New to knifemaking

[Keith Lawson]

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm new to knife making and have been looking at custom knives for a long time now my boss is a collector and has given me several knives. (Not collectible unfortunately lol). My interest is in knives like Elizabeth Loerchners, which are fairly sculpted. My question may be stupid but I can't find any information regarding how knives like hers and other engraved knives are fastened together. You can't see any pivot pins, screws, etc. How is this done? Is there a source for custom fasteners? Surely they don't use pins and peen them, and then sand them until they are invisible. I've seen one video of a maker fastening the scales on with tiny screws from the inside using a special tool but that doesn't explain how the knife is held together or how the pivot is installed. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[john april]

i too, an a fan of the loerchners works. it is possible to peen a pin so it disappears into the surrounding material, but i am not sure of their exact procedure. welcome to the forum.

 

[SharpByCoop]

You can't see any pivot pins, screws, etc. How is this done? Surely they don't use pins and peen them, and then sand them until they are invisible.

That is EXACTLY how it is done. This is a time-honord technique, even with traditional knives.

Yes, hidden fasteners are also employed, but peening is a standard in the craft, and for engraved and carved knives it is VERY common.

 

[milesofalaska]

I'm an innovator who does not do it the way everyone else does. If I got asked to create a knife with no pins showing, no visible way to see how it is put together, one option would be to solder bolsters that have an undercut, where handle material slides into the undercut sideways much like tongue and groove floors. Another option I sometimes use to have decorative metal work inlaid that covers pins or wraps around and holds handle material. A lot involves thinking about it. There are fastening ideas in other fields outside knife-making that can be useful to study. Like getting at the battery compartment of your electronic device. I mean besides getting it off with a hammer! Complicated dovetail type methods can be difficult, but interesting if accomplished. I prefer to let rivets show and simply make them decorative. I do not try to line anything up. I assemble the entire knife and close to a last step, drill the scales or bolster and blade handle at the same time. No line up problem. If you are new at knife making it might be good to begin with some basics, not get overly complicated..... but come to think of it, that is not how I approach life.... I begin with the complicated almost impossible, screw it up royally, and then figure out why. I now know what I want to accomplish, which gives me incentive to backtrack and learn whatever skills I now understand better that I need. Possibly now inspired, because even though I failed, I had a dream, saw in my mind what it could have looked like, and I know, I can get there because, well maybe for no other reason then I'm going to keep at it. Ha! Hope this helps, good luck and welcome to the wonderful world of knife making!

 

[wolfeknives]

Yes indeed, everything is pinned. The spacer and spring pin holes are slightly tapered but use straight 3/32 pins. The pivot pin on lockback folders is tapered (#0 taper) which provides amazing strength to the knife when pressed into place.
Check out my Instagram, about 2/3 down the page it shows the pinning procedure.