers Supply.

Oops, read all the responses - yeah, umm, what Slash said. +1. yup.

[Windy Wilson]

The tang extended about half way into the handle, with two home made rivets, and it broke across the rivet hole closest to the blade, about an inch from where the sharpness starts. I'll try a photo this evening.

[Windy Wilson]

Ok, I've attached a picture.
You can see where the rivet hole nearest the exposed part of the blade broke, with a fracture line extending towards the spine of the blade about an inch from the handle.

[Bullspit]

That looks pretty bad. Am I seeing this wrong or did the break actually fracture the knife up into the spine of the knife directly over the edge?

Unless the knife has a lot of value, I'd say it is time for a new knife or to reconfigure this one so that you create a new tang out of part of the existing sharpened blade.

[Windy Wilson]

It extends into the exposed part of the blade and out the spine about an inch from where the handle ends.