Friction folder: magnetic retention, clip-tang, pin-lock.

[ohaple]

Alight, just finished up my second folding knife. Happy with how it turned out. 1084 steel, 1/8''. Purpleheart, canvas micarta, and black g10 on the scales. 3'' blade length, clip point to a high polish. The tang is also a pocket clip which functions pretty well. The friction folder is set up on phosphor-bronze washers and tuned to be nearly free-swinging. Retention is handled though magnets. The magnets also function to retain the optional lock pin, which can lock the blade in the open position. Onto the pictures!

Here is a video overview of the knife. WIP and photos below.
https://youtu.be/eDa_yinU3z0

Started it with a 3d model.

Sent the cad file off for the blade to get waterjet since I had access to it.

Started by making the handle slabs. G10 liners with canvas micarta and purpleheart overlayed.

Shaped out the handles with the saw and grinder

Set and glued the magnets

Did the initial grind, then heat treated the blade (this picture is of the forge, but not the actual blade or the torch I used)

Tempered the clip extra with a torch, careful to keep the blade cool with a damp paper towel wrapped around it.

Put the final grind on it and took it to 600 grit, then buffing wheel.

Rounded the scales

Polished it all up and assembled. All done!

Here is the lock-pin. It is held in the back of the knife by the magnet when not in use, and is held by friction and the magnets when in the lock position. I heat colored it to straw to match the scales some.

One downside of the magnetic retention the way I set it up, it pulls the blade completely to one side.

Overall very happy with how the knife seems to perform. Plan to carry it this week to see how it actually is in use. I think I won't do the lock pin in the future builds, but I do like the magnetic retention. Let me know what you think. Its far from perfect, but I am happy with it for being my second folder and maybe 5th knife overall. Time to work on the next one and improve some more.

 

[abbydaddy]

Just my view from the cheap seats, but if this knife were for me I would probably opt for a satin or stonewashed finish on the blade, and a single material handle. I really like simplicity in a friction folder.

Those criticisms aside, I REALLY like the design. I think the clip tang is a great feature, and I like the overall look. It might be worth fiddling with the point of the finger groove to see if you can swing something that looks a little more balanced, unless it feels really good in the hand, in which case don't change a thing.

For your second folder I'd say it is pretty outstanding.

 

[Greenberg Woods]

For handles, I like either simplicity or at least continuity. I might do a bolster in a relatively simple wood like ebony or blackwood, but if I do a glue up in try to use similar woods. For instance, I wouldn't have zebra wood and burl, or a curly wood and a brightly colored wood. I might use two burls "my favorite combo is golden amboyna and manzinta, but you might have guessed I'm kind of a wood snob!"

Love the design though

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Just to point out what may be the obvious, the magnet will continually attract all the steel dfust and shavings it gets near. That will help keep your pockets and bench top cleaner, but won't work so well on the knife.

 

[ohaple]

Just to point out what may be the obvious, the magnet will continually attract all the steel dfust and shavings it gets near. That will help keep your pockets and bench top cleaner, but won't work so well on the knife.

I noticed this when I accidentally set the scales down next to the grinder. I have 3 identical blades pre-cut. For the first one I wanted to do every feature I could think of to see which I like and which I dont. I am definitely not doing more of the lock pin style, and likely will do satini next time, since I am already tired of the fingerprints on the blade. As for the magnets, remains to be seen how/if it creates a problem with the blade.i love how the magnets make the knife flippable and fun to play with, but constant heavy friction is likely safer from a use perspective. I already have a few vanilla friction folders and wanted to try something new.

As for the point of the finger groove, I didn't notice any problems with it on my cardboard test, and in hand the knife feels pretty good. It's one of those things where I will have to handle many knives in a row to see what is more comfortable. As of right now, the problem I see with the handle design is that the handle tapers to be narrow at the end. Most of your gripping force happens with your pinky and ring finger, so you want that part of the handle to fill the hand a little more. My design makes it feel like you are getting the most grip from your pointer finger, which is backwards. i will need to work on a better design (though to be fair this is as comfortable as almost every folder I own, spyderco and opinel excluded).

For the sake of improvement, here are my most critical thoughts on this build.
-Hard to see in pictures, but the stop pin is ever so slightly angled. This is because the way I build the knife, the holes for that pin have to be drilled independently and cannot be stacked and drilled at once. Will need to re-examine my process to fix this. Maybe drill it in the liners first before putting the liners with the rest of the scales.
-I don't like the high-polished finish. Something about it makes the blade feel cheap. I did a satin on the pen-knife and will probably stick with that from now on. Satin seems more high-class, plus hides fingerprints and scratches.
-The locking pin is a strange one. For jurisdictions that don't allow locking blades it might be good to allow you to have a lock when absolutely needed, while keeping legal when not (can leave the stop pin somewhere else, on a keychain, etc. For everywhere else, it seems like a bad idea. To me, if you are doing any" hard use" a friction folder probably is not the proper tool. Adding a pin doesn't really change that. FF are more light-use and gentleman carry style blades to me, and shouldn't try to be a jack of all trades. I will bring my sage or caly if I need a real lock.
-I am torn on the magnets and will need to re-asses as I carry it a bit. It is pretty fun, but I see why it is not common practice. It pulls the blade over, causing fit and finish to be a little strange, and attracts any metal shavings etc that are in the pocket. This will build up and need cleaned. I see why the sharpy line of knives use a ball detent. My take-away so far with it is that it is very fun to flip and play with, but I wouldn't feel proud of a knife with the feature if I sold or gave it to someone. TBH, the magnetic retention was a proxy for normal detent because I didn't feel confident in my skills enough to try out ball detent yet.
-I need to refine how I finish micarta. I am having a hard time keeping them shiny and pretty. Seems like they get dull over a day or two. Not a major deal, its a minor change, but I would prefer they look awesome all the time.
-I need to refine the thickness of standoffs and pivots to be more precise. Right now the back of the knife is slightly wider than the pivot. Not much, but precision is important.
-I need to keep practicing my grinds. I got the grinds here pretty good, but they are not perfect by any means. Seems this is an ongoing learning process.
-I need to get better at putting the edge on it on the grinder. I did ok, but was off by about 5 degrees, which made me spend ages fixing it on the lansky and sharpmaker.
-Next one, I need to go back to simple friction folder and work on the basics. Once I get fit and finish better I can start trying fancy stuff. Going to make the next one a standard friction folder and focus on the details more.