rough estimate for a custom folder?

B

Bushman5

Joined
Oct 31, 2007
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all ye masters of steel, please read my following specifications and mull over what it would roughly cost me for one of you to make this folder. I'm trying to get an idea of what my dream folder will cost, and later this summer i will be picking one of you to get it made. I would prefer machinist background type knife makers for this

- 6" long x 1.5" tall x 1/4" thick carbon steel frame/handle slabs

- frame/handle slabs to be forged to red and "ball peened' textured (1/8" deep hammer strikes)

- 1/4" thick spine Scandi ground 5.5" wharnclif blade with 1/4" allen bolthead thumbstud (left side of blade, i hold my folders in my right hand and activate the blade with my right hand thumb)

1/2" (yep you read right :D ) pivot , prefer a big fat allen head bolt partially recessed into the frame slabs, and a nut partially recessed into the opposing frame slab side. (allen head on NON liner lock side)

- a brass or copper washer on each side of the blade

- 1/2" stop pin

- a REMOVABLE "blade lock" pin, 1/4" thick, to secure the blade in the OPEN position. []-------- threaded on the end to secure into the frame. (much like this one from EXTREMA RATIO KNIVES italy http://www.extremaratioknivesdivision.eu/inglese/military/img/rao_lama.jpg

- frame choil (half moon shape) to unlock the liner lock.

- 5 x 1/4" allen bolts to secure the frame slabs together, all the allen heads on the NON liner lock side. The nuts on the liner lock side. Brass metal spacers in between the frames. All bolt heads to be ground down so they slightly are below the frame texturing, but still be able to be taken out with an allen wrench.

- 1/4" lanyard hole.

- everything to be bead or soda blasted, all edges except blade to be mildly chamfered.

- overall shape/design = one big and blocky bunch of steel, with big arse massive allen bolts holding everything together. Think of a large sebenza meeting a Becker BK2 during a nuclear firestorm.

yes its a overkill design.......basically i want an industrial art functional knife. I like big folders with larger bolts. I'm not concerned about rust........i want a knife that i can strip down every day and oil, much like a favorite rifle, as i enjoy maintaining my tools. A post apocalypse heavy duty folder knife. I want a folder that makes my ZT0200 look like a tiny wimpy SAK

i'm pretty firm on the design and specs, HOWEVER, since i've never built a folder, i AM open to minor tweaks. I'll try to get some sort of rough drawing up soon

:cool:
 
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yes it will be cool to see you find someone to build that and make it look good. sometimes chunky and industrial gets too chunky and too industrial very fast
 
Some of your specifications will need to be changed, and some of your ideas are not quite right, but like you said, you are not a folder maker. One of the folder guys may be interested. He will help you through it.
 
bladsmth said:
Some of your specifications will need to be changed, and some of your ideas are not quite right, but like you said, you are not a folder maker. One of the folder guys may be interested. He will help you through it.
Click to expand...

what would you change, keeping in mind my design wants and overbuilt look? :cool:
 
On the receiving side for the frame screws the hole is usually tapped, not secured with nuts. A 1/4" Allen bolt most likely could not have its head ground down flush or slightly sunken, and still have a socket that will allow removal. The texture you are talking about isn't peened into red hot steel with an 1/8" hammer, it is milled in.
Like I said, anyone interested in this project will go over it with you and tweak the specs to realistic.

On that subject, if you are not a folder maker, or don't understand the design and building of a folder, it would be best to tell the maker the look you want and let him decide the construction details. You will be more likely to get a taker for the project, and end up with a better knife.
 
thanks for the feedback.

with the frame slabs my idea was to have the slabs cut to size, thrown into the forge, and hammer textured while hot to get a forge finish on the scales/frame, then machined to size, and drilled out

a mix of forge work and machining.

got any xamples of machined texture that looks like ball peen? (it was the randomness of ball peening i wanted)
 
What you need to do is draw this out on paper. Just from reading your requests I don't think that it will work. There isn't enough room inside for a stop pin and pivot that big.
Like Stacy said 1/4 hex bolts have heads that are 1/4 thick, you would be better off using flat head screws.
Personally I would use slotted screws, that way you could use almost anything to field strip the knife.

