More adventures in knife making. An ongoing thread where I'll post about what I'm messing with (Page 3 of 26)
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Originally Posted By WIC: ah, I thought you were referring to a style, I see it is also a brand Yeah. They've been around forever. They're currently owned by Ontario, iirc. I have a couple that I inherited from my great grandmother. They're made from 1095 and heat treated to 60 or 61 hrc if I'm remembering correctly. Attached File I messed up the pattern of the texture on these scales and had to start over. This is the second attempt. I'm really glad I didn't decide to do the texture after it was glued together like I had originally planned. Lol |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
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I got to spend most of the day in the shop today and even though I stayed busy, it doesn't look like I accomplished much. Lol Attached File Since last time, I glued the scales on the prep knife onto white liners, drilled them for the corby bolts, finished the front edges of the scales and etched my mark. It's just about ready to get the handles glued on and sharpened. The bottom knife has had the blade blackened and my mark etched. It's almost ready to get glued up The middle knife has been my project for most of the day. I wanted to leave it at a rough grit finish, etch the whole blade and sand off the high spots to give it the "post apocalypse chic" treatment but I couldn't get the AEB-L to darken anywhere close to something acceptable with ferric chloride or the casewell black oxide stuff that I used on the bottom knife(its 1095). I ended up just refinishing the whole thing(including re marking it) to an A160 belt finish, which is about an 80 grit for but different. It leaves a pretty nice but rough looking belt finish. |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
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Attached File Update on this guy. @reubjames Attached File |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
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No prob. I got started on a slip joint with liners. It's all AEB-L. I'm not sure what I'll use for scales yet. Attached File It's based on a Zulu pattern but I changed the blade up a little bit to help with opening since I still don't have a good way to cut a nail nick. Also, no sharp corner sticking out when it's closed! Attached File |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
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Yeah that's going to be nice. The first nail nicks I cut using my dremel. It works ok. I used a small grinding wheel that dremel sells that I dress the edge at a 45 deg angle or so. Then I mounted my dremel tool into a plate of steel. Clamp the blade onto a 123 block and slide it into the cutoff wheel. Attached File Attached File Attached File Attached File This is the result of that technique, not quite as pretty as the ones I cut now with a fly cutter on the mill but still very functional. Attached File |
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While I have used plenty of micarta, I finally decided that if I'm going to put that much work into a knife, I want a beautiful handle. So I started using beautiful woods, Oosik, Steller's sea cow bone, dyed Giraffe bone, and any other good looking material I can find. But I will grant that micarta is a very tough material. |
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Originally Posted By Genin: While I have used plenty of micarta, I finally decided that if I'm going to put that much work into a knife, I want a beautiful handle. So I started using beautiful woods, Oosik, Steller's sea cow bone, dyed Giraffe bone, and any other good looking material I can find. But I will grant that micarta is a very tough material. As a user, not a maker, I prefer the micarta personally. Woods generally don't do anything for me, whatever it is. |
Metus improbos compescit, non clementia
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Originally Posted By Reubjames: Yeah that's going to be nice. The first nail nicks I cut using my dremel. It works ok. I used a small grinding wheel that dremel sells that I dress the edge at a 45 deg angle or so. Then I mounted my dremel tool into a plate of steel. Clamp the blade onto a 123 block and slide it into the cutoff wheel. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/59685/IMG_1638_jpeg-3238938.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/59685/IMG_1639_jpeg-3238939.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/59685/IMG_1640_jpeg-3238936.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/59685/IMG_1641_jpeg-3238941.JPG This is the result of that technique, not quite as pretty as the ones I cut now with a fly cutter on the mill but still very functional. