First Slipjoint (Toothpick)

[Phil Tham]

Been wanting to try one of these for a while now and finally took the plunge (or should I say bait...I think I'm addicted). I had a few problems along the way and this first one has some issues, but I learned alot from the process. Overall I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. It walks and talks, sits pretty close to flush in all three positions, and the blade is centered. Here's some of the mistakes I made and I'm sure you experienced guys will see more:

1 Had to make the spring twice...first one was tempered too soft and galled.
2 When putting the knife together, I tried to drive the last pin in without applying tension to the spring. This caused some scraping of the brass and some of the shavings got trapped between the spring and liner resulting in a small gap at the butt end.
3 Didn't get the tang and spring nice and square at the beginning and had to go back and correct that.
4 The nail nick was ground in prior to grinding the blade and ended up a little too shallow. Could also be a little longer as well.

Thanks to all who have posted tutorials and WIP threads on making these critters...I think I read them all and that's what gave me the confidence to give this a try. Hopefully the next one will be better. Thanks for takin a look and any comments or suggestions for improvement are welcomed! -Phil

 

[zachtateknives]

I like how the rear of the blade, smoothly flows into the handle when closed, I dont know why but when I see a folder and the pivot point of the blade just just out of the handle (like 99% of folders do) it disturbs me.

 

[kc custom]

That knife easily looks as good as my first toothpicks.--- Take the grind to the spine without
cutting thru the spine, when you cut the choil make sure its in line with your plunges on both
sides of the blade. The blade could sit a bit higher on the small end of the knife and probably
still not be above the frame. my .02
Ken.

 

[Phil Tham]

I appreciate the feedback Ken...I think your comments are right on. I've got lots to learn before I can call myself a slipjoint maker. I've been admiring yours for sometime now. You and some of the others here certainly give me a goal to shoot for.