Ok. Knives 1,2 and 3 went pretty good and now i have a friend who wants me to make him a Lynx (jantz pocket knife, also the Gambler in Texas Knifemakers Supply) to carry and i had a few questions. First, how hard is it to make this knife? I did 3 fixed blades that came out nice with little trouble, but haven't tried a folder yet. it looks more complicated with all of the peining and getting the lock right. Second, how thick is the bolster and how thick should the handle material be? Third, I would like to use a blue micarta handle, or maybe a blue G-10...where can i get this stuff in the thickness I need? Any other suggestions for making the folders or any tips? thanks guys!
-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Need some help again, guys...
- Thread starter Taz
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 4, 1999
- Messages
- 5,786
Taz, when i was at the Badger knife show the Kovals table had blue G-10. It was at least a foot long by 2 inches or so, probably 1/4" thick and sold for $5, which seemed really cheap to me. I don't know if they have other sizes...
------------------
My Knife & Sheath Pages:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/frames.html
Palmer College of Chiropractic
Sheath Makers Referral Directory
agocs_s@dd.palmer.edu
Madpoet (Mel Sorg, Jr.) Tribute page:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/madpoet/main.html
------------------
My Knife & Sheath Pages:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/frames.html
Palmer College of Chiropractic
Sheath Makers Referral Directory
agocs_s@dd.palmer.edu
Madpoet (Mel Sorg, Jr.) Tribute page:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/madpoet/main.html
- Joined
- Nov 24, 1999
- Messages
- 4,981
Koval does sell blue G10. $5 for a 2"x12" chunk was a major mark up, unless it was 1/4" thick. If I remember right you could get a peice 1/8" thick, 2"x12" for a bout $2.95 form the catalog. You should know that G10 is not very pleasant to work with at all. It eats up saw blades, burns easily, and smells bad when it burns. Not to mention the dust is very bad for your lungs.
Folder kits aren't very hard. I've made a couple of slipjoint kits. The most trouble I had was getting all the pins through the holes when the springs were pushing things out of place. A lockback shouldn't give you quite as much trouble on that part. The boltser will probably be 1/8" thick, maybe 3/32". My guess is you will need 1/8" thick handle material. Make sure when you put the scales on, you rough the liners up pretty good with some coarse sandpaper so the epoxy has something to bite into.And cut the scales out a little big so you can shape them how you want when its all glued together. It shouldn't really be any harder than a fixed blade kit, just a little different.
------------------
Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
Folder kits aren't very hard. I've made a couple of slipjoint kits. The most trouble I had was getting all the pins through the holes when the springs were pushing things out of place. A lockback shouldn't give you quite as much trouble on that part. The boltser will probably be 1/8" thick, maybe 3/32". My guess is you will need 1/8" thick handle material. Make sure when you put the scales on, you rough the liners up pretty good with some coarse sandpaper so the epoxy has something to bite into.And cut the scales out a little big so you can shape them how you want when its all glued together. It shouldn't really be any harder than a fixed blade kit, just a little different.
------------------
Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
- Joined
- Nov 4, 1998
- Messages
- 127
Taz, I would get extra pinning material because you will have to take the knife apart a few times to get it to fit correctly.
Buy some solder so you can solder the bolsters back on when they fall off.
Make plexiglas linners so that you can see how the lock is going together.
You will have to have a drill press to get the holes for the spring and rocker bar parallel to each other.
Recommend reading How to make Folding Knives by Lake, Centofante, and Clay. Good luck--Ray--
Buy some solder so you can solder the bolsters back on when they fall off.
Make plexiglas linners so that you can see how the lock is going together.
You will have to have a drill press to get the holes for the spring and rocker bar parallel to each other.
Recommend reading How to make Folding Knives by Lake, Centofante, and Clay. Good luck--Ray--
- Joined
- Nov 24, 1999
- Messages
- 4,981
Those are all great tips, but the folding knife kits aren't really that complicated. All the parts are machined and heat treated. Its really about the same amount of work a as a fixed blade, only theirs a few more peices involved. Al you have to do is, put on the handle material and put it together. The locking mechanism is completely done, just not assembled. The only thing you may feel like doing other than shaping the handle and polishing up the liners so it works smoothly, is to hand finish the blade a little better. At least with the kits I got, there was a small amount of pitting in the back of the blades from heat treat. And they hadn't been taken to a very high finish with the regrind. All in all its pretty simple, just a little more time consuming than a fixed blade kit.
Oh yeah, one thing you will need is a shim for when you peen the pins. There are two things you can do. The first is to find somehting thats only a couple thousands of an inch thicker than the tang of the blade and put it in between the sides of the handle to keep it from pulling together to tight. The second thing to do, and the easier of the two, is to go spend the $2 or $3 ona tune up tool(aka feeler gauge) Its just a set of small slabs of steel precision ground to certain thicknesses that fold into a handle. Each slab is marked with a different thickness. You will probably want to use the .005" peice. Slip it in between the tang and the liner on one side of the knife. Then peen the pin, and pull the tune up tool back out. That way you have about .005" of extra space around the blade to let it work easily without play.
------------------
Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
Oh yeah, one thing you will need is a shim for when you peen the pins. There are two things you can do. The first is to find somehting thats only a couple thousands of an inch thicker than the tang of the blade and put it in between the sides of the handle to keep it from pulling together to tight. The second thing to do, and the easier of the two, is to go spend the $2 or $3 ona tune up tool(aka feeler gauge) Its just a set of small slabs of steel precision ground to certain thicknesses that fold into a handle. Each slab is marked with a different thickness. You will probably want to use the .005" peice. Slip it in between the tang and the liner on one side of the knife. Then peen the pin, and pull the tune up tool back out. That way you have about .005" of extra space around the blade to let it work easily without play.
------------------
Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
a couple of hints on folder kits.
1)clean up the lock notch on the blade and the catch on the spring before assembly so that they fit cleanly. It's a bi*** afterward.
2) be very carefull when grinding the back of the assembled knife flush after assembly. You do not want to overheat the spring while grinding it to match the liners/bolsters or you will draw the temper of the spring and not have enough tension to get the blade to snap closed.
3) clean and polish the inside of the spring, and the inside of the liners before assembly. Do a little filework to the inside of the liners if they aren't quite even. You wouldn't think it will show, but it will.
4) again, be very carefull not to heat the spring when grinding.
James
1)clean up the lock notch on the blade and the catch on the spring before assembly so that they fit cleanly. It's a bi*** afterward.
2) be very carefull when grinding the back of the assembled knife flush after assembly. You do not want to overheat the spring while grinding it to match the liners/bolsters or you will draw the temper of the spring and not have enough tension to get the blade to snap closed.
3) clean and polish the inside of the spring, and the inside of the liners before assembly. Do a little filework to the inside of the liners if they aren't quite even. You wouldn't think it will show, but it will.
4) again, be very carefull not to heat the spring when grinding.
James