Integral milling fixture/work holding

J

JMJones

Joined
Jul 14, 2010
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I am looking for ideas for work holding/ jigs/ fixtures ect for manually milling the bolster/blade and bolster/ handle transitions on fixed blade integral knives. The knives will be forged, so not precision ground flat stock but I can drill locating holes or other needed features. I am using a Bridgeport with DRO but have limited machining experience. Does anyone have any experience, pics, videos ect of something that may work.
Thanks
John
 
My friend who does his knives on a mill has a fixture block with a row of tapped holes. The fixture clamps in the milling vise. The blade blank is bolted to the fixture through the holes in the tang where the handle bolts will go. He spaces the tang holes to correspond with two of the tapped holes in the fixture. He mills the blade portion on both sides first, then the bolsters. All that is left proud is a circle around the holding bolts. He saws those off and cleans it up with a file.
 
Thanks Stacy! I am kind of surprised that there are not other responses or examples so far.
 
They have been around for 100 years, but never caught on. Here is an antique one:

Good for engraving, I am not sure if they would hold up to milling machine torque.

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Problem is there does not seem to be anyplace selling them. Laser printer plans and kits are online.
Lindsay gravers takes a $150 down payment but doesn't have them in production as far as I can tell.

You can get a plastic parts kit for $165 on Esty, but it is for educational fun, not for use It might be strong enough for light engraving.

The GRS contour vise is what I have for engraving. Probably not suitable for milling. (GRS stock photo)
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There are modern versions for soft jaws both CNC and manually milling. Norgren workholding makes a slick setup but they aren’t cheap. If you were a full time high volume guy it’d probably be worth it.
 
You might be able to leave the forged handle/guard area rectangular, like bar stock. Then just clamp it in a vise. Mill the area you want milled, flip it, mill, then contour the handle to the shape you want.
 
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