Nothin' fancy for #1

Dawkind

Dawkind

Platinum Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2000
Messages
13,040
This is my rendition of an Imada High Hollow. I used 1095 high carbon 3/16" steel for the blade, 6061-T6 aluminum for the handles, and turned pins from hardened button-head machine screws. I used Nylatron .010 washers between the blade and handle. No latch, no taper, just wanted to figure out where to put the holes! Manipultes real well; milled grooves to distinguish the safe handle. It's hell for stout and now I'll see if I can wear it out! I ground the blade to shape at full hardness to 500 grit and then tempered and thermally cycled it 3 times......The color of the blade is from the tempering process and is what color carbon steel turns after being exposed to 500`. Something a little different
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View
Here's some more
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http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=667533&a=9093279
 
Wow! That looks excellent, especially for a first try. It certainly compares well with Jody Samson's first try (which can be seen on my website).

But, I do have to assert, simply because it came up in conversation just the other day, that latchless balisongs are for people who don't need to distinguish between the handles. They need to feature to mark one handle or the other.

I've had bad luck with balisongs that have nylon or teflon or that sort of thing as washers. They break down under the stress. We'll see what your experience is.

The blade actually looks nice. I like the profile a lot.



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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com
 
Thanks guys, I appreciate your kindness! I've got some .005 brass shims I'll use if those others give me trouble.
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The next one will have a taper to the handles and a latch and probably a different blade shape, just for fun!
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I've got some 303 stainless stock, brass stock, and micarta for inserts; who knows what could happen! Thanks again, Dudley
 
Oooooooo........ nice job there Dud.

I like the sound of that next project too.

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Clay
www.balisongxtreme.com
Because......
getting 'em open
is half the fun!
 
I think Dudley should sell (to us of cource)his custom balis so he can invest the money in knife making supplies and equiptment. With knives as nice as these made by him whatever would he want with those old knives after all?
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Later, Jim
 
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome!!!!!!!
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To the growing family of Balisong makers.

Knife looks very good from photo.

Again my Congratulations on you first one, there will never be another one like it.

ChuckG

PS, Will have to make a road trip to Topeka, We live too close together not to.


[This message has been edited by ChuckG (edited 09-29-2000).]
 
<fontsize=20>DAWKIND:</font> if you ever start making and selling your balisongs I would be happy to test them out for you to see how they hold up and feel. I wouldn't test every single balisong you made, just any new blade styles or new materials you try out. I'm not kidding so don't laugh too hard
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BTW, how is the weight distribution with the aluminum handles??

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Cameron
"It takes a killer...to stop a killer"
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Some of my balisongs
My Photopoint albums

[This message has been edited by BalisongMan (edited 09-29-2000).]
 
The handles balance well; they started life as 1/2" square stock and basically ended that way........It's very smooth, if I do say so myself, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that I used a virtually new Bridgeport mill with the latest in digital read-out.....All holes were drilled to +/- .0005" as was the depth of the mill work on the handles; the pins were turned .004" over-size and polished to fit the reamed .125" pin holes in the blade. I did the trig last night so I can set-up a taper for the stock when I mill my next set of handles to put a little more weight out on the end of the handles. I'm starting to think that added weight can make up for the lack of precision in the building process................added weight makes the handles move whether they want to or not!
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[This message has been edited by Dawkind (edited 09-29-2000).]
 
This is interesting. There are a lot of people trying to get into making their own stuff now, myself included. I think the reason is because they are more simple to construct than a standard folder and have (IMHO) of an appeal and grace.
I just bought some 303 stainless and brass round stock. I'm going to use the blade from a BM 239. I'll use the brass for the BM blade, but I also wanted to make a blade out of O-1 and use the stainless on that(if this is a big mistake to use O-1, someone please tell me. I don't want to spend a lot of wasted time to find out that for some reason it was an impossible task in the first place.) How well is the 303 stainless going to hold up?
I've never taken a machine shop class in my life, and the closest I've ever come to using it was having a someone else turn a piece of brass for me on a lathe. So I've got a friend that'll help me out on this. Gonna learn as I go.

Steve
 
..........wanted to make a blade out of O-1
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It will make a fine blade but needs the correct heat-treatment and will stain and oxidize easily..... How well is the 303 stainless going to hold up?
.................303 is what Bali-Song USA, Pacific Cutlery, and Benchmade made the handles out of on their customs. If you want to get real fancy you can go with 416 stainless and heat-treat it to make it super-tough!
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[This message has been edited by Dawkind (edited 09-29-2000).]
 
Dawkind, what if I didn't heat-treat the O-1? And left it in the austentite form. Would it hold an edge at all? I know steel has to be heat treated(for blades) but, what would the rockwell hardness be if it wasn't heat-treated?

Steve
 
Originally posted by epigram79:
Dawkind, what if I didn't heat-treat the O-1? And left it in the austentite form. Would it hold an edge at all? I know steel has to be heat treated(for blades) but, what would the rockwell hardness be if it wasn't heat-treated?

Steve
Click to expand...

As long as you cut something softer than the annealed 01, it would hold an edge for a SHORT while. Right from the mill, I'd expect the Rc to be less than 30; very soft......You could use A2 air-hardening steel and after grinding your blade to 3/32" from it's final size, heat-treat and let cool at room temperature. This will give you an Rc of around 65 and you could temper at 500` or so to around Rc60. If you go to the trouble of making a blade it might as well be heat-treated or it's just not going to be the 'real thing'................
 
Dawkind, do you know the proper procedures involved in heat-treating O-1? As in what temperatures to be used and for how long. Also, you mentioned A2 having to be 3/32 of an inch thicker than what it will end up being when it's finished. If I wanted to heat-treat the O-1, I couldn't just grind and shape it to exactly how I want it to look and then throw it into the oven??? I hope that's not true! I just got the O-1 today! It's only a little piece 3/16" x 1" x 6". Anyway, thanks for the input so far.

Steve
 
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