Hello, I'm planning to make a liner lock folding knife in the near future. I need a springy steel to make the liner(s) out of. Can I make my own? My budget is very low because I am a beginner. Some recommendations on handle scales material would be helpful as well. If you have any other tips, please post them in your response. Thanks!
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Making a liner lock folder - Need tips
- Thread starter matt6150
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Buy a cheap kitchen knife and use the blade for the liner lock. They are usually pretty springy. Just cut it out and bend it to shape. Use the top part that is thicker, of course right? For the detent ball just use a round punch and hammer it into position.
If you want to spend money go buy material from one of the many knife maker supply websites.
I suggest you build a fixed blade first. Its much harder than you think, I've tried it. I'll never show anyone my first knife, never ever
If you want to spend money go buy material from one of the many knife maker supply websites.
I suggest you build a fixed blade first. Its much harder than you think, I've tried it. I'll never show anyone my first knife, never ever
Thanks for the tips. I'll probably go buy one of those to hack apart now. I have made 2 fixed blades as of now (2 in the process right now). To be honest my first one was terrible too, but I'll post it on my Google Plus page just so people know what I started from. I may even make some videos about them or even me making them. feel free to check it out.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/105095406475268871142/posts
https://plus.google.com/u/0/105095406475268871142/posts
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You can make your scales out of G10, Micarta, wood etc. Your best bet would be to use wood if money might me a problem. And give the wood some oil after you're done.
How are you planning to make/get the washers, detent ball, pivot pin and stuff like that? Do you already got that, or do you want to make it yourself?
How are you planning to make/get the washers, detent ball, pivot pin and stuff like that? Do you already got that, or do you want to make it yourself?
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http://www.amazon.ca/gp/offer-listing/0873418581/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all
read that book
Not willing to spend $1,700 on a used paperback that was $25 new ?
search for the free download
read that book
Not willing to spend $1,700 on a used paperback that was $25 new ?
search for the free download
I'm going to try to make everything myself. I can handle the washers and detent ball (I have small metal bbs). I might need some help with the pivot though. Any ideas?
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Well that fellow who recommends buying a kitchen knife and cutting it up for the liner and spring is looking pretty ignorant to me right now. How would that ever work even in a junky made liner lock. Not at all !!! Go to Alpha Knife Supply and buy some titanium about .050 thick. They sell small pieces that are not expensive. This is then springy stuff you need. Have you even checked out the information here on making a liner lock? One member has posted a complete how to make it. You have no idea what you are THINKING of attempting. With your present amount of learned knowledge it would be hopeless to take you through step by step. Sorry but those are the facts. Frank
I respect your opinion, but I'm really not looking to buy and materials and considering that I'm obviously not selling this knife I don't care if it doesn't come out perfect. I'm a 14 year old freshman and I am currently taking an engineering class through my school. We just finished a 3-4 week major design project in which we had to follow a six step design process. We had to build a hydraulic robot arm to transport a certain material from one location to another. This seems simple, as what I was thinking going into that project, but I spoke too soon. That project is the most difficult thing I will ever have to do in high school. Did my design work the first time? No, that is what problem solving is all about. When something does't work, you go back to the drawing board and rethink it. This is exactly what I will do with this knife project I will take up. A part of the design process is research which is what I am conducting right now. Failure is the birthplace of success. Going through the hardships of designing this is what gives me the right of saying that it is my own design. I'm not following a step-by-step process. I'm going to take my own route to a solution. It would be appreciated if you would not tell me that I have no idea what this is like.
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You have a lot of drive for someone your age and that's to be commended. Reinventing the wheel, though isn't likely to get you really far unless you just want to do it for the sake of doing it. No need to follow someone's technique exactly, but as you said, you're in research mode at the moment. Take a look at this thread:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/916004-Virtual-BBQ-WIP-GNiCr40Al4-frame-lock-folder
Lots of great info even though it's a frame lock and you're doing a liner lock. Check out another one by Gareth Bull in that same group of WIP's, he shows how he does his liner locks. That kind of reading will greatly help you in understanding what methods you want to implement in your design and construction. Good luck to you and please post your progress.
