How do the put the bend in a TI framelock?

cmd

cmd

Joined
Feb 7, 2004
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Anybody know how they put the bend in the lock bar of a titanium framelock? I understand everything about my sebenza but that, and it probaby applies to all of the other framelocks that CRK has influenced to one degree or another.
 
Clamp knife in vice. Apply lateral pressure to set bend. Assemble knife. Cut stuff. (Maybe Chris Reeve does it differently, though).
 
Chiro75 said:
Clamp knife in vice. Apply lateral pressure to set bend. Assemble knife. Cut stuff. (Maybe Chris Reeve does it differently, though).
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Thanks for your reply, by the way. Got to get me one of your Tactical Orange Peelers one day - very cool.
 
Steels (especially carbon steels) can be annealed with heat to produce bends easier, but I have no idea if titanium can be worked the same way. I doubt even steel frame/linerlocks are annealed though, they're probably just bent too. I'd imagine that the heat involved in annealing would permanently discolor the metal anyway.
 
CMD, thanks! The TOPs are fun little knives. I have a new model, the Tactical Grapefruit Peeler, which will be a bigger version, out sometime soon, too. I haven't touched my grinder to steel in 3 weeks, so I need to get working!
 
When I make liner locks using titanium I bend it depending on thickness. For example a .040 piece of 6AL-4V titanium or grade 5 ti can be bent by hand. .050 can also but it is harder to bend so I usually use a pair of 'duck bill' vise grips for the bend in this one. For .060 or thicker a bench vise is really the only way to go.

I have found the the single short bends like say for a liner lock folder are quite easy because there is some length there for leverage. On the ti pocket clips I make even the .040 ones require the vise to make the short detailed bends.

One word of caution though. Ti is very unforgiving if you bend it in one direction and then decide it is too much and try to bend it back. It won't tolerate much of that back and forth action at all before it tears or breaks on you. So it is better to bend it just a little than too much because there is really no going back without weakening the metal at the bend.
 
Chiro,

I have to admit that I'd never seen your knives before but I just took a look and was VERY impressed. I greatly appreciate your simple and elegant style. Your blades and their hamons are awesome.



B.
 
cmd said:
Interesting. Thought heat would have been involved.
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Heating Titanium only makes it stronger. It tends to anodize and harden with any significant heat in the presence of air.
The last thing you want to do when working with Titanium is heat it. Unless, of course, you're welding or heat anodizing it. ;) There's a reason the military and aerospace industry find it so useful.

WYK
 
WYK said:
Heating Titanium only makes it stronger. It tends to anodize and harden with any significant heat in the presence of air.
The last thing you want to do when working with Titanium is heat it. Unless, of course, you're welding or heat anodizing it. ;) There's a reason the military and aerospace industry find it so useful.

WYK
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Sorry to resurrect this old thread but how does this work for an integral frame lock? Is there enough space to bend to get the right springiness or is there another trick to this?
 
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