Low Rider Clip start to finish

[STR]

Someone asked me last night before going off to bed if I ever did a start to finish or progress picture type thread for a low rider clip and it dawned on me that I had not. I have shared what I know and do with makers and end line users privately that wanted to make their own or just wanted to know how I did mine but never have I gone through it here or on any of the other forums.

So, I guess its about time.

To make pocket clips is not all that much rocket science really. It requires some basic metal working tools, a dremmel, band saw, 1x30 bench sander, and for me a bead blaster cabinet and compressor. Seen below are the hand tools I use. Two pair of Duck Bill Vice Grips AKA sheet metal tools, and one nice heavy duty pair of jewelers pliers. If you have these things and some time you can make your own clips quite well actually.

Usually I just get one clip per day or sometimes a couple. Many of the ones I've made have become so redundant that I rarely post them anymore unless they are solicted off this forum directly because it just uses up picture space and seem too much repeat. But today I have three to make so I may as well use those for my step by step.

Normally I take the factory clip off because that is necessary for me to mark and drill my new holes. Its also helpful to have the actual folder or a template of that folder handy so you know where to mark the fold over but we'll get to that. I've made clips using card tracings of the knives for guys overseas that didn't want to risk shipping the knives and that will work also. I just want to stress it is critical that you mark the hole positions accurately.

To drill I most always use a #44 drill bit for this since that is the correct size for most pocket clip screws. Occasionally on a Japanese model it will need to be slightly smaller or slightly bigger so sometimes it can call for a #48 drill which is smaller than a #44 and other times a 3/32 or or number 42 that is a bump bigger in diameter.

These here are all #44 holes for the little Lavas by Spyderco I have here. I make these so that they can of course utilize the existing holes already threaded into the knives whenever possible. As you may note from the picture I pay little attention to being artistic or neat here for the rough tracing of the pattern I intend to cut out. Its a rough guideline for my band saw when I cut them and most all the trimming is done by hand or with my belt grinder. A blaze orange belt will trim these down right quick on my KMG but it moves along a bit too fast even at slow speed for something this thin and it is really overkill so I use my Harbor Frieght 1x30 sander for most of this work using a nice fresh ceramic 80 grit belt on it. For some reason that sander seems better to me than the big one for these smaller projects.

Step one is to use the original clip with two screws to stick it on my titanium sheet and trace out the general shape with my sharpy. I flip that clip so its upside down because remember it will fold over so the mounting point will be opposite of how it sits when flat.

Also you may note that I have marked the grain on my ti sheet. Someone in the titanium business told me once that it was not necessary to even worry about which way the grain went with titanium because it did not matter. I believed that for about a week. It might not be a big issue which way the grain goes with titanium thicker than .040 like I use for my fold over clips. I really can't say but based on what I have learned folding over my pocket clips I know now it sure does matter which way the grain goes when it comes to a thin piece folded over like I do my clips. I have found that if I try to fold over a titanium clip against the grain that it will break the majority of the time causing me undue time and frustration. I would say based on this that you have to know which way to fold it over so it goes with the grain of the sheet you cut the blank out of. If you can't mark this ask Halpern or whoever you buy it from to do so for you before they ship it out.

Also, you can try .050 thickness titanium if you like and if you dare but I could tell you blind folded if thats what you gave me to bend. Its a night and day difference in difficulty to bend anything over .040-.044 by hand in my experience and the % of tearing and breaking increases with the thickness increase making it progressively more and more difficult to make sharp bends and particularly fold overs. With that said I have successfully used .050 thickness for standard style or non fold over style clips without difficulty and without the need for heat to make the bends.

Anyway, getting ahead of myself here. Stay tuned you see these come to fruition here the old fashioned way by hand. Is there a better way? Oh maybe so but this is how I do it and it works for me. If you have a jig or some other equipment have at it. Each of mine are one of a kind unique to themselves handmade clips though.

Thanks for watching.

Oh and Joe thanks for asking if you catch this. I know you don't post much but here it is.
STR

 

[STR]

Step two I test fit the clips after cutting them out and shaping them further on the 1x30 HF sander.

Step three I mark where the fold over needs to be and then make my first bend to mark that for when I heat it up.

This first bend can be done cold. The fold itself requires a cherry red glow from the titanium though so thats up next.

STR

 

[STR]

Step four is to heat up each clip at the point I marked with my pen and made my first bend. Once heated that sharpy mark disappears so its helpful to do that first bend.

