How to drill INFI steel?

A

abchopper

Joined
Jan 15, 2008
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152
I'm new to these forums but have been interested in Busses for quite sometime now since discovering them near the begining of the year. They seem like the most amazing knives. All the strengths of both carbon and stainless steels and very few of their weaknesses. :thumbup:

I'm in the process of trying to get my first piece of INFI. (CG ASH1) Looks like an ideal size/shape for an all round chopper/digger/pry and with the full flat grind, looks like it would slice well. Nice wide spine for batoning and strength. But I've discovered through these forums is it's a bit heavy for every day use, which leads me to my question. (I tried searching these forums but couldn't find an answer)

How do you drill holes in INFI?

I plan to reduce the weight of the full tang and hence the whole blade (and shift the weight towards the blade). Should improve the chopping ability.
Do I use tungsten carbide drill bits or can I use high speed steel bits?

This leads me to, how do I re-attach the micarta scales?
Someone mentioned a thread on this but I couldn't find it.

I have considered the skinny ash1 and the sarsquatch but I like the full flat grind. (I may still get one of them) I'm not sure if the skinny is strong enough to dig and pry into wood. (e.g. digg a hole into a 2x4). I can't really afford a ASH1 LE at this stage.

Thanks in advance. :p
 
Good luck :eek:, at 60 rockwell C, It would be tough. You would need a carbide drill as a steel one would not work.
 
very, very carefully. do not attempt to hand hold the blade as your only means of stabalizing it against the torqueing pressure of the drill. several here on the boards have received very bad and very serious injuries that way.
 
A solid carbide bit is about all you can hope for.
 
Lots and lots of cutting fluid, a drill press at the slowest speed it will go, and a sharp, high quality hss bit. Go as heavy as you can on the press, you want the bit to dig in and cut, once it starts spinning without cutting you probably need to sharpen/throw away the bit. While HSS will dull rapidly it's a bit more robust than cobalt. You will probably break/dull a couple bits doing this. IE: Not really worth the effort if you aren't set up for it, see if the shop will do it for you.
 
I have drilled it several times with carbide tip drills or with solid carbide end mills on my milling maching without much trouble. I generally don't use cutting fluids, but you might want to try them. Now tapping holes would be very difficult due to the hardness.
 
I find that my light saber will penatrate Infi. Theres a lotta sparks and the fuse blows in the light saber, but you can get a hole in it if you keep trying.
O, and you must use the force............


Cartophilis-----come to the dark side.
 
"I'm not sure if the skinny is strong enough to dig and pry into wood. (e.g. digg a hole into a 2x4). I can't really afford a ASH1 LE at this stage."

The properties of INFI have been demonstrated many times in the past. With blade steel the higher the quality/tougher the steel (in most cases) the thinner you can make the knife and still maintain as much or even better performance then other steels which may require multiples in thickness to match the strength and toughness of the skinny ASH1.

The Skinny Ash is 0.1875" thick. If you look at blades of comparable size and geometry, made out of other carbon or even tool steels, such as the RAT Cutlery RC-6 with a 6.5" blade it has the same thickness as the Skinny Ash. If Mr. Randall designs a knife with a 6.5" blade and a certain width he is not going to skimp. He basically requires his blade to, well, support him with very little other gear in the wilds of the S. American jungles. The Busse Skinny Ash will not only have better steel but will also have a better heat treat. I doubt you will be able to do much damage to it. The Busse-Kin knives come with a forever warranty to cover anything you do manage to do to it.

If you are in doubt why not drop them an email and explain what your intended uses are and ask for their opinion.
 
Carbide is the way to go if you don't want to take all day. A steady Mill with lots of torque will also make life easier. I have broken way too many carbide bits than I care to admit using my cheapy wobbly drill press.
 
Once you have an CGASH1 in hand you might find that it is actually very well and evenly balanced. I have used mine for chopping and splitting and I don't think the balance could really be improved upon:confused:
 
Another thing to consider is that drilling holes yourself would likely void your warranty. Unless you really know what you are doing, I wouldn't bother. I would wait until you get your knife, and use it for a while before you consider modding it in that manner. If you still want to go for it, I agree that sending it to the custom shop would be your best bet. That way, your warranty will still be good.
 
Thanks to everyone for the really great sound advice.
I think it needs a re-evaluation and back to the drawing board.

Iamtoast, I'll have to have another look at the skinny ash again. It may be my best and easiest option as a field EDC. Does anyone have a field test review on the skinny?

Randuuci/Landi/Ban, I think your right about the tools/equipment which I don't have. (I wish I had a full workshop...sigh)

Moonwilson, a very good point about the warranty. I'll have to email the BC custom shop to see what my options are.

Cartophilis, if I had a light saber I wouldn't need a busse! (I'm sure I'm not the only one to have this day dream :D )

Have a good one guys (and gals)!
 
Oh and Cartophilis, one last thing...I'm switching off the lights so I'll be in a dark room.
How's that!

(And your not my father)
 
Much better to taper the tang if you are bent on lightening that model... just a thought...:) ss.
 
I have made some inquires with some of my local engineering workshops in regards to custom drilling, plasma cutting and water jet cutting. Most of them were reluctant to do one-off jobs and if they were able to then the cost would of made it uneconomical to do so. It would then be better to get a ASH1 LE which is still out of my budget at this stage.

I did consider taper grinding but there is issues with grinding accurately or flat if done by hand. Not to mention heat issues with the temper and then the scales would need to be reshaped or rebuilt.

A machine surface grinder and laser cutting would be an expensive service like the above. (and are machines I don't have)
 
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