The Primative friction folder is made from an old two man saw, like they use to cut trees with in my Grandfathers time.
Relatively high carbon steel. The steel is excellent to work with because it can be filed but only with a good sharp file. Therefore I do not anneal the entire blalde, I spot anneal as long as I watch my heat it allows for drilling holes but won't kill the steel.
I always cut large and work into the shape I want as a final knife. As long as I keep it cooled while working it I have never had any problems. I was told by a Master Bladesmith not to try and harden after I finished the knife unless my heat got too intense as it would probably make the steel too brittle, without annealing the entire blade and rehardening.
When I get one finished they take and hold an awsome edge. I have been doing mostly flat grinds on these knives for several reasons. I am not a fan of hollow grinds personally. I also think it probably looks more authentic to the time period. Lastely because I am not set up at the present time to do a hollow grind. I start off filing the edge and usually touch it some what on this setup. It's kind of primative in it's self but until I can get some more money back into my shop I use it to grind on.
It's a 4x24 belt grinder mounted in a bracket so I can run it on it's side and be able to use both hands. I need to go back and rework my 90* guide as it was something I threw on there as an after thought one day and it only allows me access to about half of the belt like it is. I am a retired carpenter and give me a belt sander and a good belt and there isn't alot I can't do with it!
The washers are small pieces of that same steel that the knife was cut from. I shaped by hand to a larger than needed size drilled and chucked up the pieces in a drill and worked them out round. I then proceded to lay them over the end of piece of pipe and ballpeened the back side to make it convex so when the pivot was peened in they would hold pressure to it all. The design was more something to give a little appeal but yet keep it in style with the time. The deep grooves are done from the center of each washer out with a small round file and the other are done the same way with a V-file. The washers and blade were done with OSPHO for look. The washers took it well probably because they had gotten hot while working them down. The blade I didn't like as well so it underwent the mustard technigue for a final patina!
Thanks for the good feedback!
