Disassembled Bali's

tonyccw

tonyccw

Joined
Sep 2, 2001
Messages
8,276
As indicated by someone recently in another thread, I have no life. Which means I have lots of time on my hands. And because I'm not worried about warranties and such, I am able to pull stuff like this off.

While I'm not the first to post these, some will be new.

Enjoy.
 
Wow, polyurathane bushing in the latch as well.

Overall, a very simple sandwich construction, using mated double brass barrels for the lock down screws. The same barrel nuts also acts as pivots for the handle tang. While lubricated polyurathane washers help reduce gap space and friction. Notice too the 2 small brass pins, that's the entire latch gate system. Simple and elegent, however, it's durability is questionable. Which may be why they went ahead and cast the latch gates in place for the new design.
 
Originally posted by Pigsticker
Nice work Tony. How about the Tachyon? What type and size of bits are needed to disassemble?
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Waiting to get my hands on a production piece first. I'll post then.
 
Different.

This is a Walter Erickson Weehawk with Stablized Curly Maple. Not much to it is it? This is very typical of a Erickson constructed bali. The Double Tang pins are necessary, as the belly of the blade drops below the tang line, and will hit the inside handle channel if removed. Notice the roller bearings. They fit into the large holes in the tang, and allow the handle pins to pass through. It allows for very smooth operation of the handles. It also prevents the Handle pins from coming loose, as the rotations of the handles does not put any stress on the lock screw itself. A problem that's encountered by BM's new Ti series.

Amazingly, this is not a switchable bali. The handle geometry isn't 100% symetrical, so it'll have to stay as a manila style bali.

Edited to include: Forgot to mention the way Mr. Erickson makes a latch gate. Notice the curved raise of metal in the handle channel? That's good machining skills there. Also, those inserts are pinned in place without dovetails. The squared edges of the insert cutout, along with the pins, insure that those inserts will never move.
 
Thats a great look at the Erickson. Tanks! That latch gate is very nice. Is the 49-01 next to be disected? :D :eek:
 
Originally posted by tonyccw
Notice the roller bearings. They fit into the large holes in the tang, and allow the handle pins to pass through. It allows for very smooth operation of the handles. It also prevents the Handle pins from coming loose, as the rotations of the handles does not put any stress on the lock screw itself. A problem that's encountered by BM's new Ti series.
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Those are solid races right? How much thicker than the blade? Forget tang pins let's beat bearing surfaces to death!:D

edited for foolishness....
 
Originally posted by GTAsteel
Those are solid races right? How much thicker than the blade?
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They are solid races, and they are the same thickness as the blade.The design works very well. Not only do they provide bearing support for the handle pivots, with the old adage of bigger is better, but they also act as spacers for the handle itself by providing another two surface for lubrication to rest on, one on each side of the inner handle fork.

BTW, the threads for the handle pivots are tapped into the receiving end of the Erickson. A nice touch for a clean and elegant handle element, but not necessary, as the handle pin isn't responsible for the pivoting in this design. A countersunk hole in the other end to seat a receiving nut would work as well.

Thing's getting more complicated by the minute for your bali isn't it?;)
 
Originally posted by GTAsteel
Is the 49-01 next to be disected? :D :eek:
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No need to, as the construction is near identical to the regular BM's, except for the spring loaded latch. And if rumors are true, they will start showing up in the production models soon enough. I'll wait to get my hands on one of those to dissect :D .
 
Originally posted by tonyccw
Thing's getting more compliacted by the minute for you bali isn't it?;)
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But it's better that way! I made knives for about 6 years before I enlisted, not sure how much I can still do though. Time will tell cuz time always tells...

I was thinking that the races might be thicker than the blade just a hair so that you could tighten the liners down onto the bearing and that would provide automatic spacing? Feel free to shot holes into this thought as well... :rolleyes: :D
 
Originally posted by GTAsteel
But it's better that way! I made knives for about 6 years before I enlisted, not sure how much I can still do though. Time will tell cuz time always tells...
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I've heard it much like riding a bicycle (you know the old adage)... ;)
Originally posted by GTAsteel
I was thinking that the races might be thicker than the blade just a hair so that you could tighten the liners down onto the bearing and that would provide automatic spacing? Feel free to shot holes into this thought as well... :rolleyes: :D
Click to expand...
Don't mind if I do. Actually it's not a bad idea at all, as you really don't need to have too much space for the lubrication. And the additional pressure means that the handle will have one less axis to pivot off course (you are locking in the lateral handle play). Just keep it to a hair, and you'll be fine. Too much and you introduce blade to handle gap, and would defeat the purpose. Honestly, that's the only negative I see with this design. There's just a lot of measurements that needs to be very precise. Ack....
 
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