Framelock design critique

N

night man

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Aug 27, 2010
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I hope to be getting a mill sometime in the near future and I cannot wait to try my hand at folding knives. That is why I started making knives to begin with was my passion for folders. Anyway, I have been working on this design for a few weeks and I think I have it just about finished, until I start cutting steel anyway.

I was hoping i might get some feedback on the design, good or bad. I am no folder expert and I am not even a knifemaking expert, just a dude that loves making knives.

Now for the details. I plan to use .140 ti for the lock side and 3/16" g10 or micarta for the other side. Steel will more that likely be 1084 or 5160 for the prototype and then cpm3v for the rest. Blade will be chisel ground and 1/4" thick. I will use bronze washers. I think my stop pin will be 3/16" (im not sure on this what do you guys think). Pivot will be 1/4" thick chainring bolt. Handle Screws will be 6-32 torx and standoffs will be 1/4" OD stainless threaded barrels.

Size is 8 1/4" overall with a 3 3/4" blade.

Here is the design. Tell me what you think.

Thanks for any replies.

 
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The one glaring issue I see is the junction of the stop pin curved surface on the blade and the spine. It is a point sticking out when closed. You should bevel that point at the same angle as the frame end so it matches in the closed position.
Perhaps the small point in the finger area of the handle should be a little less pointed, too.

Otherwise it looks good.
 
I really like the design, but I'm wondering about the blade specs.

.25" is very thick, and 3v, as far as I understand it, isn't the best choice for a short blade let alone a folder. 3v is tough, but there are better options for edge retention, and it's toughness is usually nullified by the inherent weaknesses of being a folder.

You could use a different steel and immediately gain edge retention, and have toughness that matches the design.

Unless you totally compromise the advantage of its thickness by grinding the crap out of the blade you could also have much better slicing ability by using thinner stock. And even if you do grind all of it away while leaving the spine at 1/4", the slicing ability will still be hampered by the spine when cutting through anything deeper than the blade is tall.

I'd suggest 1/8" in something like m4 or m390. Both still have the wow factor of being a super steel, but it'll have a better geometry, retention and cutting ability, plus it'll be lighter.

On the other hand, if your goal is to sell them, as silly as it is, the huge over-built designs sell. Just not to me (anymore).

Hope I'm not coming off as a know it all btw. I really do think your design is nice.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I went back and rounded the sharp parts and took away the thumb jimping for now (I think it is probably to aggressive). I thought about what strigamort said and Will probably move to 3/16" stock instead of 1/4" for cpm3v. I havent really given any thought to the clip other than I know I want it to be carried tip up and I want the clip to rest halfway on the lock. I will probably just fabricate one out of the .140" ti that I use for the lockside.

I used photoshop for the design. I really like it because I can set a pivot point on the blade and rotate it in the open and closed positions to make sure everything lines up good. Now I just need a mill!!
 
Why do you need a mill to make a liner lock or frame lock? A milling machine could be a great machine to have and know how to use. Frank
 
Ok. I rounded some corners, took off the jimping, added the relief area in the lock. I also moved the standoffs a bit and made the lanyard hole different. I made a design for the clip as well. I am really liking the way this thing is turning out and am absolutely stoked to build it!!!

 
That looks better.

One more question:
The stop pin looks too close to the pivot for the two corners of the lock face to get past? It may just be the sketch, but make sure they have clearance....or the knife won't open.
 
Made a G10 prototype the other day. It came out great!! I made the thumb studs the stop pin for the open position. I just could not work the design out with an internal stop pin for the handle and blade shape I wanted. Now I just have to Wait for some supplies and its on like donkey kong!!!

Oh yeah. I will be using .200" thick titanium for the framelock and .250" thick G10 for the nonlocking side and probably 1/4" thick D2 for the blade!!!

I think I will try to do a work in progress when I finally start. We can all smile and cry together.

Thanks for looking!













 
I am no expert but I would have to agree with Strigamort above that the blade thickness is excessive. Add that to thickness you plan on the handle slabs and you have one hell of a thick folder. It would definitely be a heavy use folder and probably not one I would want to carry around as an EDC type of knife. That said, there is a market for any kind of design it just depends on how many you would want to sell. My thought is that if I wanted a knife to be that thick and heavy it would probably be a fixed blade but there are no doubt guys out there that would want such a folder. The design itself is well thought out.
 
SChief454 said:
I am no expert but I would have to agree with Strigamort above that the blade thickness is excessive. Add that to thickness you plan on the handle slabs and you have one hell of a thick folder. It would definitely be a heavy use folder and probably not one I would want to carry around as an EDC type of knife. That said, there is a market for any kind of design it just depends on how many you would want to sell. My thought is that if I wanted a knife to be that thick and heavy it would probably be a fixed blade but there are no doubt guys out there that would want such a folder. The design itself is well thought out.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comments and I 100% agree. The first one will be my personal knife (military use). After that, If the overbuilt nature does not bode well, I can always adjust steel/thickness and frame thicknesses and keep the same overall design.
 
I like the overall design.

Don't let lack of a mill stop you from making this thing. A decent drill press and some careful planning should be more than enough to do what you need.
 
I have everything I need. A set of end mills ball end mills, taps, carbide drills the whole works. The only thing I am really lacking is a drill press. The only issue is cutting the lock cut and milling the relief cut. I think I will probably end up making the first one with my drill press and just take it extremely slow and use extreme caution during the process. I want to make this thing so bad, i don't think I will be able to wait on the mill.
 
I like it. It will be stout. You can always thin things down with future iterations and see how that works. If you get to a point that it fails, go back to previous iteration.
 
Thanks for the comments guys. Here are a few recent fixed blades I have completed. I haven't posted them them here so here they are.













 
Wow you do some insanely nice work! Do you sell any of your fixed blades? If not, should consider buying the Bladesmith membership on here, I know I would buy some of your designs. Keep up the good work!
 
Thanks.

I messed up and purchased a normal membership and tried to upgrade to a knifemakers membership and pay the difference. For some reason I couldn't do that so when my membership is up I will renew for a knifemaker membership. Until then I just post pictures every now and then.
 
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