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Learning how to make slip joint folders

Kerry,
Thank-you for sharing your experience and photos with us!
How totally neat!
And that knife is mighty fine looking also!
And also Thank-you to Tony!
 
you should be very proud of that. I have done probably 12 or so slipjoint folders and I am still a long way from producing something like that. Looks like you had a very good teacher.
 
joe9knives said:
you should be very proud of that. I have done probably 12 or so slipjoint folders and I am still a long way from producing something like that. Looks like you had a very good teacher.
Click to expand...

Having Tony to say "DON'T DO THAT!" and "Do it this way" made all the difference in how this knife turned out. There are so many more steps involved in making a slipjoint that I can see where it would take years to learn how to make a "flawless" knife without a mentor.
 
Looks great so far... Like others, I can't wait to see it when finished.
As you know you are indeed very fortunate to have someone of his caliber working with you.. Its great to see someone at his level still willing to take the time to help out.. :thumbup: I don't own one YET, but he makes some absolutely incredible knives.... Enjoy
 
beautiful knife. any chance you can tell where the 3/16 bronze bushings with 3/32 hole came from? all i've found is 1/8" hole. any help would be appreciated.
 
Could you explain the geometry of the lock up and close up of the blade and spring. I can always get good lock up ...but a little sketchy on the firm snap on the close. Such as....if the center of pivot hole is 1/8" from both top and bottom of blade.....how far does the kick need to stick out. Or...how does the spring snap shut and close on kick. I always get a very slow close. Any help by anyone is appreciated.
 
John L said:
Could you explain the geometry of the lock up and close up of the blade and spring. I can always get good lock up ...but a little sketchy on the firm snap on the close. Such as....if the center of pivot hole is 1/8" from both top and bottom of blade.....how far does the kick need to stick out. Or...how does the spring snap shut and close on kick. I always get a very slow close. Any help by anyone is appreciated.
Click to expand...

One of the goals is to have that spring dead flat with the liners in all 3 positions. To achieve that, the geometry of the tang for a blade with a half-stop is essentially a square with the pivot point exactly in the center. The length and height of the kick is variable depending on where you want the point to be housed between the liners. Ofcourse, adjusting that will also effect the spring position in the closed position. The patterns need to be worked out on paper first if you don't have the luxury of pre-existing patterns or a knife that you have taken apart to make patterns from.

The slow close could be due to side pressure on the blade from the liners OR not enough spring pressure. Forgot one simple thing...slipjoints need to be cleaned and oiled to keep them working properly too.
 
Kerry, Thanks for great work on this thread. Your knife is GREAT. That Damascus with the mammoth ivory perfect combination. 10 years ago I was able to handle one of Tony's knives at a show in NE. It was a 2 blade jumbo trapper with beautiful stag scales and was the best small machine I had ever seen. A real work of art. It walked and talked soooo nice!! He is a true Master. I have also been looking for a cutlers steady or anvil with no luck. The last source I had was Koval and they no longer carry them as their vendor went out of business. Thanks again for your efforts and pics. They answered a lot of questions for me.
Tom Kennedy
 
Thanks for the help Kerry. I looked at that website looking for bushings under the menu. I must have had a brain fart I never saw folder parts.
 
Kerry: I built a three stage folder similar to the oneyou built and it turned out pretty good for a first..but I noticed you prefinished the two halves as far as radiusing them before final assembly. My biggest problem is smoothly blending bolster to scale material. Any hints on this process.
 
John L said:
Kerry: I built a three stage folder similar to the oneyou built and it turned out pretty good for a first..but I noticed you prefinished the two halves as far as radiusing them before final assembly. My biggest problem is smoothly blending bolster to scale material. Any hints on this process.
Click to expand...

Good question! Once the scales have been pinned to liner/bolster assembly, they are rough sanded (pinned together) on profile first on contact wheel(slow speed).

Once that is done, they are taken apart and rough sanded to shape seperately on slack belt. This can also be done by hand, it just takes longer. A 6" machinist ruler 3/4" or 1" wide wrapped with sandpaper makes a nice sanding tool and is what TBose uses(me too) for the final sanding. A somewhat ridgid piese of wood that is flat would work the same. I've read where some people use tongue depressors.

Here is the part that you wanted to know specifically about blending the bolster and scale material. The scales are softer than the bolster, so when sanding in that area of the handle, make sure you sand from the bolster onto the scale. If you do it the opposite way, a most unsightly and rookie-like dip will form at the bolster/scale joint. DON"T sand it with your finger.

That should do it for you. Don't be shy and post a pic of your work.

Here is some eye candy for folks that love to see a nice piece of quality work. This is what we should aim for in quality. It is a very old English pattern Tony finished this week that I shot for him; 4" Wharncliff Teardrop with 440V blade and fluted bolsters. Stainless liners/bolsters pins. Old Remington jigged bone. Drop dead gorgeous!

wharncliff2.jpg

wharncliff5.jpg
 
Another question if you don't mind Kerry. What are your basic steps in blade finishing? Grind to what grit..start with what grit handsanding with what as a backup to the paper and finishing with what grit. Thanks and this tutorial has been a great help.

John Lloyd
 
The knife that I finished has a very nice, tight, Damascus twist pattern. You can really "cheat" with that because the pattern is what people see and not so much the quality of sanding.

I can't talk from experience so I will tell you what I have seen Tony do since he is the expert. Before HT I believe he grinds to 220 on a 14" wheel. After HT he starts at 60 and steps back up to a used 220 grit on the 14" wheel, working the flats first on a granite bench block with a sheet of sand paper taped to the top. If he wants a brushed finish he will then touch this up on a fine Scotchbrite wheel. If he is doing a hand rubbed finish, he will step on up to 800 grit warn out belt, and touch that up with a spare 4" contact wheel in a vise with sandpaper taped to it. He used the edge of the wheel with the blade at slight angle to sand the hollow ground bevels. The idea here is to not soften the grind lines. If you use your finger it will most certainly happen. The smaller wheel stays withing the established radius of the grind and helps you to stay off of the top of the bevel edge.

The finish can be taken up to whatever level you want, Tony typically takes the handles up to 2500 and sometimes up to 6000 grit. He uses unscented lamp oil to wet the paper and keep it cutting.

Tony uses light buffing on the end of the bolser ONLY with the knife closed.
 
I made some corrections on the post up there about blade finish that is important. :o
 
Great information and REALLY GREAT pictures, as usual. Thanks for putting together such an informative thread!
 
I got my gumption up to flush joint this knife which is the subject of this thread. On old knives they would sometimes make the end of the bolsters flush with the end of the tang(closed position). Additionally, a riskier move was to make the end of the spring flush as well. Take some off the end of the spring and the blade will fly up into a most unsightly position when opened....bad move. Do it just right and slip joint nirvahna is achieved. :D

firstbp5.jpg


Thought you might like to see this thing again after it's been riding in my backpocket every day since I finished it. Well, actually I guess I just finished it again. :) Oh..new camera and better lighting helps.

firstbp1.jpg

http://knifehead.com/images/firstbp2.jpg
http://knifehead.com/images/firstbp3.jpg
http://knifehead.com/images/firstbp4.jpg
http://knifehead.com/images/firstbp6.jpg
 
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