Nail nicks without a mill.

[Darrin Sanders]

I'd love to see a few pics and get some ideas from people who have actually done nail nicks on folders without a mill.

 

[kc custom]

Darrin I do all of mine on a surface grinder. Sharper cut on the mill?
Yeah if it makes a difference. I've also saw people darken them after
a cut with a surface grinder to give the illusion of a mill cut.
Ken.

 

[Chuck Gedraitis Knives]

I stacked and glued up some reinforced cutoff wheels and put a 45deg angle on the edge. Works great and no broken teeth like with a dovetail cutter.

 

[Brian.Evans]

Chuck, what size cutoff wheels?

 

[Chuck Gedraitis Knives]

3in diameter.

 

[Darrin Sanders]

I stacked and glued up some reinforced cutoff wheels and put a 45deg angle on the edge. Works great and no broken teeth like with a dovetail cutter.

After you get it all glued up and shaped, do you just chuck it up in your drill press and go from there?

 

[Overmountain]

I would advise wearing good PPE, but I did this on my little utility folders over Christmas. I used a 45° stone wheel instead though. Obviously not me in the vid.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sdAREtng-Wk

-Eric

 

[Darrin Sanders]

Darrin I do all of mine on a surface grinder. Sharper cut on the mill?
Yeah if it makes a difference. I've also saw people darken them after
a cut with a surface grinder to give the illusion of a mill cut.
Ken.

Thanks Ken but I don't have a surface grinder either. One of these days I'll have both but not yet.

 

[Darrin Sanders]

I would advise wearing good PPE, but I did this on my little utility folders over Christmas. I used a 45° stone wheel instead though. Obviously not me in the vid.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sdAREtng-Wk

-Eric

You sure that aint you Eric. Just kiddin', thanks for the link. :thumbup:

 

[Overmountain]

You sure that aint you Eric. Just kiddin', thanks for the link. :thumbup:

Nah, my breasts are much bigger...

 

[fishface5]

I did one once with a dremel & I think it was a 1/32" thick cutting wheel. It looked/worked great . . . until I tried to extend it later to be a long pull, which - since I tried to freehand it - produced a sloppy result.

 

[Chuck Gedraitis Knives]

I chucked it up in my drill press, clamped the blade in a vise on my X-Y table and ground the nick in. You could also hold the blade in a vise and pull it into the spinning cutoff discs.

I used it on the knife pictured. The advantage is that you can cut the nick before or after heat treat.

 

[Darrin Sanders]

Thanks guys, I think I'll rig up something and try it out on some scrap.

 

[Don Hanson III]

I did a few hundred like this free hand with a flex shaft & cut off disks. I use a mil now.

 

[Darrin Sanders]

Chuck and Don, thanks for the pics. They prove it can be done well with minimal tooling. All I need to do now is find a method I like and practice. Thanks again everybody.

 

[Brian.Evans]

Chuck, how did you make the 45 on the edge of the disk stack?

Darrin, I tried to cut one the last folder I made with a 2" stone wheel in the drill press. It would have worked, but I didn't get it wide enough the first time, and the blade bounced around and cut one edge twice. I think holding it in a vise it would have worked.