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/59685/IMG_8040_jpeg-3238927.JPG That doesn't look bad. Much better than the few attempts I made with cutoff wheels in my drill press. Lol Originally Posted By Genin: While I have used plenty of micarta, I finally decided that if I'm going to put that much work into a knife, I want a beautiful handle. So I started using beautiful woods, Oosik, Steller's sea cow bone, dyed Giraffe bone, and any other good looking material I can find. But I will grant that micarta is a very tough material. Originally Posted By Reubjames: Giraffe bone is next on my list to put on some of my slipjoints. I also have some nice Axis antler I plan on trying on a couple knives. I have a small pile of deer and elk antlers that the previous owner of my place left behind, I'd like to use some of it at some point. If I'm honest, probably my favorite looking scales on a traditional pocket knife is amber jigged bone. I love the way it looks. I'm still at the point on my folders that I just want them to work and be usable, so I don't want to risk nicer materials on them yet. That's not to say that micarta can't be nice. It was a favorite of Bob loveless. I'll probably do one soon-ish that's inspired by a boker slip joint (iirc) that was etched and stonewashed O1 with natural canvas micarta with copper pins. It looked great. |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
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Originally Posted By WIC: As a user, not a maker, I prefer the micarta personally. Woods generally don't do anything for me, whatever it is. It's very functional and durable with enough character to not be boring. |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
|
Reubjames, Thanks very much for your taking the time to do such a great write up on fitting up a folder..I may just take one on now. I have made between 250-350 fixed blades, and did put one replacement blade into an Al Mar Eagle Talon after the original blade was worn out. Having a write up like the one you did may just get me to take on making a folder from start to finish. It takes me forever because after our move, I had to get rid of my belt grinder, but you would be amazed what someone with good files and determination can get done...eventually. |
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Originally Posted By Genin: Reubjames, Thanks very much for your taking the time to do such a great write up on fitting up a folder..I may just take one on now. I have made between 250-350 fixed blades, and did put one replacement blade into an Al Mar Eagle Talon after the original blade was worn out. Having a write up like the one you did may just get me to take on making a folder from start to finish. It takes me forever because after our move, I had to get rid of my belt grinder, but you would be amazed what someone with good files and determination can get done...eventually. @Genin Absolutely! Glad to do it. If it wasn't for other people before me sharing their knowledge, I wouldn't have ever given it a try myself so I think it's only right to keep on sharing the methods I've learned. Give it a shot, they become addictive. One of the other slipjoint makers I bounce ideas back and forth is Dwight Walker, he has a youtube channel under the name "tnhillbilly". He recently started publishing a multi-part series where he goes through how he produces his knives from start to finish. I haven't watched them all yet but I expect there will be a lot of valuable info for someone wanting to give it a try. Here is a link to the playlist, he's up to 9 videos at this point. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgno8nkMtcZsi19s_sjRnALASI25kcr5K&si=zGreq-iBiAM9x-i3 |
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Reubjames, My favorite two knife styles are Bowie and Khukuri, so those are the vast majority of what I have made. I have done plenty of other fixed blade styles, but so far never done a folder from start to finish. When I moved into my current house, I couldn't bring my forge and related tools, anvil, grinders, or polishing machinery. Since then I have been working with files, a power drill and I did borrow a small drill press from my brother for one project. I just don't have an appropriate place for all those tools any more. it would be heavenly if I could find a shop that would allow me to rent time and use their tools on occasion, but so far all I have found is places that want me to pay for classes to make one small knife during a 2-3 day class. It wasn't until I no longer had all the tools and space I had that I realized how valuable it was. While I would enjoy making a folder, without all the power tools to cut out the parts and rough grind them to shape, it is more work than is reasonable for me with only a file and power drill. Your write up was really great! Thanks again. |
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Originally Posted By WIC: As a user, not a maker, I prefer the micarta personally. Yep, my favorite scale material, grippy even when wet. I make my own sometimes, denim works great, I go to secondhand stores now and then and have a good stash of old jeans in blue and black and gray that I bought for a 50 cents to a dollar a pair. |
Smaug:"I laid low the warriors of old and their like is not in the world today". 1 dedicated marksman who held his ground and kept shooting:"Haha bow go twang!"