Jeremy
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/916004-Virtual-BBQ-WIP-GNiCr40Al4-frame-lock-folder
Lots of great info even though it's a frame lock and you're doing a liner lock. Check out another one by Gareth Bull in that same group of WIP's, he shows how he does his liner locks. That kind of reading will greatly help you in understanding what methods you want to implement in your design and construction. Good luck to you and please post your progress.
Jeremy
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Have a look here
http://customknifegallery.com/ckgc_home.html?niro1f.html~main
maker Frank Niro
The very same guy that you just blew off.
If you asked for help in the first post, and were given two options
Then you latched onto the worst advice possible. Why not take the best help available.
If you had even bothered to check this out
Go to Alpha Knife Supply and buy some titanium about .050 thick. They sell small pieces that are not expensive. This is then springy stuff you need.
you would see you can get the real stuff for $12
and deliberately ignoring the benchmark processes to guarantee a failure
You are not yet ready to buy materials.
Start with that book I linked, you can find a pdf free on the net
read the design section
draw a design
In order for it to work well, you need all the pieces and the holes to stay parallel / perpendicular
start with flat material, even precision ground flat stock.
Try starting with a friction folder first.
I apologize for my "outburst", but I don't believe I blew him off. Just because he is the best doesn't mean he's the best to learn from. He blew me off. His profile says that he enjoys helping people learn to make knives. He's not very helpfully saying that I don't know anything and it is pointless to try. I respect you a little more than I do him. All I would like to ask is if there is a way of making a liner with something other than titanium. I am prone to mistake so I would like to try to make it with something I may already have. Could I temper some of my steel strips to make a liner? I may just be able to precision grind it myself if I can get the opportunity to use a milling machine.
Of course you already know everything, you're 14.
Frank might be a little blunt but he's not steering you wrong.
The old kitchen knife is one of the stupider ideas ive heard for a while.
i'd love to see one made like that. I'd love to feel the crappy action of it even more. lol
You'll have to order supplies for the rest of it so why wouldnt you just buy a cheap piece of titanium while you're at it
synthesist
So many knives so little time
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I think you should stfu and stumble along with your own "design" process AND MAKE ALL THE MISTAKES ON YOUR OWN SO YOU LEARN FROM THEM, instead of asking us for help and rejecting it out of hand. You are one arrogant and ignorant young guy.
I think the suggestion about making a linerlock from a cheap 420 stainless kitchen knife works fine for you. Are you planning to do this for a school project btw? Good luck with that one....
I know YOU think we're just a bunch of old farts. The fact of the matter here is that you were offered HARD EARNED WISDOM and if you'd been even the least bit gracious about your rejection of it, much less denying what you said when called on it by the Count, you might have been offered other things. I have a box of metal in my shop, more then I could ever use up. In it is some .050 titanium that I cut to sizes useful for liner/frame locks, maybe I'd have tossed you a couple of pieces, people here do things like that for each other all the time. Alas. You mouthed off to Frank Niro, who I respect a great deal, who was attempting HELP you. You should be so lucky as to have a chance to learn from him. The reality is that it'd be kinda fun to see how you handled dealing with titanium, which takes some effort to do ANYTHING with.
In the words of John Belushi (do you even know who he was?): But nooooooooooooooo! You cracked wise and now you get spanked for being a twit.
Corey
I think the suggestion about making a linerlock from a cheap 420 stainless kitchen knife works fine for you. Are you planning to do this for a school project btw? Good luck with that one....
I know YOU think we're just a bunch of old farts. The fact of the matter here is that you were offered HARD EARNED WISDOM and if you'd been even the least bit gracious about your rejection of it, much less denying what you said when called on it by the Count, you might have been offered other things. I have a box of metal in my shop, more then I could ever use up. In it is some .050 titanium that I cut to sizes useful for liner/frame locks, maybe I'd have tossed you a couple of pieces, people here do things like that for each other all the time. Alas. You mouthed off to Frank Niro, who I respect a great deal, who was attempting HELP you. You should be so lucky as to have a chance to learn from him. The reality is that it'd be kinda fun to see how you handled dealing with titanium, which takes some effort to do ANYTHING with.
