Ken Erickson Knives: A Retrospective

[Railsplitter]

This is all very interesting. Thank you, Ken.

 

[ptradeco]

Am I the only one who thinks this is the coolest thread evvvaaaa?????

I am down with it as well Campbell! Very informative Ken, thanks for sharing.

 

[ken erickson]

While the spring and blade are in heat treat I worked on the frames. This set-up shows how I mill the reliefs to prevent the tang from being scratched. It is very easy to end up with duplicate frames this way.

This picture shows the blade and spring after heat treating, resurface ground and hardness checked. 59 blade, 49 spring.

This picture shows how much higher the blade sits when under tension from the back spring. This will be adjusted now by lowering the kick.

Fine tuning the tang/backspring using my rise fall indicator.

At times I will use black marker to give a nice visual indication of a spring sitting low or high.

Things are progressing nice on this knife. It is always satisfying when the backspring is put under tension for the first time and the blade is worked.

Well, that's it for the night, just finished up a slice of pizza and a Leinenkugel's. :thumbup:

 

[ken erickson]

Thanks for taking the time Ken. Great knife for a WIP. It will be interesting to see the blade being ground. Also, are you going to do the bolsters the same as on Campbell's knife? What handle material?

Mike,

I will be slanting the bolsters, fluting and threading as per the Remington. Both Campbell and I think the bolsters are one of the defining attributes of this Cotton Sampler versus some of the others.
At this time we plan on Ebony for the scale material.

 

[Mack]

Thank you for posting these pics. I am amazed at the work you guys put into these pieces of working art that you create.

 

[cnas122]

Thanks for taking the time Ken. Great knife for a WIP. It will be interesting to see the blade being ground. Also, are you going to do the bolsters the same as on Campbell's knife? What handle material?

We are going with ebony for the handles. As for the bolsters, I think Ken is trying to replicate the original pattern as near as possible. One thing I'm interested to see is how he handles the thickness of the handle. As he mentioned previously, there is more wood in the handle than most slipjoints you see, and it makes for a very comfortable knife to hold in the hand. I guess the key is making the swell flow with the rest of the knife into the bolsters, so it doesn't look awkward and thrown together (like something I would do if I tried to rehandle the knife). When I get it, I will take some top-side pics against my other cotton samplers so you can see the substantial difference in width

 

[ken erickson]

Monday and back out in the shop!

First step today is to layout the lines for the slanted bolsters.

I mill the bolsters from a piece of 3/16 416. I have a four set videos posted on my Youtube channel if interested in the actual process. Just type in ne6359
in the Youtube search bar.

In this photo you can see the bolsters are milled ready for shaping, threading and fluting

Layout lines getting ready to flute and thread the bolsters

I use a chain saw file and needle file to do this work

On to the blade grinding! This shows the first step ground in, this will form the flat portion ahead of the tang and before the plunge cut for the blade

The grinding of the blade proper with the swedge cut in. You can now see how the nail pull is the proper size and location.

Things are really starting to come together on this knife. Its a fun place to be, as every step now gets us closer to the finished knife.

 

[cnas122]

Hell yea. I'm getting excited. So far it looks dead-on

 

[DOWELLKNIVES]

Looking good so far. I bet its gonna be a dandy.

 

[cnas122]

Funnest part about this is testing Ken with a difficult, traditional pattern

 

[supratentorial]

I didn't realize that the fluted bolster would be done completely by hand filing. The knife is really taking shape quickly. The blade looks really cool.

 

[bakerg2g]

Kidding me! That's looks dead on... GREAT
job! Thanks for sharing the WIP pic's.


Jason

 

[black mamba]

Great WIP and a beautiful knife coming together. I know it's a cotton sampler, but that blade looks like it would skin a critter as well as anything on the planet!
Congrats to Campbell and kudos to Ken.

 

[ken erickson]

I know it's a cotton sampler, but that blade looks like it would skin a critter as well as anything on the planet!

Here is a post from Tony Bose in a thread on one of his cotton samplers.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...ose-Stag-Cotton-Sampler?p=4379750#post4379750

 

[biglmbass]

I'm enjoying the heck out of this thread and look forward to seeing the finished knife.

 

[ken erickson]

I'm enjoying the heck out of this thread and look forward to seeing the finished knife.

Thank guys! I know I have done other wip's but I am glad that folks still get enjoyment out of them.

Normally I would be fitting the scales at the point, however , with the these scales sitting proud of the bolsters I will be doing as much bolster refining/finishing as possible before they can be installed.

 

[comoha]

This is fascinating to see unfold...

 

[waynorth]

Just catching up with this thread, after getting back into town.
Holy Moley!!
A tough and detailed knife to build!! This could be your best WIP to date, Ken - Thanks a lot for putting such effort into it.

 

[wagglebee]

Ken, these WIP pictures are amazing!

 

[ken erickson]

Had a chance to get quite a bit done today on the sampler, too darn hot and muggy to get anything done outdoors!

The bolsters are taken to a pretty high finish at this point. I do not want to do much work around the scales as they sit proud on this knife.

Hard to tell with the bad lighting and crud in the well but the backspring is taken to a bright finish.

Marking the frames for the scale pins(nails). I use the first side as a drill jig to drill the second frame.

I use this hand held cutter to chamfer the holes for the scale pins as they form a rivet.