Fluted Scales

shappa

shappa

Joined
Oct 15, 1998
Messages
3,556
I just got a Winston with fluted camel bone that looks absolutly perfect. The flutes are evenly spaced and a uniform depth.
How do you guys do fluting? Use a jig of some sort?
Do you have any tips or hints for us newbies?
Thanks for your time...
 
It's probably done on a milling machine but could be done on a drill press with a cross slide vise or table. I think most folks prefer using a bull nosed end mill to get round bottom flutes. You could possibly do it with a dremel but it would hard to get things even. With a router the problem would be holding onto the material being fluted. You could possibly make a jig but I don't think it's wise.
The milling machine is the best way to go and then the drill press. Only problem with most drill presses is the chuck is pressed onto a taper and they're not built for side pressure and the chuck will come off easily. Might want to just use this method for fluting nonmetallic material.
Take care!
Michael
 
I use a wooden disk drilled with however many holes as I want flutes. Hang string/cord in each one, place it over the handle, secure the bottom of the strings equidistantly around the guard area with tape etc, twist the disk until I have the shape I want for the flutes, and trace lines up the handle beside each string.
I then use a "V" riffler(curved file) to score those lines, followed by a round riffler, or straight file. Clean up the flutes with W&D wrapped around the file, or dowel, buff, and you have flutes.
It's slightly more involved than that, but not much.
 
Wow, thanks Mike!!!
I would never have thought to cut flutes like that.
I bet they look a lot nicer than machined flutes do and the string on the disc idea gives you lattitude in lining them up with the curve of the handle.
Outstanding idea!!!
Michael
 
I just use a chainsaw file and take it nice a slow. then use sandpaper around a smaler file to clean it up. If your careful you can use a cratex wheel to clean up the flutes. I think the mill would be a good way to get it done also.

Don Hanson lll
 
I was thinking of fluting a handle some time back but I thought I would just clamp a router to my rifling mach. I would be set up for 6/7/8 grooves already. Who knows it might work.
That method of using a string to lay out the twist is how the old timers made their rifling guides. I think it is a great idea for laying out a handle.
Good luck
 
Pete Allan said:
..........................That method of using a string to lay out the twist is how the old timers made their rifling guides. I think it is a great idea for laying out a handle.
Good luck
Click to expand...

I got the idea from an article in the Knives annual, or one of the knife magazine over 20 years ago. It was about other knifemakers how to's.
 
Uncle Al also sells the Flournoy fluting tool. It is fairly simple to make but does take time. You can lay out the swells or taper in the handle with no problem. You can also do a gain flute where the flutes will get closer together, or I think the turns per inch increase. I used a pencil to mark the lines and them I made a little tool, kind of like a saw, to score the lines. If you want to remove quite a bit of material, use a round tapered wood rasp to get it down qeicker. Always check the groove for alignment as the groove will go toward the side that has the pressure against it. As above, when you get close, you can clean it up with a smaller dowl rod or chain saw file with sand paper on it.
The fluting tool was designed by Joe Flournoy, and requires that there is a hole that goes all the way through the handle. You can also file it while it is in the jig and works very good. I used it on the handle of my quillion dagger that I am going to submit for my MS stamp in June. (Finally)
The string will also work but it is hard to do the gain part of fluting the handle.
 
For fluting scales the mill sounds just right. If it were me I guess I'd do it the hard way, laying out lines and filing them in by hand. The only benefit to that I can see over the mill is being able to get them to follow the contour of the overall handle, but I kinda like the idea of the flutes narrowing where the handle curves toward the tang. I may just give that a try...

I think I read the same article Mike did about fluting a through tang handle. Didn't it also have twised wire between the flutes? I've always wanted to make a handle like that, maybe some day I'll have an excuse. I've seen pictures of the Flournoy jig and it's sweet. If you did this a lot it'd be worthwhile. Probably just overkill for someone like me though.

Raker I hope you share pics of your knife after the judging. I just can't get enough of the kind of work MS test knives get. :D Good luck!
 
Dave,
I did cut the groove in for the twisted wire before I went too far on the flutes. I found an old piece of band saw blade that was the right thickness and made a one tooth pull saw. It doesn't really take a long time after you do it a time or two. It is kind of touchy when your working on a piece of ivory and have only practiced on one handle before (my practice piece). :)
I had Chuck Ward take pictures of it last Thursday and will put them on my web site when I get them. Chuck does a great job and makes me look good. My pics leave a bit to the imagination when viewing. If you email me, I can send some pics of it, I haven't gotten the pics without a host down yet.
The basic idea of the fluting tool is to have something on the end that is divided into every how many parts of the circle that you want for grooves. Index it and mark a line down the side and it will divide the circle into that many segments. Measure the handle and divide into equal parts, or get some of the parts closer for a gain. Use a business card to connect the spots where the lines cross and you have it layed out. You can have right or left hand flutes, depending on which way you want to go. Like I said, it is very simple and just takes a little time to set up. If I know how something works, I can usually make a jig or something that will do the job. The hard part for me is the "understanding" part of the equation. :)
I got a small block with a hole in it for a pencil to mark the long lines and then hold it still and spin the handle to mark the segments. A circle on the end with holes that will equally divide a circle will do for the long lines. Like I said, it really is pretty simple to make, it just takes time.
 
Ray I'm having a hard time visualising the fluting layout jig, but I'm kind of a dunce that way. :) No worry, I can figure out how to get it done and just talking about it gives me all kinds of ideas. I've sent you mail!
 
Got the email but couldn't respond, it rejected it twice. I know some educational institutions will reject it because of the knives part in the email address. When I figured that out, I thought it kind of sucks. College students that have a college email address has rejected it. They can check their aol, hotmail, and others but not the school one. I will take some pics of it and send them to you also, when you let me. :)
 
Ray I just sent you mail again, but I don't know if it'll make any difference. I haven't received any mail today at all, I was beginning to feel left out! :D Now maybe I know better. Anyway, please try again whenever you feel like it. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Dave
 
Thanks for the info guys.

I'll have to see what I can do with a drill. a dremel and some creativity.
 
Dave, It still won't accept the emails. When we get it to go through, I will email some pics of the fluting tool so you can see how it is made.
 
There was a real good thread about fluting handles a year or so ago. I believe it was here on Shoptalk, but could be wrong.

I've been searching for it for about an hour, but the search feature rarely works for me. Entering fluted handles, fluting, fluting handles, handle fluting all get, "the page cannot be displayed".:eek:

Maybe someone else will have better luck
 
I was taught to flute round dagger handles. We used a broken hack saw blade to mark a start grove and then ordinary needle files to round out then a bit of fine paper on small round sticks to polish. No Special tools were needed. They may be easyer to work but you can get by without them.

2 ways to mark out were cover the turned handle in paper or asking tape. Then draw radial and center lines then join the corners, knock a lot of pin holes along the lines. Very hard for me to describe in a short post the other way was to lay a string around and trace it with pencil.
 
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