Folding knives plans

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wingnutgabber

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Aug 7, 2024
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Greetings, I am trying to find a good place to source build plans for simple kickback folding knives. I am trying to learn how to make folding knives. Looking for something that has outline I can print and good instructions on how to assemble. I watched few YouTube videos but I was left with lots of questions. I have Bob terzula book and not quite what I am looking for yet.
Thanks
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Buy some junk knives and take them apart.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I have done that for fixed blades. I’ve considered doing for folders but had worries about doing the mechanisms. I’ve seen that the lock bar needs heat treatment and softening which had me confused. Was hoping to find step by step build instructions to tell me what to do in what order.
 
Good to see you pop back in wingnutgabber. How have your fixed blade knives been coming out?

Folders are not hard, but require good knifemaking skills and close tolerances.
Some suggestions:
1) Get a couple kit knives from Knifekits.com and study how the parts fit and work together. Pick kits in the style you want to make from scratch.
2) Start with simple friction folders before moving on to lockback knives.
3) Precision ground steel is a wise choice for building folders.
4) Start simple. No whistles and bells or fancy items. Basic carbon steel like 1084 or 15N20, plain micarta scales, etc.
5) Make wooden, plastic, or aluminum test parts to check fitting and use them as patterns for the steel parts.
6) Make a fitting jig. A piece of 1/4" thick aluminum is fine. Drill it to fit the liner holes and use pins to fit the blade and backspring parts. Eventually you will want to make a rise-and-fall fitting jig, but that can wait a long time.
7) Use the custom search engine in the stickys to find recommendations for folder books and folder build threads.
8) Don expect to be Bill DeShivs or Bob Terzula on your first knife ... or your 20th. Folders take a while to dial in all the moving parts (pun intended).
9) HT is very important in folder blades. It is difficult to get top notch results with simple forge HT methods. A kiln and good heat control is needed ... or send them out to someone for HT.
10) Pay attention to the mating parts. Most surfaces need precise flatness ... and at locks, precise angles.

Culver Knives: Tutorials

Culver Knives Tutorials
www.culverart.com

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Recommendation? Thread 'Folding Knife Tutorials'

I have perused the depths of Youtube and found plenty of how to's for making a fixed blade. Fixed blades arent as practical for EDC on my world and I would love to learn how to make some folding knives.

I have no idea where to get hardware, how to design and build, what tools might be required apart from traditional fixed blade making.

I have made several fixed blades myself and taken some basic instruction in forging and bladesmithing.

Can anyone point me to some resources for me to research?
 
Steve Culver's book on slip joint building connected with me. He has good explanations as well as good illustrations. The best bang for the buck of ny knife making book that I have bought.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Good to see you pop back in wingnutgabber. How have your fixed blade knives been coming out?

Folders are not hard, but require good knifemaking skills and close tolerances.
Some suggestions:
1) Get a couple kit knives from Knifekits.com and study how the parts fit and work together. Pick kits in the style you want to make from scratch.
2) Start with simple friction folders before moving on to lockback knives.
3) Precision ground steel is a wise choice for building folders.
4) Start simple. No whistles and bells or fancy items. Basic carbon steel like 1084 or 15N20, plain micarta scales, etc.
5) Make wooden, plastic, or aluminum test parts to check fitting and use them as patterns for the steel parts.
6) Make a fitting jig. A piece of 1/4" thick aluminum is fine. Drill it to fit the liner holes and use pins to fit the blade and backspring parts. Eventually you will want to make a rise-and-fall fitting jig, but that can wait a long time.
7) Use the custom search engine in the stickys to find recommendations for folder books and folder build threads.
8) Don expect to be Bill DeShivs or Bob Terzula on your first knife ... or your 20th. Folders take a while to dial in all the moving parts (pun intended).
9) HT is very important in folder blades. It is difficult to get top notch results with simple forge HT methods. A kiln and good heat control is needed ... or send them out to someone for HT.
10) Pay attention to the mating parts. Most surfaces need precise flatness ... and at locks, precise angles.

Greetings, thank you. My fixed blades have been turning out decent. Sold a few.

Thank you for the folding knife advice. I know it’s a long slow journey. I have a good kiln for heat treating.
Click to expand...
 
Not a folder maker yet, but I have Peter Fronteddu's book and it seems to me good enough to follow. Lots of mill work, though.
 
Im pretty new to folders myself, in the middle of designing and making my first one at the moment, and i think itll be a lockback, just based on how the profile is. I may stick a linerlock in if that gets overly complicated though. Currently i just have one handle scale roughed out and the other scale is sortof getting there. The blade is going to be a 20 layer twist Damascus pattern but i may have screwed it up and have to make a new one. We'll see how she goes from here.
Any and all advice would be much appreciated
2025-10-31-09-49-40-417.jpg
 
There's a very short book by Jerry Van Eizenga on how to make a Scagel style folding knife. It even has paper patterns for large and small versions. It shows how simply it can be done. It helped me to make my first folder and I still find it inspiring.
Saludos
J

​

 
JDWARE said:
There's a very short book by Jerry Van Eizenga on how to make a Scagel style folding knife. It even has paper patterns for large and small versions. It shows how simply it can be done. It helped me to make my first folder and I still find it inspiring.
Saludos
J

​

Click to expand...
Where would i get it? As far as i can tell, annas archive doesnt have it
 
How about the tutorial over on chriscrawfordknives dot com for slip joint. He also sells a bunch of instructional DVDs, some are his own, others are from other makers, so there is a liner lock design and two build disks by Allen Elishewitz, and a couple more slip joint videos by other makers.
 
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