Lathe Dagger

Sam Salvati

Sam Salvati

Joined
Aug 6, 2007
Messages
5,060
I had mentioned I was learning to use a lathe. I decided to make a knife and turn the handle from brass/bronze and here it is. It certainly isn't precision or anything, just turned by eye having a bit of fun on the lathe. The blade is 5160, with a chiseled in fuller, 1/2 double edge, fileworked spine. I turned the handle and pommel, but made the guard the old fashioned way. I was going to make the pommel a nut and thread it on but ended up making it a peened assembly. I ground all the cutters myself for all the different cuts, but mainly used a thin straight cut and a right cut. Also tried knurling the front and end of the handle.

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And also, A VIDEO!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKl9EuI-xOc
 
Kinda looks like it should be a bayonet. Very nice. Would love to get my hands on that toothpic. And I don't say that about just any blade.
 
Nice dagger Sam! The video really helps show how great it looks!

Lathes are fun and very useful. But after 6 hours on one bar the fun level kinda... sinks like lead.
 
Nice Sam....You would of had fun with us in North Carolina this week!
Mace
 
It's amazing what you can do with a Top Notch insert and some ingenuity. Great job.
 
That's just the idea that I needed... I wanted to make a small stiletto type blade but couldn't decide on the handle... I don't know why I never thought of this being that I have a 12x36" gear head lathe.

Your knurling tool must be the 2 prong type deal... looks like it wanted to go out of time there a bit???
 
Thanks guys, the fit on this is real neat. Hard to explain, there is a 1/2" hole drilled straight through the whole handle. The tang is wider then 1/2" for about 1 inch from the shoulders, and is set into the handle with slots filed into either side of the 1/2" hole. The tang tapered down to 3/16" round and was pretty centered on the other end in the 1/2" hole, but when I turned the pommel, I made a small shoulder that set up into the 1/2 hole in the main body of the handle, then center drilled for 3/16ths. So the end of the tang is peened in the pommel, and the pommel is joined to the main handle body with the little shoulder so it doesn't float about.

Mace said:
Nice Sam....You would of had fun with us in North Carolina this week!
Mace
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Mace I would have LOVED to have been able to go to that class.

Jason, here you go!

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Dan, I understand what you mean, I hate the 2 hours of setup to make a 5 minute cut hehe. I like turning with a hammer and anvil mindset, not a micrometer and calipers mindset hehe, it's very calming to run a lathe.
 
Johno, yeah my knurling sucks. I wasn't really quite sure how to even use it, and instead of reading a book I just tried it. I would love any tips and tricks on how to get that NICE crisp pyramid looking knurling like on a craftsman wrench.
 
Sam Salvati said:
Johno, yeah my knurling sucks. I wasn't really quite sure how to even use it, and instead of reading a book I just tried it. I would love any tips and tricks on how to get that NICE crisp pyramid looking knurling like on a craftsman wrench.
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Yeah... I probably have a verry similar tool... and am too kind of at odd's to why it doesn't quite work 100% of the time(other than it was cheap, and I don't know what I am doing). Half the time I think if one doesn't get it perfectly sqare with the work than it does that... but then I also think it helps to have it slightly angled apply light preasure so the drums kind of find a position and stay there, and then start tightening somewhat aggressively.... I am sure a real machinist will be reading and laughing at us.
 
Hehe. The one I used was a two wheel over under sort of deal, I adjusted it so both wheels were touching the peice, then gave it a whirl.
 
actually I quite like the way your knurling turned out anyway.... its far more fancy looking lol. What size of hole did you bore through it???
 
That's cool Sam :) Nice to see you broadening your skill set.

For a crisp knurling, I like to run the lathe around 100-150 rpm (for a part in this ball park size) and about 0.008"/rev feed rate.

One of the most important things is making sure your part is centered between the two knurling dies, and the knurling tool is SQUARE to the part.

Get the part turning, move the knurling tool close to the part, start with the end of the part right near the middle of the knurling dies.


I like to use a lot of cutting fluid.

Get the knurling tool to make contact, and then slowly bear down into the part with a lot of pressure.

Knurling is pretty hard on a not so heavy lathe.



I'm not Nathan the Machinist, but I have done quite a bit of knurling. I'm sure there are other methods, and/or something that could be improved on the way I do it. I learned from the teacher who is a retired tool and die maker.

He says it's one of the few processes on the lathe that is about feel and art as much as running by the numbers. He's mean and crotchety, but he's a hell of a machinist. :)
 
nice. Lathework can be pretty fast once you get used to it. I have a 14x52 5 horse lathe and use all carbide tooling, it sets up pretty quick

-Page
 
NickWheeler said:
That's cool Sam :)

For a crisp knurling, I like to run the lathe around 100-150 rpm (for a part in this ball park size) and about 0.008"/rev feed rate.

One of the most important things is making sure your part is centered between the two knurling dies, and the knurling tool is SQUARE to the part.

Get the part turning, move the knurling tool close to the part, start with the end of the part right near the middle of the knurling dies.


I like to use a lot of cutting fluid.

Get the knurling tool to make contact, and then slowly bear down into the part with a lot of pressure.

Knurling is pretty hard on a not so heavy lathe.
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I have nothing much to add to that :thumbup:

A common problem is metal gunk working into the tool and galling back into the workpiece and wrecking the pattern. I use a high pressure tapping fluid (moly-dee), which prevents stuff from sticking to the rollers or the workpiece and generally reduces tear out. Like you said, it takes a lot of pressure and depending on your knurling tool that can equate into a lot of deflection, so I like to do it close to the spindle and support the workpiece with the tailstock if possible.

I've never done knurling in production, I'm just a hack on a lathe. *shrug*


edit:

Oh yeah, neat dagger Sam. Looks a lot like a bayonet to me. I'll bet that would be a dandy of a pig sticker.

If you're going to skip pattern in a knurl - that's the way to do it. Looks like an engraved pattern. Like they say, "it is good to be good, it is better to be lucky"
 
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knurling for me has always been about a 50/50 chance between good knurls or doulble knurls, a slow rpm and high feed works best and lots of oil or coolant
 
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