Knifemaking Journey - Folders

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Bray D

Joined
Jun 28, 2020
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This will be a build thread of sorts. An ongoing compilation of what I'm playing with in the shop. My hope is that it generates some discussions that will benefit myself and others.

I'm a long time tool nerd and have collected a good deal of shop tools. Built my own 2x72 grinder a decade ago, have owned a small lathe / mill for nearly as long, and recently picked up an old CNC knee mill. Knives have been a great way to learn the machine and have some fun in the process.

I really like Cold Steel's Tuff Lite offering. I've been making scales for both the mini and the standard to hone my skills. I had a milestone over the weekend - successfully machining an 'integral' scale to support the leaf spring of the Tuff Lite. It's my first piece fully machined from a piece of billet.

Anyways, I'll kick this off with a handful of photos. I haven't attempted to make a blade yet, but I'm excited to take that next step. Learning to grind bevels will be a fun adventure.

Tools of the trade - the home brew 2x72. 3 speeds with a 2hp motor.

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The machining area with the recently acquired TREE CNC.

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First set of scales

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Adding some style

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I carried the mini for a couple weeks and decided to make scales for it's bigger brother.

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3D printed back scale to make sure the geometry was correct. This would last a couple days before the plastic would fail. It couldn't handle the reaction force from the leaf spring.

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Acid etched the blade just to see how that process works. Turned out really well on this AUS 8.

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Bought another knife, made a new show side scale.

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Then I set out to figure out how to make the integral back scale / back spacer. Steep learning curve with this CAM but it's awesome running the program. CNC is crazy.

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That brings us mostly up to speed. Looking forward to dumping pics in here as I try new things.
 
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Tried my hand at some tumbling last night. 4" PVC, ~18" long, with 5lbs of the HF ceramic media in it. 1 bottle of water and a few drops of Dawn. I didn't check with a tach, but it should be 40rpm. Ran it for just over 1/2 hour and it weathered my etched mini blade pretty well. I think a longer run time would improve consistency and lighten it a bit more. Overall pleased with the results so far.

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Thanks guys. The tool collection has been a lifelong endeavor, and there's still more on the list!

Taking these apart and reverse engineering everything has been a fun journey. There's a lot packed behind those scales, and everything needs to be made very accurately for it all to work together nicely.
 
Since the mini is my experimental knife, I tossed the aluminum scales in the tumbler to see what finish I would get. Same conditions as I did the blade. ~1/2hr run time. Looks pretty nice on the larger flat surfaces.

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While that was running I pulled my other knife apart and tuned the washer pocket. One of the pins was loose between the scales - dropping the washer a bit closed the gap between scales and tightened that up. I was ~.004" shallow previously.

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I've played around with aluminum anodizing in the past, but never really had a use for it until now. I decided to add some color to one of my scales. Turned out pretty sharp coupled with the etched blade.

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I'm typically a raw materials kinda guy, but this is neat for a change of pace.
 
Bray D said:
I've played around with aluminum anodizing in the past, but never really had a use for it until now. I decided to add some color to one of my scales. Turned out pretty sharp coupled with the etched blade.

dPYu4tF.jpeg


cKXtfUV.jpeg


I'm typically a raw materials kinda guy, but this is neat for a change of pace.
Click to expand...
You can make a mint slinging those in the right place...👌......at the right #..😉....

Fine display of your skills.....👍👍👍.... Great job
 
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