Photos Made my first slipjoint folder...

A

A.S

Joined
Jul 25, 2023
Messages
28
Finally finished my first slipjoint knife a while back. Didn't use a kit.

As with all firsts there is a lot of room for improvement, but I'm very happy with how it turned out.

1070 steel for the blade and spring.

G10 for the handle.

Brass pins and pivot.

All steel parts are finished to 600 grit. G10 is taken to 800 for a nice smooth surface. Open-and-close action (walk-and-talk) is nice and snappy.

Thanks for taking a look!

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oldmanwilly said:
Nice job! It looks like a useful size and design with a comfortable handle. I hope you make many more of these and share pics in-process.

What about the build surprised you the most? Was some aspect easier or deceptively more complex than you anticipated?
Click to expand...
Thank you!

I will definitely make more. My future slipjoints will have ss liners like the more traditional ones, while featuring pinless (from the outside) scales, for a nice sleek modern look. Will share more when I get around to them.

Well, the spring tension was a bit of a headache initially. I got everything heat-treated and tempered, but once assembled, the spring would lose some it's tension which left everything too loose for my liking. Decided to put my spring in the vice and give it a whack with the hammer to bend it forward a bit... First whack and the spring breaks. This left me to reevaluate my heating/tempering proccess of the spring and get some advice from master makers.

Ground out the second spring, heat treated and tempered with new recipe and voila, problem fixed. Open and close the assembled knife 4 or 5 times, ah, new problem.

After opening and closing the knife a few times, the knife started galling. It didn't want to snap into place on any of the positions, and I had to force it open and closed. Took apart and saw marks on the spring where the corners of the tang would come into contact when opening and closing the knife. Tried various fixes. All to no avail. Came to the conclusion that the tang was way harder than the spring. Fixed the blade in a container of water with only the tang sticking out, and heated the tang with a blowtorch, until it was tempered to the same hardness as the spring. Hand sand, assemble, add a drop of oil to the tang and spring and voila.

After that everything else was pretty straightforward, even the peening of the pins which was a first for me.

I've opened and closed the knife probably a few thousand times by now, with no problems/galling, or change in spring tension, which I would call a win!
 
A.S said:
Thank you!

I will definitely make more. My future slipjoints will have ss liners like the more traditional ones, while featuring pinless (from the outside) scales, for a nice sleek modern look. Will share more when I get around to them.

Well, the spring tension was a bit of a headache initially. I got everything heat-treated and tempered, but once assembled, the spring would lose some it's tension which left everything too loose for my liking. Decided to put my spring in the vice and give it a whack with the hammer to bend it forward a bit... First whack and the spring breaks. This left me to reevaluate my heating/tempering proccess of the spring and get some advice from master makers.

Ground out the second spring, heat treated and tempered with new recipe and voila, problem fixed. Open and close the assembled knife 4 or 5 times, ah, new problem.

After opening and closing the knife a few times, the knife started galling. It didn't want to snap into place on any of the positions, and I had to force it open and closed. Took apart and saw marks on the spring where the corners of the tang would come into contact when opening and closing the knife. Tried various fixes. All to no avail. Came to the conclusion that the tang was way harder than the spring. Fixed the blade in a container of water with only the tang sticking out, and heated the tang with a blowtorch, until it was tempered to the same hardness as the spring. Hand sand, assemble, add a drop of oil to the tang and spring and voila.

After that everything else was pretty straightforward, even the peening of the pins which was a first for me.

I've opened and closed the knife probably a few thousand times by now, with no problems/galling, or change in spring tension, which I would call a win!
Click to expand...
Well, those are all issues I would not have considered until now. Good on you for taking your time in fixing them.
 
Great job....... Great design. Great results.....👍👍👍

Taking requests....😉 .....??????

Good luck with your endeavors👌
 
Looks a hell of a lot better than my first folder. Keep at it,---flip the knife over and put the nail nick on the markside of the blade.
I've done my share on the wrong side early on
 
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