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Attached File The etched and stonewashed finish on AEB-L has beaten me. I have about a whole day's worth of trying different things to get it to etch without much luck. The best I could get made it look like flaking chrome, and only in patches on the bevels and around the edges. Back to a300 on the bevels and a160 on the flats(that's roughly 80 grit bevels and 120 grit flats Attached File |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
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Originally Posted By Reubjames: Perfect! Thanks @reubjames You're going to need to switch it to a rainbow now. Lol Do you have any pictures of this project that you can share yet? |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
|
Originally Posted By DFARM: @reubjames You're going to need to switch it to a rainbow now. Lol Do you have any pictures of this project that you can share yet? Ha ha that would be hilarious! No pics yet, haven’t started it beyond gathering materials. The G10 just came in as well as a few more sticks of CPM 154-CM so I can start the batch with his knife pretty soon. Maybe start cutting parts out this weekend. I’m going to try to make the handle very similar to what you did. I’ll take a few pics along the way and post them in this thread. I’ve been thinking about how to adjust my workflow for that knife. If I want the pivot bushing to land right in the center of the stripe like you did with the pins, I’ll have to program a slightly different CAM program for the mill than my usual routine that drills all the holes. Nothing difficult, just a slight deviation from my normal process. After the holes are in the right place, all my usual programs and jigs will work. |
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@DFARM Handle material glue up tonight. I had to consider how I would index the part into the CNC mill to drill all the holes in the right spot (right in the middle of the stripe) so I left the stripe material taller than the slabs. I can use that to indicate the part in the mill, then run the program to mill the pivot/birdseye bushings right into the center of the stripe. I'll drill both sides at once out of this single piece then cut them apart for further processing. I'll shoot a video to show the process in a day or two after the epoxy has fully cured on these. Attached File |
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You can see how the handles will fit in the blank. The dashed lines are where the handles will be cut out. The pivot pushing pockets will be milled in where those two dark circles are shown. Then I epoxy or super glue a piece of stainless round stock into that pocket. Then the mill comes back and drills and reams the pivot hole thru the stainless bushing and the handle material at the same time. (the little tumors on the outside of the handles are used for mounting them to fixtures for future operations, they get ground away eventually) Attached File |
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Originally Posted By Reubjames: @DFARM Handle material glue up tonight. I had to consider how I would index the part into the CNC mill to drill all the holes in the right spot (right in the middle of the stripe) so I left the stripe material taller than the slabs. I can use that to indicate the part in the mill, then run the program to mill the pivot/birdseye bushings right into the center of the stripe. I'll drill both sides at once out of this single piece then cut them apart for further processing. I'll shoot a video to show the process in a day or two after the epoxy has fully cured on these. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/59685/IMG_1766_jpeg-3249944.JPG Clamping everything together was a chore for me as well. It looks like we came up with pretty similar ideas, clamp everything down, then together. Thanks for sharing your process. It's interesting to see other ways to make knives. I was curious about where the pivot bushings come from. |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
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Attached File This one is ready for a sheath. I'm not sure what style I'll make yet but I'm pretty sure it'll be leather. I'm getting started on a copy in 80crv2 this weekend. |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
|
Very nice. I managed to trash the handle material I had glued up for the Bills knife. Got too cocky when setting up the stainless steel bushings for the pivot and managed to "drill" the pivot bushings thru the G10 liner. I'm going back to the drawing board on that and I have an idea that should look great if I can pull it off. Need to grab some more blue G10 first though. I've also figured out a use for the scrap handle material that should be a fun extra. |
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Attached File I got one of the 80crv2 copies started today. It's etched once in FC. I'll probably hit it a couple more times and then maybe switch to the instant coffee before stonewashing it. It's getting the same od green micarta and red pins as the last one. |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
|
I like the green micarta with red pins, looks great. I just sent out one of my slipjoints with similar green and dark red combo. I'd like to try G10 pins for a different look on a pocketknife sometime but gluing up a slipjoint is a tricky proposition. Attached File |
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Originally Posted By Reubjames: I like the green micarta with red pins, looks great. I just sent out one of my slipjoints with similar green and dark red combo. I'd like to try G10 pins for a different look on a pocketknife sometime but gluing up a slipjoint is a tricky proposition. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/59685/IMG_4316_jpeg-3263554.JPG That one looks classy but modern. I like it. |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
|