Sounds like you are going to have folding machete that weighs 2lbs.
 
Bushman5 said:
thanks for the feedback.

with the frame slabs my idea was to have the slabs cut to size, thrown into the forge, and hammer textured while hot to get a forge finish on the scales/frame, then machined to size, and drilled out

a mix of forge work and machining.

got any xamples of machined texture that looks like ball peen? (it was the randomness of ball peening i wanted)
Click to expand...

That would be a nightmare, because after it has been peen finished, it is no longer straight, machining after is possible to get the insides flat, but then you may loose parallelism by the time you have removed enough material.

I envision using a ball end mill to randomly divot the outsides, and then heating to give essentially the same effect.

I agree with Stacy's comments re the hex socket cap screws being very tall, you may want to look at hex socket button headed screws instead.
eec0fbe59dd0acb47bcce35265b36195.image.100x100.jpg
 
weights not an issue, i already pack 5 - 10 knives a day , more on hikes. (40 lbs worth one time) :D

the ball end mill finish sounds workable, as long as i can get a blacksmiths finish at the end.

i could go even thicker on the frame slabs to accommodate the allen head bolts. ( i have big mitts anyways). I dont mind if the bolt heads stick out slightly, i would prefer this actually from an aesthetics point of view. I want the 6mm socket allen bolts like these http://www.cometkartsales.com/store/chassis/cpa/images/shcsbolt.jpg to bolt the frame together.

pivot can go down to 1/2" but i dont want to go any smaller. Again, this has visual appeal to me.

still drawing, will take a photo later.
 
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Ok, Now that you have it on paper you need to make a photocopy. Then cut out the blade and the scale that you have drawn and line them up like they would look when the folder was built. Then lay them down on a piece of cardboard and insert a pin or thumbtack and open and close the blade. The pivot is not usually dead center.

You will see that that when closed the blade's cutting edge will hit the stop pin. The 1/4in hex head screws have to be drawn to scale, right now they look like they might break through the top of the scale.

For the back of the knife were you going to have the maker use a solid backbar and tap it or have tapped standoffs?

Here's one more thing to think about, if you use a 1/2in pivot what size pivot screw will you use? You would need a pivot screw with a head that is larger than 1/2. Or you would need the underside of the scales recessed for the pivot and use a smaller pivot screw on top to tighten it all together.
 
Since you are thinking of using allen bolts on this monster, meybe you should consider building in an allen wrench slot so the knife carries its own breakdown tool. :)
 
Have you seen this book ?

It covers the design phase of a Liner Lock, as Chuck has started mentioning.

Post # 9
Bob Terzuola
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=603203

**************************************************************

I'm looking at this photo:
img1134i.jpg

http://img28.imageshack.us/i/img1134i.jpg/
It shows 5 Double headed Hex socket cap screws holding the frame together...
if that's the case, then you need some threaded spacers/standoffs with lets assume , 1/4-28NF internal threads
(fine threads are nicer for this, but coarse threads can be more common ..and let's keep it simple by sticking to inch sizes and threads - not metric.)

...my point is that your threaded standoff spacers are then larger than the nominal 1/4"...and more likely to be at least 1/2"
(1/4" hole, and at least 1/8" on each side....) this is going to cut into your blade size...

seriously consider going down in size on your frame fasteners...# 6 or # 8 ? would still be plenty big...
# 2 or # 4 is what you would normally see on a conventional folder


See what happens when you make a scale model of blade and handle and put it together...
Try getting some screws like you want, and some other sizes too- put them in your model.


You can simulate your threaded standoffs with coupling nuts (longer nuts used to couple two pieces of threaded rod)
2500_coupling_nuts.jpg
 
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