Micro Bawanna Bowie Folder concept.

Yes indeed, Down to the final details. And all the learning that has been done with this can be applied to the next... umm... lets just round it to 360,000 of them you need to make for all those Steves (and 1 Stephanie) :D I can honestly say that is one of the coolest most beautiful beast of a knife I have ever seen. But then my HIKV makes me significantly biased. I agree with the idea that now you know it can be done snapping it open should become a need to basis only just to preserve the integrity of the materials. That much inertia must indeed take a lot of force to stop. Oh, and now that you know about it, on the one you make for me, just go ahead and fix that problem would you please? :encouragement:
 
Karda said:
Drill it for a thumb stud and you won't have to flick it open.
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Given that it's differentially hardened that shold work nicely.
If you did deepen the fullers that might also provide enough purchase to one hand it.
If you did your next bolster out of medium or high carbon you could harden and draw them to spri g temper and that oughta do it.
 
J W Bensinger said:
Given that it's differentially hardened that shold work nicely.
If you did deepen the fullers that might also provide enough purchase to one hand it.
If you did your next bolster out of medium or high carbon you could harden and draw them to spri g temper and that oughta do it.
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I was planning on spring tempering the lockbar hoping that might absorb some shock. Is that what you mean by bolster? Sorry my folder terminology aint quite there yet:rolleyes: I dont want to harden it too much or im afraid it may break at the pin hole. Its completely annealed right now. Bookies sardine can temper seems to work pretty dang good at evenly tempering so I may try that. I ordered some 1/8" pivot pins that use 2-56 screws and are hardened so im thinking I could use flat (countersunk) screws through the brass to mount them. That would spread the load out a bit and maybe help as well.

Fullers? You mean sword of shiva fullers right? not Chirras? I aint messin with no chirras yet;)
 
ndoghouse said:
I was planning on spring tempering the lockbar hoping that might absorb some shock. Is that what you mean by bolster? Sorry my folder terminology aint quite there yet:rolleyes: I dont want to harden it too much or im afraid it may break at the pin hole. Its completely annealed right now. Bookies sardine can temper seems to work pretty dang good at evenly tempering so I may try that. I ordered some 1/8" pivot pins that use 2-56 screws and are hardened so im thinking I could use flat (countersunk) screws through the brass to mount them. That would spread the load out a bit and maybe help as well.

Fullers? You mean sword of shiva fullers right? not Chirras? I aint messin with no chirras yet;)
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Yes, he means deepening the Chirra to reduce the weight of the blade and reducing the shock. I personally, wouldn't go that route.
I actually like the way ZT does it on the 0350. The thumb stud also acts as a stop pin when opened. But that uses the speedsafe system, so opening is spring assisted. With a heavy blade like this, that solution may not work. But a properly placed thumb stud should aid opening without the need to flick it open.
 
Karda said:
Yes, he means deepening the Chirra to reduce the weight of the blade and reducing the shock. I personally, wouldn't go that route.
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Yep that would scare me too. no doubt JW can do it second nature but i aint that good;)...yet

I actually like the way ZT does it on the 0350. The thumb stud also acts as a stop pin when opened. But that uses the speedsafe system, so opening is spring assisted. With a heavy blade like this, that solution may not work. But a properly placed thumb stud should aid opening without the need to flick it open.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUnD3kCghOM Bit long winded but ya might get the idea.

Thats pretty slick! Love the torsion bar idea. I bet it would work but be complicated to do manually fabricated. I was trying to use the tang as a cam and the lockbar as the spring which works well for closing but the tolerances are so very very tight. The trick is getting the lockbar to rest in the same place open and closed so it dont stick out obtrusively in either position. It means the geometry of the tang shape (where the lockbar locking tab rides) must be precision cut. Pretty dang tricky and hats off to these guys that do it custom. Im having much more respect for custom folders and understand more why they demand such a price for them. If your off a few hundreds of an inch that gets magnified by the length of the blade. In other words the tip of the blade may be sticking out of the frame when closed if your just a few hundreds of an inch off. The pivot pins and stop pins are in the thousands of an inch to get right. Pretty amazing thing:p

Oh Whilst im here!
I recently added a few new blades to my Bowie collection. Enjoy!

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The third one from the left is a Chitlangi Bowie by Lachhu in beautiful horn and the fourth from the right (sheath w/out chape) is a Bura AKB from about 2005. Yep! Eat your hearts out:D Added unrelated blade below is an 1866 Yataghan French M1866 Bayonet.
 
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I didn't mean use the speedsafe system. I meant the placement of the thumbstud to act as a stop pin. Placing it in that position may not be easy to open on this blade, but then again it may work if you're going to use bearings.
Also an idea, is to use the rear stop pin and also use the thumbstud idear to spread the load and give you something to open the blade with.

BTW, you don't want to listen too much to cutlerylover. It'll rot your brain with all the nonsense and conjecture.
 
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Karda said:
... I meant the placement of the thumbstud to act as a stop pin.....
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Ah I got ya! Great idea! thumbstud hits the frame for stop:thumbup: That way each side of the frame takes the hit and if thumbstud wears out you could easily swap it out. Brass thumbstud would be best to prevent banging up the frame. I like that idea! Ill have to check to make sure the stud clears the other "corner" when you close it.

