Cutting titanium lock bar

Bailey Knives

Bailey Knives

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 18, 2004
Messages
3,779
Where does one get that tiny little circular saw blade that they chuck up in a mill for cutting the titanium lock bar? What's it called, cause searching for tiny little saw blade has not helped. Does anyone have a better way to do it?

Thanks
 
I use small, thin abrasive discs like for a Dremel. The cutters you are looking for are called slotting saws. I prefer abrasive over the saws.

Bob
 
To answer your question to Bob, Yes run it fast and go slow. It takes time but does a good job. You will need to replace the disc a few times as they wear down and/or break.
 
Dremel #409 discs, you'll need the arbor that holds them too.
 
Ok, I'm gonna share a secret here. I don't actually use Dremel discs, they're crap! I use E.C. Moore red cutoff discs in 1-1/2"x .025" for the long cut and I use Rio Grande red cutoff discs in 3/4"x .015" for the short cut (lockbar face). I mount them both on 1/4" mandrels from Rio Grande Jewelry Supply and I run them in a 1/4" R8 collet in my mill on the highest speed. I can cut 8-10 knives with the Moore discs by taking my time and letting the disc do its' job. I get about five knives out of the thin discs on the lockbar faces. One of the nice things about using the 1/4" mandrels is that I don't have to change collets and can switch quickly from the discs to the 1/4" carbide endmill that I use to relieve the bend area of the lockbar.

Bob
 
Thanks for that info Bob, the dremel discs work but they are crap, I usually go thru 2-3 just cutting the lock bar on ti-liners. there really brittle and snap easily too.
I'm going to have to get some of those Moore reds.
 
Thanks everyone, Bob, I will have to try those cutters from E.C. Moore
 
rangerbob, Can you send me a link to the cutoff disks you use for the long cut? I am looking at the EC moore site and can't find which discs are best for what I want to do. There are so many!
 
Those are much like what I use, which are Forney brand cutoff wheels for pneumatic grinders. I get mine at the local hardware store. You can get several liners out of one disc. The arbors are sold with the discs. I think the ones I use are 2" circumference- haven't cut a lock bar in a while.
I've used cobalt slitting saws as well, which is the way I learned to do it from Ray Rogers. The one I use is much like this:
http://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/63997423
They are quite expensive, at least for cobalt, and need to be run slow and fed carefully with lots of coolant, as even the cobalt saw will heat up and lose any ability to cut, with a moment's inattention.
On the whole, the abrasive blade is much cheaper and stress free and produces pretty much as good of a result.
 
I have just recently completed my first lock bar cut and here is what I used.
They are jus Dremel non reinforced cutting wheels you get at home depot or Lowes.
Only bad thing is they are not very big but I only had to use 2 disc to make the cuts.
They left a nice cut..I think.





JP
 
I have the slitting saws and the disc. If you are going the slitting saw route make sure it's carbide (expensive and hard to find, you will also need an arbor), the hss is almost useless and takes a really long time. My biggest concern is I want a small gap so I switch to the rio grande discs as bob mentioned. Pohanleu Leu actually turned me onto them and now I can cut a lockbar in less than 10mins, and I haven't worn one down after 4 handles yet.
 
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