Thanks everybody!
Neil, since I started getting serious about making folders I've really paid a lot of attention to how they are made and looked at all I could get my hands on. As a machinist I bet you look even closer! I haven't ever had the chance to see one of your knives but from your posts I can tell you take a lot of time and care in making the best knives you possible can. I always feel like I'm playing a bit of catch-up to you guys who have training with tool making machinery. I hope I get a chance to see one of your knives some day!
Unfortunately a lot of "custom folding knives" on the market today are crap. They don't work right. There's a post in these forums where a buyer mentions the blade on the knife he's bought is warped, and what is his answer? It's a "hard use knife" so that doesn't matter! Ah, am I missing something? I've seen a lot of similar knives myself, where the lock doesn't fit right and the blade has play, etc. I don't get this. A hard use knife can be had from Opinel for $10 or so and they aren't warped, cut like a b*tch and don't break.
I spend about 30 hours making a folder and I am working on tooling to make my own clips in order to integrate them better into the design of each knife.
I recently found a source for the sintered bronze bushings which hold oil and are better than the ones I was making, so I'm buying those now. They require only light turning on the lathe to fit perfect. I made a tool to hold them.
I have standardized the pivot and a machine shop here is going to make me some up to my size from hard stainless. I need 1/2 hour to make one and would rather spend that time on clips and blade finishing.
Other than that I plan on keeping on making the parts and each knife one at a time. I think that's what people are willing to pay for and I think that's what they deserve for the kind of money these things cost. And I'm not gonna spend all those hours making the knife and then send it out before it's the best I can make it.
There are a bunch of folks who work to tighter tighter tolerances etc. than I can: If you want to see a fantastic knife look at one made by Ron Lake, Warren Osborne, Jürgen Steinau, Peter Herbst or Christian Wimpff - to mention a few. Those guys know about precision and I've had a chance to examine knives from them at length. And as Peter Herbst told me, precision is one thing you build into a folder from the very first step, because later is too late.
I'm proud of this knife because it's the most complicted little machine I've conceived of and made and it came out as perfect as I can make it. I know the man who's going to get it will appreciate that fact too. For me, this is what knifemaking is all about.
I love the blade shape and grinds, looks great.