BTW, you don't want to listen too much to cutlerylover. It'll rot your brain with all the nonsense and conjecture.
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No worries. Thats what the pause and mute button is for:D

philllll said:
The trick is using a rise/fall indicator.
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Oooo! Thats an awesome tool phill. I could probably just rig up a dial indicator and make something like that. Khul Thul! Thats where im getting my parts from btw. Ive had an account with them for many years.

Should have my parts today. I got the 2-56 screws in hand so should be a fun weekend. Once i get this all worked out ill cut the reliefs for the bearings.
 
Well the thumb stud is a great idea but it wont clear the radius of lower part of the bolster so thats out. I installed 1/8" pivot pins with 2-56 flat head screws for the lock bar and seems to be working. I also decided to try alternating bronze bushings with Teflon washers in place of pivot bearings (probably temporary) and the flipping action feels really nice. Only problem with teflon is it can get sand or particles embedded into itself and will never come out. It can cause wear to the other parts. I think im gonna live with that for now and go ahead with the scales. I ordered the 1911 bushings so I can use removable scales. They are fine threaded steel bushings that get mounted into the brass frame so you can screw the scales into the steel bushings instead of the brass so it makes it serviceable. Anyway I got the scales cut out and will start shaping them soon as the bushings get installed.
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I decided to use K&G stabilized maple burl. This is my first time to work with stabilized wood but seems to work more like plastic than wood?

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Yeah mate, once it's stabilized resin is infused through every little cracked and pore, making it much stronger, water tight and sands like putty or plastic stuff, mind the dust though, could be bad for your lungs :p

Looks so good too >_< love that burl!
 
beautiful chunk of wood looking plastic :D I agree with DTKM, wear a good mask, that stuff is probably worse than asbestos for you, we just don't know it yet. Just like we used to think asbestos was this amazing stuff that was incredible for it's wonderful properties and now know it is amazing for how dangerous it is.

I can't believe how incredible it looks so far. And how close to being done it is. I can't wait to see the whole thing all done up and impressive looking.
 
No need to finish the wood either, in fact it won't take oil or stain or anything. I just polish it. Put a little paste wax on it and call it good. Neat stuff.

Funny no matter what wood or coloring the sawdust is nearly pure white. I always start with a mask but it don't usually last long. Can't work with a mask or gloves neither far as that goes.
 
Thanks yall! I do wear a mask but I can still smell the stuff when sanding. Forget gloves! You're right Bawanna! It looks like John Delorians' financiers stopped by for a visit. Plenty of white dust everywhere. I suppose you cant get it heated or it will burn. Ive worked with a lot of Delrin so Im treating it like plastic. So far so good. You answered my next question on how to finish it. I figured it wouldn't take oil since all the pores and cells are full of plastic anyway. This stabilizing process would have come in handy for the Egyptians:D Hmmm? Stabilized Cleopatra?...ok dont go there...shut up ndog:D I wanted to use the flamed part of that block but I already cut that part out for another knife and its not big enough now. Oh well the wait is on for the grip bushings. They said 7-10 days:grumpy: Grrrrrr! Makes you really appreciate Auntis shipping magic!
BTW: How does the stabilized stuff checker out? I would think pretty well.
 
It checkers nice. It's solid so the grain doesn't mess with ya. It's a little tougher on the little cutters but not that bad, they just don't last quite as long.

I should have sent you some bushings, I have a few and some screws too. You might want allen head screws, I have mostly standard slotted head. Hate looking for a allen wrench when I want to take grips off if I'm out someplace.
 
That makes sense. I doubt ill be carrying this thing fulltime being over a pound. Im thinking it might carry well on the belt tho with a button snap across the top. You know what that means;) The bushing screws I got have allen heads. The pivot pins are torx and the flat head screws are phillips so looks like it will have to be home serviceable anyway. Torx and hex on the visible outside so it should look nice.
 
You gonna rip that slab in half so you can book end (not to be confused with Bookie) the slabs.

I generally rip and then swap sides so the outside is on the inside. It's usually milled and nice and flat where as the bandsaw cut may or may not be true and straight. Looks like you have plenty to spare so you got a little wiggle room to play with.
 
Yep thats exactly what I did. Believe me they are so perfectly flat I can put the pieces together and they slide around on each other like an air hockey puck. When I bought them I asked them to rip them in two bookie pieces. There was a bunch of burl on one side and much less on the other side so I put the middle pieces to the outside like you said so they would be a closer match. I also ground the brass just as flat before I soldered the pieces together so hopefully the bushings will pull it all together nicely. I hope I got the right bushings. I later noticed there are two sizes for the 1911. .150 and .23X? something. Also an oversize for striped out repairs. We will see? I got the .150" ones. I PM'd you the part links since I cant post links here. Hopefully they will work out.
 
Heres a short video clip of your godson acting up Bookie!

[video=youtube;yWxWWI3ymFU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWxWWI3ymFU[/video]

Lock bar pivot pin problem seems to be solved by counter boring and recessing cap screws. Beat the heck out of philllllips screws anyway (sorry philllll). Im also on the fence on the 1911 bushings for replaceable scales. I may just pin and acraglass the scales down and cut some notches to access those cap screw and the spring mount screw and be done with it.
 
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