In the words of John Belushi (do you even know who he was?): But nooooooooooooooo! You cracked wise and now you get spanked for being a twit.
Corey
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$12 gets you enough Ti to try 2 folders, no HT failures, no equipment to buy perfect results
Yes, you are 14 and have no credit card.
make your list, check it twice, email and ask for a quote including shipping
get a money order at the post office and post that in a letter with your order.
That's not what he wrote
There is a difference, think about what that means.
It's not pointless to try, it's pointless for us to spend time telling you each and every little thing because you are not yet prepared to understand what is being communicated
Seriously, download that book and read it until you understand it.
It's the best resource there is.
Come back to us when you have a drawing and a plan.
Brian.Evans
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I was going to post Frank's site, but I got beat to it. Then, I was going to say something, but Corey beat me to it.
Seriously little guy, stop being a stereotype, shut your mouth, open your ears and read a little bit. LEARN how to make knives. Each step is actually important, not just something people are telling you to slow you down. Frank is a teacher and great to learn from. You, on the other hand have about 12 years on this world that you haven't been pooping in diapers.
Tough love, but you seriously need to hear it. There are two ways to do everything and you are trying to go down the hard fork. Lots of people are trying to steer you down the other, easier fork but eventually they are just going to conceed what you already know, everything.
Good luck. Ask more questions when youre ready to learn instead of telling us why a world class maker's advice won't work for you.
Okay, I admit I was being quite ignorant. I apologize. I'm just an immature freshman and I agree I have little knowledge of this whole thing. My only point is that it offends me when someone says I know nothing at all or that I cannot handle something. What do you expect from a teenager? I may have mouthed off to a possible asset to my possibly future side job, but he doesn't take that to much offense. He has such a legacy behind him. This is coming out of the wrong mouth, but it's not to helpful when I get messages saying the above. I understand why I have been though. You guys are very helpful and I shouldn't be mouthing off as I did. I will take you advice to great consideration and I will continue my work. Thanks.
Matt
Again, I am very sorry Mr. Niro. Although I should not have mouthed off to you in the first place, I was not aware of your reputation and experience. I will take your knowledge into great consideration.
Sincerely,
Matt
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At certain times my dad used to say " You know nothing". Yes, it sometimes might have felt like a put down of sorts but it wasn't that at all. It was a lesson.
Only once you actually realize how little you know, can you understand how much room there is to learn and grow.
Stay humble. Talk less. Read and listen more. Especially to your elders. I know its tough sometimes but they have knowledge that can only be obtained by experience and failure.
Only once you actually realize how little you know, can you understand how much room there is to learn and grow.
Stay humble. Talk less. Read and listen more. Especially to your elders. I know its tough sometimes but they have knowledge that can only be obtained by experience and failure.
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Good for your for admitting your fault and apologizing. Some grown men can't even do that. That shows character.
Willie71
Warren J. Krywko
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When pursuing a hobby such as knifemaking, every single thing you learn leads to 10 more things you need to know. I have a little piece of advice, and I will give you a full refund of what it costs you if it isn't helpful:
The best way to get helpful, respectful suggestions is to show us you have put some effort in already. Reference the WIPS you have looked through, call "thingys" by their correct name. For example: "I was looking through this WIP .......... and they used titanium for the liner lock. I am young and on a budget. Can I substitute something cheaper for my prototype before I spend on the titanium for the final version?"
If you would have posted that, I would have sent you some 15N20 for free to mess with, as you could heat treat it well enough at home to make a prototype liner lock. Ti is the way to go on the working version.
The best way to get helpful, respectful suggestions is to show us you have put some effort in already. Reference the WIPS you have looked through, call "thingys" by their correct name. For example: "I was looking through this WIP .......... and they used titanium for the liner lock. I am young and on a budget. Can I substitute something cheaper for my prototype before I spend on the titanium for the final version?"
If you would have posted that, I would have sent you some 15N20 for free to mess with, as you could heat treat it well enough at home to make a prototype liner lock. Ti is the way to go on the working version.
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