Nail pulls

R

Randy3000

Joined
Jun 3, 2017
Messages
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How do you do nail pulls on folding knife? I've been cutting them using a cut off wheel and you have to hold it real steady or it'll look crappy. Especially when doing a full flat grind, which i always do, there is a risk of ruining a blade after putting in a lot of work just cutting that dang nail pull.

I'm thinking about building a press using a bottle jack and stamping it. A side benefit of this is i could also eventually get a makers mark and stamp the tangs. If you stamp your nail pulls, what do you use (an actual die or something else to make the shape)?

I'm also curious about match pulls. Tell me what you know.
 
I know a lot of people use a mill. I don't know how other people do it. It Will be interesting to see. Don't know if the stamping idea would work. I kind of don't think so but again it will be interesting to see.....
 
I cut hundreds of them with the thinnest cut off wheels in a flex shaft hand piece. Got pretty good at it, but I use a mini mill now. Much cleaner/crisper. Press will work also.

There have been a couple threads with lots of photos in the last few years here.
 
Chuck the cutoff wheel in your drill press. Clamp the blade to a block. Raise the table on the press so that you can control the vertical play of the blade on the cutoff wheel. Saves grief on those hand jiggles.
 
I just recently bought a drill press, i like that option. Never thought about chucking a cut off wheel in it! I usually run cut off wheels a lot faster rpm than a 3000 max rpm drill press, curious how that'll work? I'll try it though on some scrap!
 
I use the 409 dremel cut off wheels chucked in the drill press for long pull Nicks and clamp the blade in a vise to control the cut. I use a dove tail mill for crescent cut done on the milling machine the blade must be inverted to get the crescent cut at the bottom away from the spine.
 
I cut them with a flexible shaft dremel. I sharpen to knife edge one thick or 2 thin cutoff disks. I do either by hand or by fixing the shaft upside down and sliding the blade upon it. For finishing i use a sharpened cratex wheel.
If you try to stamp them, plan for removing the displaced bulge from the spine afterward and possibly doing a bit of straightening.
The method that impressed me the most is Wolfe's....he cuts them with diemaker's files
 
The smartest way to do them without any machinery is to use a nail nick punch. You don't even need any type of press or tool other than the punch, a hammer, and a bit of practice. On the other hand you do have less room for error grinding, since they have to be cut before HT.

It's more controllable with a shop press or arbor press rig, but requires that, and tweaking a setup.

Traditionally, as mentioned, they were just cut in by hand with one controlled smack of the hammer.

I'm not at home, but I can post a photo tomorrow of one I made from w2.
 
javand said:
The smartest way to do them without any machinery is to use a nail nick punch. You don't even need any type of press or tool other than the punch, a hammer, and a bit of practice. On the other hand you do have less room for error grinding, since they have to be cut before HT.

It's more controllable with a shop press or arbor press rig, but requires that, and tweaking a setup.

Traditionally, as mentioned, they were just cut in by hand with one controlled smack of the hammer.

I'm not at home, but I can post a photo tomorrow of one I made from w2.
Click to expand...

I have always been temped to stamp them like this, but i am too shy to attempt!
Major fear is to distort the almost finished blade or misplacing the positioning before start grinding. I'd be very curious to see your pictures :)
 
I, too, would like to see the stamps. Especially if you made the stamp, some kind of picture of your setup would be awesome!
 
I found this video

I'm going to give this a try. Instead of buying a jack I'm going to make a lever press. Sort of like a single stage reloading press. I minored in physics once upon a time in college and can still do the free body diagrams so we'll see what i can put together.
 
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