- Joined
- Apr 3, 2011
- Messages
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Hey guys, it's been a while since I've done a WIP thread so here goes!! So I got a 7 a while back, I'll take you on the journey w/ some pics!
So one thing I've noticed w/ Emersons are that they get excessive lock face wear over time. This lead me to try something a little different. Removed the detent ball and 'heat treated' the lock face for more wear resistance (hopefully).
Next I decided to do some detent work...removed the secondary detent (hate those) and installed a ceramic detent ball in the lockbar.
Then cleaned it up w/ sandblasting
Next I added a thumb ramp, although this won't make a bit of difference w/ what I have planned in the near future
And here begins the real work... my first reblade I only had some 1095 laying around so I did it w/ that (not an optimum steel but oh well, it's what I had! lol). I used the old blade for a template and roughed in the new shape, drilled and reamed the pivot hole, ground in the lock face, and ground, drilled and tapped the thumb disc hole. Then I scribed out some grind lines.
The idea on this blade was to be a double hollow chisel grind, set up for a right hand user (me). The back side will be completely flat.
And here I got the grind roughed in
Got it back from HT! tempered to 61 HRC... unfortunately apparently there is something called an 'auto hamon' w/ 1095 if you aren't careful and it will leave spots in the blade (which you will see later) so it will need to be finished some other way than handrubbing.
Next up I had to finish the flats and make it truly flat for proper parallelism and blade centering, so I surface ground the flats. Notice, no detent hole yet.
That was the next step after I found everything functioning properly!
And a detent ramp...wow it makes closing this thing smooth!
Next I adjusted the lockbar lock-up, although this is on a very hard flick (may need to be adjusted more)
And finally, finished the grind up. Note that I am not that concerned w/ uniform scratches and handrubbed pattern at this point as everything will be blasted for... DLC coating!! (yes you read that right, almost off of the ground so this will be in one of the first test batches!!) I didn't end up going for the hollow ground swedge, at least, not yet. I will have to decide if I want to go w/ a bi-tone blade after the dlc and have the grind and swedge raw metal w/ the flats being black.. a hollow swedge doesn't pop unless it's bare metal so no use in wasting time! Unfortunately some of the auto-hamon will likely show through the DLC coating but I'm not too concerned w/ it, this my my edc and user =)
You will notice that one screw is missing... as a matter of fact, the entire upper standoff (nearest the pivot) is missing. This is because I was going for a wider blade shape and the edge would have bumped that standoff, so I am doing a 'standoff delete' haha. So yes, that means more pics in the near future for the scales and DLC. Currently it's very smooth... smooth as glass - don't think I have ever felt an emerson this smooth not being on bearings. Scale work coming up...
So one thing I've noticed w/ Emersons are that they get excessive lock face wear over time. This lead me to try something a little different. Removed the detent ball and 'heat treated' the lock face for more wear resistance (hopefully).
Next I decided to do some detent work...removed the secondary detent (hate those) and installed a ceramic detent ball in the lockbar.
Then cleaned it up w/ sandblasting
Next I added a thumb ramp, although this won't make a bit of difference w/ what I have planned in the near future
And here begins the real work... my first reblade I only had some 1095 laying around so I did it w/ that (not an optimum steel but oh well, it's what I had! lol). I used the old blade for a template and roughed in the new shape, drilled and reamed the pivot hole, ground in the lock face, and ground, drilled and tapped the thumb disc hole. Then I scribed out some grind lines.
The idea on this blade was to be a double hollow chisel grind, set up for a right hand user (me). The back side will be completely flat.
And here I got the grind roughed in
Got it back from HT! tempered to 61 HRC... unfortunately apparently there is something called an 'auto hamon' w/ 1095 if you aren't careful and it will leave spots in the blade (which you will see later) so it will need to be finished some other way than handrubbing.
Next up I had to finish the flats and make it truly flat for proper parallelism and blade centering, so I surface ground the flats. Notice, no detent hole yet.
That was the next step after I found everything functioning properly!
And a detent ramp...wow it makes closing this thing smooth!
Next I adjusted the lockbar lock-up, although this is on a very hard flick (may need to be adjusted more)
And finally, finished the grind up. Note that I am not that concerned w/ uniform scratches and handrubbed pattern at this point as everything will be blasted for... DLC coating!! (yes you read that right, almost off of the ground so this will be in one of the first test batches!!) I didn't end up going for the hollow ground swedge, at least, not yet. I will have to decide if I want to go w/ a bi-tone blade after the dlc and have the grind and swedge raw metal w/ the flats being black.. a hollow swedge doesn't pop unless it's bare metal so no use in wasting time! Unfortunately some of the auto-hamon will likely show through the DLC coating but I'm not too concerned w/ it, this my my edc and user =)
You will notice that one screw is missing... as a matter of fact, the entire upper standoff (nearest the pivot) is missing. This is because I was going for a wider blade shape and the edge would have bumped that standoff, so I am doing a 'standoff delete' haha. So yes, that means more pics in the near future for the scales and DLC. Currently it's very smooth... smooth as glass - don't think I have ever felt an emerson this smooth not being on bearings. Scale work coming up...
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I actually researched and learned that FOR this project haha
