Don't get many opportunities to brag....

G

godogs57

Joined
Apr 16, 2004
Messages
795
Got a report from an elk hunting buddy that got a heck of a nice 6x6 bull yesterday in Colorado and he called me to brag on my knife! It was a new design for me...a skeleton handled knife made of CPM154CM steel. He wanted a lightweight, no frills knife that would pack well in the Rockies. So this is what I sold him about a week and a half ago. In my call this evening (received while I was bowhunting) he told me: "Man! What kind of steel is that? Your knife worked up (gut, cut up) that entire elk and never had to be re-sharpened! The other guys Gerber had to be re-sharpened five times! And yours is still razor sharp."

The next time someone tells me they can get one at Walmart for $25...why should they buy mine costing more...I'll give em my buds phone number.

The knife was a witch to make though, as the holes I drilled to skeletonize the handle were eating up my 1/2" bits...brand new bits. I tried to make a couple more this weekend and the CPM steel just ate my drill bits for lunch. Any suggestions?

Here is a pic of the knife I sold my friend. I etched my logo on the blade and made a sheath after the photo was taken.

Skeletonhandledknife.jpg
 
very nice...thats your no BS kinda knife!

Dont you just hate it when you show people a knife and they ask the price and they tell you its too much because they can get a hunting knife from walmart cheaper!!! That happened to me too about a week ago when I brought in a knife to show my Foreman..I said my least expensive knife was 75$ and she said thats WAY too much!!
 
Great lines, what is the total weight of that beauty? Already know it is a sharpie. :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 
I love knives when they are reduced to just form and function and display that "elegance in simplicity". Very nice knife.

What is the slowest speed of your drill press? What are you using for lube?

Jim, the only thing you tell people that naive is to say, "Well, the good news is, fortunately, there are a lot of people out there that disagree with you".
 
Thanks for the comments. I slowed the drill press down and used a brand new bit...paid a premium for it...and used tap magic cutting oil .....at a loss on this, as I never have problems drilling the smaller holes...
 
Great looker...Great story....

Isnt it a great feeling when a customer comes back and brags on the knife,to me that is about the greatest feeling....

I have heard the Wal-Mart thing many times over the years myself.The best comeback I have ever heard was a friend of mine saying.....Well then I guess Wal-Mart has just what you want......and walked away..
 
Godog,
I think the biggest mistake people make when drill is using too large of a pilot hole. Don't get me wrong ....Speed kills and you need good cutting oil,... but make sure that your pilot bit dia is not larger than the cross section of cutting tip on your finished bit....If that makes any sense.
Great little no BS knife!
Matt
 
Great lookin blade!!
when drilling large holes like that,just step up through the sizes.takes a little longer but saves money on bits!
 
mdoyle said:
Godog,
I think the biggest mistake people make when drill is using too large of a pilot hole. Don't get me wrong ....Speed kills and you need good cutting oil,... but make sure that your pilot bit dia is not larger than the cross section of cutting tip on your finished bit....If that makes any sense.
Great little no BS knife!
Matt
Click to expand...

I agree. I also never drill a pilot hole completely through any more as it lets all the coolant/cutting fluid run out the bottom. I drill about 95% of the way through with the pilot bit and then go to the final sized drill. Unless you're drilling something really thin, the bit will be able to hold its own center by the time you are that far through anyhow. The pilot hole just helps get it started.
 
Drill up in small steps will cause the drill to try to pull itself through kind of like a tap. A 1/4" pilot for a good half inch bit is fine. If your steel is annealed a hss should work but you need to keep the work cool or it will harden. There is always carbide drills.
 
I can see that as a favourite neck knife. how pointy is the guard? Great looking knife.
 
Godogs, That is a nice design.

You can buy a 10 gal flood coolant system from enco for $100 and use it about anywhere. You use a water based cutting oil and recirculate it. That way you keep your cutter cool. Or use a big spray bottle of water soluable and keep it really wet. Oil is for use in situations where welding or lubricating chips is a concern. That probably ain't your main problem. Water based is less messy and not smokey.

