Stainless steel for frame-lock folder handle

flatgrinder

flatgrinder

Joined
Dec 20, 2005
Messages
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Hi,

I'm starting to make some folders. Would 440C steel work for the handles? How does a brushed finish look and last (rust)? Can it be heat treated so that it's "springy" for the frame lock?

Titanium is pricey, so I thought that I would make a few from 440C first and then when I get better -move onto the better materials. Plus, brushed stainless looks pretty cool.

Only reason I'm thinking of 440C is that it readily available. Other stainless steels such as 303 are hard to find in the correct size.

Any input would be welcome.

Thanks!
 
you're not the only one feeling the sting in the price of titanium. There are others moving to stainless. Yes, 440C can be hardened to a spring temper. 420 is another steel worth considering. Just keep in mind that stainless steel is about 1.7 times heavier than titanium.
 
I've made all my framelocks (guess about 5 or 6 now) out of 440C. For me, it makes a lot of sense, because I'm already ordering it for bladestock, it comes precision ground, and its very easy to work with before heat treating it.
Ti on the other hand would have to come from a seperate supplier, and is supposedly a real pain in the ass to grind and finish :confused: On top of being expensive.

It does make the knife heavy, but I haven't had any real problems yet. You can always drill holes or do whatever to lighten it up, and can add overlays of something else if you want to thicken it up without adding weight.
The only precaution I can give you is that every single part you make with 440C has to be heat treated, or it will rust. So don't forget about backspacers or anything like that when you're heat treating. Don't ask me how I found all this out ;)
 
Thanks for the replies!

Do you have to anneal it to cut it on a milling machine?

What kind of heat-treat procedure do you use? Same as in blades, but with a higher temperature for tempering? (And obviously no cryo -right?)
 
Try 410, 420 or stainless. 440c Is ok but has some stress related build up problems.
The lock should be 42-45 rc after heat treat.
 
I haven't looked in awhile, but had trouble finding much when I wanted to buy 410 or 420 stainless last time. Gave up, and thats how I got into using 440C. I think Admiral had them, but not in the thickness I wanted it. Maybe .040 or .050, which is decent for linerlocks most of the time I guess, but not what I wanted. Probably worth looking into again though.

I heat treat it all in my forge, there has been quite a bit of discussion on this in the past if you do a search on "triple quench 440C". I will definitely agree that its not the best method, but it does work after a lot of experimenting.May not be a can of worms you want to get into. I'd like to do it the "right" way but an evenheat's not in the budget for now.

The lock tab is still needing some tweaking. They've been coming out very strong. The lockup is good, and I can close it with one hand just fine. Most folks who look at them struggle to close them one handed though, and quite a few have to resort to two hands. (the guys at work informed me that I have "retard fingers" which are apparently a highly prized attribute despite the name......:D ) Still trying to find the best combination of geometry for the lock releif, and where to temper it at.
I guess what I'm getting at is that you will have to do some experimenting to make it work out, but you should be able to make it work out if you want. If you need to have them sellable right away and can't take the time to do the development stuff, then you might want to stick with another material.
 
Can't you spot temper the portion oof the lock that bends, so it will be less hard?
 
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