REK Folder (Kuros) update thread

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Apr 3, 2011
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The first folder I am making is a liner lock which will be on the larger side and I'm naming it the Kuros. I'm making 14 midtechs and 6 customs. It took several months to dial in the CAD drawings but we finished that up end of last year and launched the production in January. The goal for the midtechs is to be around the $600 price point.

i-Nrx58pS-X2.jpg


You may be wondering a few things from the render above... The blade is oversized because I will be grinding each one of these by hand so I wanted the extra blade so I can have a ton of grind and shape options, and handful of them will have fullers, the rest will not. The nice thing about the way I designed these is that they can be used w/ a thumb stud or a flipper tab, or even a spydie hole.

The midtechs will have single piece micarta scales (7 natural canvas, and 7 black canvas) that have a knurled texture on the top. The pattern was a little more aggressive than I had thought so I will have to dial it in by hand (it must not tear up the hand or pocket during daily use). Customs will have bolsters (mokume, timascus, and ti) and custom grinds among different finishes and the goal for these is $1k-1200, most of the 6 already have buyers.

i-qZvQSbK.jpg


Extra details:
  • Blades are 4" long and will have either M390 at 61-62rc or Cruwear at 62rc (doing some of each)
  • Backspacers matching the scales, but standoffs can be purchased if you prefer that
  • Lock inserts will be hardened steel
  • Running on PB washers
Where am I at now w/ these?

It drives me crazy not being able to do everything in house but I'm just not to that point yet. I had to have several of the parts re-made (CNC) so those should be getting here in a week or two. Meanwhile the blades have already been heat treated and are being lapped to a final thickness as I type this. After I get everything In I will be handling the critical portions of this build such as:
  • Pivot action and tolerance
  • All detent work and detent snappiness/retention
  • Lockface geometry and grinding
  • Blade grind
  • Final fit and finish
I still have a lot of work to do but am SUPER excited to finally be getting some of these out. Stay tuned for more!
 
I like the look of those, I can't wait to see what you do with those grinds! I really like the fullers, will you be doing any hollow grinds on these?
 
I like the look of those, I can't wait to see what you do with those grinds! I really like the fullers, will you be doing any hollow grinds on these?
I plan on it! Not sure what exactly, or how many will be hollow though at this point.

I love how I set up the blade on this because a host of blade shapes are totally doable, check this out! Here's just a few :D

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Some more grind options! Should be getting the blades back from lapping this week so they will be perfectly parallel, flat, and have a really polished finish on the flats. Then I should be able to start knocking these out soon, I'll basically have to dial in the detent, lock up, fit and finish, grind, etc.

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just got parts back from the machine shop today! Everything looks great... now the inserts have to head out to heat treat this coming week! Not long now :D

Check out this other texture I was able to arrange for the black micarta scales... finer version of the frag pattern above!

i-RXxf2bw-X2.jpg
 
I am very excited to finally see the hard work pay off in a finished knife! Still am not 100% on a hollow or flat grind yet though hmmm...
It’s no small achievement! Congrats on being that much closer. Despite my user name, my own un-valuable opinion leans toward hollow, just because your hollow grinds are some of the sickest and most slicey I’ve ever seen.
 
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