First Slipjoint Completed: Damascus Takedown

David Schott

David Schott

Joined
Sep 27, 2004
Messages
3,041
Hello!

I've always wanted to get into making folders but just never gave it a shot. At IG's recent hammerin I was chatting with Bill Vining checking out his amazing slipjoints and folders and I got inspired to finally give it a try. Bill was kind enough to let me check out one of his desigsn so that I could study the lock geometry.

I headed home and soured the shop for materials as I am a bit low at the moment, and ended up finding some scraps of damascus, titanium and folder parts.

Not being a traditionalist, I decided to complicate things greatly and do the entire thing as a takedown model...no pins, no peening. While the appeal of being able to take the entire knife apart over and over was great, I had underestimated how exact all my drilling/tapping would need to be!

Blade grinding and backspring creation were not a big deal and I had decent fitting right off the grinder. Things started getting complicated when I had to thread the backspring and liners perfectly to avoid any binding. After some careful adjustment and a feeling that tapping the nearly 3/16" thick backspring would snap the tap for sure, I breathed a sigh of relief as it all threaded together the first time.

Everything lined up, and it opens flush with a SNAP at all three positions. it will be my EDC for sure!

Fast forward a few days and its done! It locks up like a vault, is smooth, I think I've been bitten by the bug, though, and see many more folders in my future!

Specs/Details:
5160/15N20/52100 Alabama damascus blade
Titanium liners
3/16" pivot
Burgundy micarta scales

Pics: (Damascus doesnt show well in bright sun as its a very shiny finish)

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Gorgous as always!! Nicely done.
 
David,
That's a great looking folder ,congrat's on your first ! Hope to see more here.
-Vince
 
Good job, David! I need to give a slip joint a shot some day. When I do, I hope my first attempt turns out half as nice as yours.

--nathan
 
Thanks everyone! This is one of the few knives i've made that exceeded my expectations. I had very low goals for myself having never assembled a slipjoint before but found it to be a very relaxing process. A lot more focus on detail work instead of my normal amounts of time spent hand sanding huge blades...

My wife is going away for a week so I hope to try my hand at a few more. My next few will bemore traditional with bolsters and pins and i'll surely try one with hamon work but I havent yet determined how to get a hamon but still fully harden the tang...

..it sure is nice to be able to take this one apart, though....I havent seen many takedown slipjoints...maybe as time goes by I'll find out why by using this for an EDC.
 
That is a great looking slippie,and very well done,congrats on a nice job-:thumbup::thumbup:Regards Butch
 
A slipjoint made to be taken apart, very interesting.
I really like the blade on that one.
Can't wait to see more.
 
The handle shape threw me at first and I wasn't sure I liked it. The handle has a tactical shape to it which is what had me looking at it over and over again. :) Either way it looks very comfortable. Considering the overall design of the knife, I'm glad you didn't put a nail nick on the blade. There is plenty of room to pinch the blade for opening which is very cool. I would seriously consider this knife for some older relatives that have a difficult time opening some traditional patterns.

Are you taking orders on these?
 
morrowj_98 said:
The handle shape threw me at first and I wasn't sure I liked it. The handle has a tactical shape to it which is what had me looking at it over and over again. :) Either way it looks very comfortable. Considering the overall design of the knife, I'm glad you didn't put a nail nick on the blade. There is plenty of room to pinch the blade for opening which is very cool. I would seriously consider this knife for some older relatives that have a difficult time opening some traditional patterns.

Are you taking orders on these?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comments! This is indeed pretty non-traditional in terms of slipjoints. The handle is shaped similar to how I do small fixed blades...stick with what you know was my idea! heh. My next that I am working on is one with a 1095 blade that i'll do a hamon on, with 416 front and rear bolsters and desert ironwood. I'll have LOTS of shoptime for the next 5 days, so i may have it done this weekend.

Not taking orders just yet....I want to get a few under my belt and put these first few through a bunch of EDC use before selling any.
 
I almost cried when I saw this; yet another thing that someone else got to before I did. I've been playing with ideas for this for nearly a year now, and was just starting on my first one, and now this.:grumpy::D
But since you got there first, now I can ask you something I've been puzzling over in trying to make one. For the backspring, what order did you work in, as far as hardening, tempering and tapping the holes? Tap first, then harden and temper, or did you make it nice and springy, and then tap the holes for it?
 
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