Cutting copper liners

[Natlek]

Guys , how you cut thin copper sheet for liners and cooper not bend in all directions ? With scissors edge folds , with angle grinder even worse ................ ??

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Jewelers saw with a fine blade.
Copper is really too soft for liners on folding knives.

 

[Natlek]

Jewelers saw with a fine blade.
Copper is really too soft for liners on folding knives.

Thanks ! I would never have come to that I owe to one friend knife , so I decide to put cooper liners on full tang knife I make for him .I have good dark walnut for scale and I think that copper will fit there...... Thanks again I ruin two pair of cooper liners till now

 

[John Cahoon]

Hi Natlek, I've done a number of them recently on full tangs, and have been cutting out with a bandsaw. It comes out a little rough and wavy and I tap back flat on a piece of granite with a rubber mallet. Works pretty good. Mr. DeShivs, thanks for the tip, I'm sure that would give a cleaner, flat initial cut, especially on complex shapes.

Mr. Natlek I score my liner and scale with a dremel tool prior to assembly and also drill extra epoxy pin holes between liner and scale. I use JBWeld (good to 500 degrees F) for this since copper heats up so much. Then clamp moderately tight to make sure it stays flat during the cure. After both scales are cured I epoxy onto the tang and start finishing.

Here's a couple of examples of two different ones. Along with copper lanyard tube and pins I think copper liners looks great on a handle and look forward to seeing a patina. I might force one someday.



If I may ask a related finishing question... when fine sanding along the spines I often see some tiny but visible jagged edges (or shards) left over on the copper that's hard to remove. Any suggestions on how to avoid those instead of fighting them?

Edit to add I learned all this here thank you very much!

 

[Natlek]

Thank you very much

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Cut it slightly oversize with scissors, or saw with a jewelers saw. Mount along with the scales. File/grind to exact fit when shaping the handle. Use a fine file to remove any rough spots. Sand parallel to the spine to finish.

 

[Alan Davis Knives]

I used ca glue drops around the edge to glue it to a thin piece of plywood then cut it on the band saw. Then just heat it up and pry off with a razor blade. It stayed nice and flat.

 

[HSC ///]

just like Alan said above,
when I make a frame handle I have to cut the thin frame out in the middle for the tang to have room,
CA glue or small Kantz clamp to some thin ironwood/ G10 or whatever and that keeps it from flopping around.

 

[KnuckleDownKnives]

One thing to add when using copper liners after they are glued on, be very careful on the grinder. The copper will heat up very very quickly and the glue can get compromised in a split second if you get too hot.

 

[milkbaby]

I was cutting copper and brass with a hand held coping saw but it was a pain. I switched to aviation snips and while they curl up, I bend them back flat as I can and for some reason they seem to always glue up flat. Maybe because I always make rectangular scales somewhat oversized versus the tang and the inner portion isn't as wavy as the portion by the cuts. Then I saw the excess by hand and then grind down to the tang. Edited to add: The snips work great on the thin G10 that I use for liners/spacers too.

But... it seems to me that gluing to a flat backer then sawing is the best way to avoid wavy copper/brass.

 

[Geoff Flato]

Down to about 20 thou, I've found the bandsaw to work great and not cause any flatness issues

 

[Maineiac1]

I was cutting copper and brass with a hand held coping saw but it was a pain. I switched to aviation snips and while they curl up, I bend them back flat as I can and for some reason they seem to always glue up flat. Maybe because I always make rectangular scales somewhat oversized versus the tang and the inner portion isn't as wavy as the portion by the cuts. Then I saw the excess by hand and then grind down to the tang. Edited to add: The snips work great on the thin G10 that I use for liners/spacers too.

But... it seems to me that gluing to a flat backer then sawing is the best way to avoid wavy copper/brass.

Those are some beautiful knives I love the liner work and materials used!

 

[Natlek]

Well , here we are................. I use 0.5mm thick DEVIL Don t ever say that you work with cooper ... . . . you fight with it

I still have to sand and to shape wood , but cooper lost this fight Thank to all of you for your advice.... I think that I tried everything

 

[Jrmysell]

That looks great!

 

[John Cahoon]

Very nice, you won the fight this time. What worked best and what did not so well?

 

[Natlek]

Very nice, you won the fight this time. What worked best and what did not so well?

Well , I found that best way is as Stacy say..... About cutting .........same s**** whatever I try .I could not find my hollow Punch Tool Set to try for hole ?

Cut it slightly oversize with scissors, or saw with a jewelers saw. Mount along with the scales. File/grind to exact fit when shaping the handle. Use a fine file to remove any rough spots. Sand parallel to the spine to finish.

 

[Natlek]

If I may ask a related finishing question... when fine sanding along the spines I often see some tiny but visible jagged edges (or shards) left over on the copper that's hard to remove. Any suggestions on how to avoid those instead of fighting them?

This works for me ..............

Sand parallel to the spine to finish.

 

[DukeHarley]

I do all my copper cutting for spacers on a bandsaw with a backer board under it. Ive even used a thin (.125 or less) aluminum sheet with success also. It can be a pain but you can also use double sided tape to stick copper to your backer for cutting.

Jay