Attempt #2 on the handles appears to have gone successfully yesterday. Still need to do the final contouring on the handles. (He's seen these pics so I'm not spoiling it for him by posting) First epoxied the white G10 liner to the blue G10 slab and drilled indexing holes so I could repeat the position on the fixture. Then I cut out a pocket in the blue to accept the stripe. Cut out some red G10 inserts. Added a little taper to the stripe to mimic the stripe on the Bill's logo. Cut some strips of white G10 to flank the red wedge. Epoxied it all together, fly cut it smooth, bored the pivot bushing hole and pin holes, and finally profiled the handle shape. Attached File Attached File Attached File Attached File Attached File Attached File Finally a test fit-up with the blade and spring Attached File |
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Originally Posted By Reubjames: Attempt #2 on the handles appears to have gone successfully yesterday. Still need to do the final contouring on the handles. (He's seen these pics so I'm not spoiling it for him by posting) First epoxied the white G10 liner to the blue G10 slab and drilled indexing holes so I could repeat the position on the fixture. Then I cut out a pocket in the blue to accept the stripe. Cut out some red G10 inserts. Added a little taper to the stripe to mimic the stripe on the Bill's logo. Cut some strips of white G10 to flank the red wedge. Epoxied it all together, fly cut it smooth, bored the pivot bushing hole and pin holes, and finally profiled the handle shape. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/59685/Photo_Jul_20_2024__1_09_33_PM_jpg-3274045.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/59685/Photo_Jul_20_2024__1_09_42_PM_jpg-3274046.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/59685/Photo_Jul_20_2024__2_02_52_PM_jpg-3274047.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/59685/Photo_Jul_20_2024__2_29_52_PM_jpg-3274050.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/59685/Photo_Jul_20_2024__4_55_51_PM_jpg-3274052.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/59685/Photo_Jul_21_2024__6_29_41_PM_jpg-3274054.JPG Finally a test fit-up with the blade and spring https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/59685/Photo_Jul_21_2024__6_29_04_PM_jpg-3274055.JPG That turned out great! |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
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This was going well. Probably would have finished it for real today until I realized that I wasn't poking my stitch holes straight through all 3 layers of leather, which resulted in the stitching wandering nearly off the edge of the sheath. I needed a beater sheath for another one of these knives that I'm keeping so it's not a total waste of time. Attached File Attached File Time to start over. |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
|
Changed it up a little bit this time. I went a little wider in the welt to give me enough room for rivets, which allows me to do less sewing because there's only about 6 stitches between the rivets. Attached File I'll probably end up messing with the dye a little bit more after what's on there dries, depending on how blotchy the darker brown looks. It's difficult to make things look beat up and stained without sacrificing build quality and without making it look too fake. |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
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I'm much happier with this one. Attached File |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
|
I ended up ordering some new acrylic finisher for the sheath because I couldn't get the dye to stop rubbing off. I wonder if the stuff has a shelf life. My old bottle is probably 5 years old. All is good on the sheath now. Today I glued the scales on the knife Attached File |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
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Attached File Done, it only took ~5 months 
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"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
|
Originally Posted By DFARM: https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/78442/KIMG7354_JPG-3288562.JPG Done, it only took ~5 months Looks good, always some that seem like they don't want to leave the workbench. I'm back from my 2 week road trip with the family so should be back in the shop shortly to make some more progress on the slipjoints. Too bad it's hitting over 100 each day here, the shop gets miserable in those temps. I really need to get that mini-split installed. |
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Working on another one of these dudes, this time in 1095 with some gcarta scales. The steel etched a little weird but I kind of like the look. Attached File I think there might be something wrong with this batch of ferric chloride because the etch on this blade looks pretty similar to the AEB-L blade I tried etching. |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
|
Originally Posted By Reubjames: Looks good, always some that seem like they don't want to leave the workbench. I'm back from my 2 week road trip with the family so should be back in the shop shortly to make some more progress on the slipjoints. Too bad it's hitting over 100 each day here, the shop gets miserable in those temps. I really need to get that mini-split installed. Thanks! It gets hot in my shop too. No windows and the sun shines right in the door in the afternoon. Lol |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
|
I got a request from a friend to make him a copy of the 5" belt knife I made a few months ago. He wants it in AEB-L though. Here's how it starts. Attached File I'm actually going to make two, because I always make two. Lol |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
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I don't think I've posted about these knives yet. I have 4 that are pretty similar, 2 in AEB-L and two in 80CrV2. They're off cuts from making other knives and they looked close enough to knife shapes that I figured that I would try to play around with different ideas on them. They're all 1/8" thick, so they'd be ridiculous for kitchen use. Attached File |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
|
It happened fast, and I didn't have a clearly defined plan but I think I like where it ended up. Attached File Too big for a kiridashi. It's 7¾" overall and 3½" sharpened. |
"Freedom is a messy business." - LaRue_Tactical
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .
I am a sack of blood, held together by un-tanned leather. . .