I'd keep the 1/2" bit at about 300 RPM and feed it hard enough to prevent chatter. Probably about .008" per rev. You ought to be able to cut hundreds of holes with a good quality bit that way.

A dilled hole seldom looks good. A better bet would be to drill it undersize and chase the hole with a 1/2" endmill, which will leave a great finish.

Learn how to off hand sharpen big drill bits. This is something where a little formal instruction beats a lot of self teaching if you can find somebody at a trade school or machine shop to show you how. A hand sharpened drill seldom cuts as true or round, but if you're predrilling larger than your web, and chasing with an endmill, it doesn't matter. You can use up a drill bit over time just like a pencil, rather than discard it when it gets dull.
 
Matt Shade said:
I agree. I also never drill a pilot hole completely through any more as it lets all the coolant/cutting fluid run out the bottom. I drill about 95% of the way through with the pilot bit and then go to the final sized drill. Unless you're drilling something really thin, the bit will be able to hold its own center by the time you are that far through anyhow. The pilot hole just helps get it started.
Click to expand...

Great tip Matt! I'll try that one!
Matt
 
Very nice knife!
For drilling, only advice I can give you is:
1) Go SLOWLY. Anything around 3-400 rpm is ok. Going above that means trouble.
2) Feed speed is essential: go too slow, and you'll just build up heat by attrition. Go too fast and you'll snag or break the bit.
You must feel the bit biting. If at any time you feel like the bit is skidding, STOP AT ONCE. Going on stubbornly will just harden the steel and spoil the bit.
Look why it doesn't cut well, and solve the problem.
3) Use lots of coolant. Stainless is a bitch to drill.
4) Make a SMALL pilot hole, than go SLOWLY up. The pilot bit should be the only one to actually DRILL the steel.
The other bits should be large enough to bite trough the steel, but should work more like a bore, rather than a drill.
The slower you go, the better the results.
Summing up:
KEEP IT SLOW
KEEP IT COOL
The final chamfering may be made with a larger drill bit or concrete carbide bit. Go to higher speed there, as jitter in the chamfering is unsightly.
You may also want to buy a step mill. It will enlarge the pilot hole and chamfer in one step.
You'll just have to chamfer the other side and you're ok.
Buying a recirc oil system is pretty expensive, and the system can be complex (and messy) to set up.
I'd suggest a pressure mister for gardening filled with water.
I use spray can cutting oil when needed, but water is ok most of the times.
DON'T heat it up and then cool it, or you'll harden it.
Keep a steady flux of coolant. When you stop the cooling, you stop drilling as well.
And, anyway, be prepared to spend a lot in drill bits.
Stainles IS a bitch to drill.
If this is an occasional problem, you can live with it.
If it's everyday stuff, in the end is much better to buy carbide bits.
Nitride bits won't last.
Even cobalt steel is wasted on many stainless.
Carbide is the way to go. Moreover, they'll come in handy for when you need to drill the occasional hardened piece.

PS: carbide or cobalt bits are EXPENSIVE. A good degree of standardization in your drilling will keep costs low.
Try to settle on easy-to-find bits.
 
Buncha buncha suggestions and I sincerely appreciate all of them! I went back yesterday...after receiving a couple more orders for a duplicate...and re-adjusted the speed on my drill press. I took the speed down to 350 rpm and took my time....doused the pilot hole with cutting fluid, went slowand bingo, no problems. All this time I had never had any problems drilling holes in my blades. These problems only happened when I tried drilling big holes and now I have squeezed a little more of life's lessons into my pea sized brain.

Keith, that guard is slightly pointy...made that way on purpose. I received no constructive criticisim from my "field tester", and he is still bragging on it tonight, so I guess I am OK. No big deal to round it off though during the initial grinding.

Back to the salt mines...very thankful to my knifemaking buddies for your great suggestions. Learn something new every day.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top