You take titanium slowly to make a bend this drastic especially when its this thin so I go in stages or at least that has been my habit to keep breakage at a minimal when bending it. I've broke two clips all year so far. It seems after working many of these fold overs that you have approximately a 2 to 3 second window of opportunity once you heat it to a good reddish orange color before it cools down enough to allow the titanium to tear. Titanium cools very quickly so as a result of this I learned early on you can't just take it to the flame and heat it to that color and then fold it over in one sweep all the way around like you can with stainless or you may find you break more than you complete as I did at first. Most guys that have tried this have contacted me in frustration wondering how I do it. Here is how.

Heat it up to a nice orange/reddish glow where you want to bend it, bend a little, heat it again bend it again, heat it again and bend it again and then once more or two more if needed. Finally you are almost all the way around and you heat it once more and then make the final bend to take it all the way around so you have your low rider fold over clip. What I do here is take it down a bit more than where both top and bottom are parrallel. If you take that bend down just a mite past parallel it adds some tension to it later but you don't want to take it down so low its nearly touching the mounting part of the clip.

I do the whole job using nothing but the original clip, a sharpy, a drill press, band saw and the 1x30 sander and a dremmel. I make all my bends with some heavy duty jewelers pliers and two pair of DuckBill metal bending Vice Grips. Using pliers with teeth on them is a bad idea so get a good strong pair of pliers with no teeth and you could do a lot of it also. For the final bend at the bottom of the clip I often times will use a good Craftsman Crescent wrench and one pair of the Duckbill vice grips and make the bend the the vice grips using the wrench to hold the clip above so its steady but also to use it to bend against. For some clips, especially with them this small you can't get two duckbills in there in such a confined space without flattening out the top bends you already made.

Step five you test fit it to the folder it is supposed to mount on testing the look as well as the way the screws go on. If all goes well you then finish it.

You can see that the first bend is the one to mark the fold over.

The second bend is the fold over itself using an open flame.



STR

 

[ChapmanPreferred]

Can you mention how you cut the Ti?

Thank you!

dczippo

 

[STR]

Guess you missed where I said in my first post that, 'its a rough guideline for my bandsaw' but thats ok. I use my band saw and if anyone wants to know I cut thin titanium and aluminum fast. Cuts through it like butter. Leaves a bur on the back side or underside that needs to be flat ground lightly on my HF 1x30 and then you move on.

Thanks for asking

STR

 

[RKH]

STR, did you do the grooves or shaping on on the handles? Looks like it would give a much better grip on the handle. My gripe about stainless handles are how slick they are and show every little ding and scratch.
RKH

 

[STR]

Yeah, I do it. Its one of the reasons the guy sent them to me.

I will bead blast them here today and tomorrow and finish up the clips to get these in the mail on Monday. Between the grooving and the bead blasting they are a bit more capable of allowing the hand and fingers a better purchase of the handle when you extract and use the folder. I am doing these clips for those three knives the gentleman sent me. I have them all in another thread here Ronnie.

Thanks for asking.

STR

 

[STR]

Moving on to step six I satin finish each clip to nice even lines using a 220 grit paper after making the fold over. I also take off the little sharp edges all over and up and down and bevel them. Then before bending I flip them over and using my STR punch I put my John Hancock on each one on the back side. Then I will make my bends to spring the clip for tension. The first bend is the one right up near the two mounting holes. You are essentially making a flat spot or a rest spot for your palm here that is critical to comfort in the hand and also for proper clip tension to hold the pocket.

I follow up again with the sand paper taking out any lines from the tools when making this bend and for this bend I use the jewelers pliers and a pair of the vice grips.

Next bend is the bottom one for where the clip slides over your pocket. For this I use a crescent wrench and a duck bill vice grip then gently coax the bend up just enough to clear the rim but not so much that it should stick up to poke your fingers. Then sand any lines down and you have your clips near done.

Seen here are the three clips one sideways to show the bends, one upside down to show my STR signiture and one how it will look looking down on the folder. All these are usuable and properly tensioned as they sit. I will go now to step seven which is the bead blasting which I'll do with the knives they are going on so I will have everything needing blasted all there at the same time and will just knock all that out in one sitting.

STR

 

[STR]

And here these guys are all mounted on their folders ready to work.

Thanks for watching. Oh and that scratch looking mar on the far right is on the glass of my flat bed scanner so just overlook that if you can please. Sorry.
STR