Cutting Nail Nick on Folder

From what I see on the Internet, they are afraid to unscrew a modern, CNC made knife!
 
instead of a mill, have you considered a cross vice? harbor freight sells them for about 60... (although i picked up one from an auction for 40) id say its well worth it!
 
Update: I tried several Dremel tool nicks on practice steel. The stone grinding wheels- I don't know how the dress them. On the cut off wheel I was getting too much wobble- instead of getting a flex shaft I was just holding the tool. In any event I used the cut off wheels (these are abrasive disks that wear down pretty quick) to cut a slot in thin steel and then used that slot as a template to cut a straight groove in the practice steel. This created a pointed slot in the practice steel that looked sort of like a slivered almond. I removed the template and then tilted the cut off wheel and very carefully dished out the bottom. A very light touch made the two ends more pointy and then some back and forth movement straightened out the top of the nick. The interior was still a little rough but I used the tip of some needle files and smoothed it out. So far I am very encouraged. It looks pretty darn good.
Any further suggestions much appreciated.
 
This is the way I do it with great results.
A $3.00 stone from harbor freight chucked up in drill press at about 2500 rpm.
I first trued and dressed ( shaped the stone ) with a diamond dressing wheel.

Than put in drill press vise and slowly feed it in.
Every blade I touch the shape to make sure it's good.
For 3$ I can buy more.
 
Taximanny: that looks good too and more fool proof in the respect I couldn't shake while grinding and mar the blade. I asked some hardware store clerks on how to "dress" a grinding wheel and they had no idea what I was talking about.
So....could you sort of "walk me through" how to do it? Thanks.
I assume you mount the blade on some sort of a slide and then move that into the stone, once again, all help appreciated.
 
Take a diamond cutt off wheel... They look like dremel cut off wheels.
You can than shape the stone with it.
I chuck up the stone to the drill press and start the press.
While it spinning hold your diamond disk on top to true the top.
I use the top of a flat block on the drill press table, holding the disk flat on top. I let the stone spin until it's no longer taking anything off.
Than I move to the angle where I free hand hold it while resting my hand on the block.
I do this until the angle is achieved, and a sharp corner is made. The drill press spinning does all the work, your just holding the diamond disk as still as possible.
Kind of like your turning the stone.

I got my diamond cut off wheels at harbor freight for about $4.00 for 3 of them.
The dremel ones are 9$ each.
You can find the grey grinding wheels about anywhere.
The grey ones hold a nice edge longer than other colors I tried.
Just fix your blade ( before grinding bevel) in a vise, and very slowly slide the vise holding the blade into the stone.
I go about half way thru the blade, because the bevel later on will take some of the nick away.
Let me know how it works for you.
 
That's what I was using, except I was too cheap to use a diamond dresser, I used a concrete chunk. Would have been easier to use the diamond dresser. Anyway, it's a cheap and simple solution that works well.
 
How about hand filing? its easy and gives you sharp definition. You only need to invest in a file and a few sheets of sandpaper.


Step 1:
Lay out the shape and position of the nick. Shown are the die sinkers files I use. They are shovel shaped, with one safe side. They are ground to a knife edge. A triangular or pointed, flat needle will work as well. They too will have to be ground to have one safe side, and a knife edge. This will enable you to get a clean sharp line at both ends of the nick.




Step 2: I then use a small cut-off wheel (Dremel) to rough ot the nick. Leave yourself lots of room for filing.




Step 3: Then carefully file to the outline you have scribed at the start. Use the sharp edge of the file at both ends of the nick to provide clear definition there.




Step 4: I use a sharpened piece of brass and various grits of sandpaper to remove file marks and finally polish the nick.



The entire process likely does not take much longer than setting up a machine, plus you end up with a clean, polished nick.

Works great, even in concave areas, you have complete control.



Wolfe
 
Wolfe, I saw some of your work say 40 years ago at a show in Toronto. It was super then! Now it's far beyond that !!! Great to see even just pictures !
Frank
 
Dear all,
I'm new to the forum, and at the folders as well (I made 2 slipjoints so far).
I would like to share a "quick'n dirty" method, that I heard from an old toolmaker.
The blade is hot bent, groove is filed in with a three edge file, then heated and straightened.
The blade needs a normalization step before ht to relieve the bending stress.

P1013449.jpg


P2100701.jpg


P1013478.JPG


Both nail nicks were made this way.
 
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Yep, cool, always nice to see an alternative method. I think too often the first method proliferated on the internet or a specific website, ends up being regarded as the only way to do something, to the point of it being dogmatic.
 
Thanks for your kind welcoming and encouraging words.
I think this method is a nice alternative for hobby makers (like myself), that have no access to special machines.
 
By the way, the first glance at that blade i thought it was a very cool "nessmuk like" shape, then i realized it was a bent spear point ;)
 
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