slip joint washers too thin?

[smartanimal]

Hello, have a question about slip joint liner relief. I want to make a slip joint as a long term project and am leaning toward a linerless design with terotuf scales because i think it will look really elegant if i do it right and it would be for light use / EDC.

I'm incredibly intimidated by the whole relieving the scales for the tang of the blade and have been reading about people who thin the tang ever so slightly to use washers. Usually they use a nice surface grinder or some kind of sanding witchcraft to thin the tang.

I figured it might be easier to do something like make the blade out of 3/32" O1 and the spring out of 1/8" and use 1/64 washers but then i realized that 1/64" sounds insanely thin. also not sure how noticeable the difference in thickness between spring and blade would be or how ugly it would be. Would it even be worth it to use washers if im not using metal liners and is this a legitimate work-around?

Also, with such a thick spring would it be a good idea to maybe make it without a half stop?

 

[stezann]

Don't overcomplicate thing, i have advices.
1) if it's your first, forget the relieving thing and do your prototype, you will address finesse after succeding in making a couple working slippies.
2) if you go for the thin washer route use the same stock for blade and spring... you'll sand the tang flat until the "sandwich" will look and work right...aim for the max flat+parallel you can.
3) I often see unrequired deep milled relievings, sometimes estetically pleasing...they are not necessary in absence of blade play, it just require very little depth to avoid scratching the tang...something that can be achieved pretty easily with a cratex bit on the dremel and blended by fine grit stick sanding.

 

[smartanimal]

Don't overcomplicate thing, i have advices.
1) if it's your first, forget the relieving thing and do your prototype, you will address finesse after succeding in making a couple working slippies.
2) if you go for the thin washer route use the same stock for blade and spring... you'll sand the tang flat until the "sandwich" will look and work right...aim for the max flat+parallel you can.
3) I often see unrequired deep milled relievings, sometimes estetically pleasing...they are not necessary in absence of blade play, it just require very little depth to avoid scratching the tang...something that can be achieved pretty easily with a cratex bit on the dremel and blended by fine grit stick sanding.

thanks for your advice. i'm going to take my time with it. folders seem very complicated compared to fixies but its a goal of mine to make one.

i'll start the prototype like you describe