lighten up my liners

B

Billywill

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Feb 16, 2013
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I want to skeletonize the liners on my folder. The steel is 420j. I dont know the best way to accomplish this. A plasma cutter may be to hot and warp steel that thin. Is this steel to hard for a standard high speed steel drill bit to penetrate? Would an abrasive cut wheel on a dremel tool work? I also have access to a hydraulic punch, but the dies may not be sharp enough and it may warp the liners as well.
I dont have a similar piece of steel to experiment with and dont want to ruin my knife. Anyone out there with any knowledge or experience I would certainly like to here from you.
Thanks
 
I would do this very carefully with a drill bit and then sand down the sharp edges by hand. You're going to want to do this slowly so as not to bend them at all. Keeping them flat up against something is the best way to do this (aka clamped down). However, I've never felt the need to do this to a knife of my own as a mod.
 
I was thinking remove the scales, put a wood spacer between the liners, and use a varible speed drill press. Its the BM axis mechanism rift. Maybe disassembling the knife fully would be safer? Hoping skeletonizing the liners and going with carbon fiber scales will drop the weight from 4.8oz to 4oz or less. Closer to my PM2 which is my EDC 90%. I enjoy customizing my factory knives, just doing something a little different. Probably couldn't put it under felt the need.
 
I would for sure totally disassemble the knife if it were me and a drill press would work nicely for this. I'd measure and mark out where you want the holes on both liners before using a center punch to make a small indent where the center of the hole will be. This will also keep the bit from walking on you when it contacts the liner as you should line this mark up with the tip of the bit (drill press not running) before beginning to drill each hole.
 
JSM has got it right...

A trick I use to avoid bending thin metal when drilling is to clamp it between 2 pieces of wood.

To know where you're drilling drill a small pilot hole in the wood first.

Or if you're going to use a center punch to mark your spot, you can use a 123 block on top and a piece of wood on the bottom.

Either way should keep deflection/warpage to a minimum
 
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