- Joined
- Oct 16, 2010
- Messages
- 5,795
Gentlemen:
I received an order for my LG Boot Knife and thought I'd do a WIP of it. I guess what pushed me to do it was the enthusiasm shown by SpartanSaint:
To me, this excitement is what provides me some of the satisfaction I derive from designing and creating knives! So, SpartanSaint, here's a work in progress for your LG Boot Knife. I call it LG because the blade is inspired by Bob Loveless and the handle is inspired by Ron Gaston. Here's the specifications:
3/16" CPM 3V stock
HT to Rc 60-62
8 1/4" OAL
4" Double hollow ground blade
400 grit belt satin finish
Green canvas micarta scales
Brass furniture
Tapered tang with red liners
8-10 oz right hand leather sheath
Here's the stock material and the pattern:
After the blade is ground to profile and the holes drilled, the edges and tang end are marked using a height gage:
Next, I roughed in the hollow grinds, hollow ground the handle, then tapered the tang:
The next step is to drill the pins in the brass double guard and blade - can't do it after heat treat!!
After all the holes are drilled, each hole is chamfered:
The rough ground blade is now ready for heat treat in my digitally controlled oven. My recipe is soak at 1250F for five minutes, ramp to 1950 F and hold for 30 minutes, plate quench with forced air, then triple temper at 1000F three times for two hours each. This recipe will provide the maximum toughness according to CPM 3V literature.
Sweetie pie hates what I'm doing to her electric bill.
Wrapped in stainless foil and ready to put in the oven. At $168 a roll, you can see why knifemakers aren't rich! Later gentlemen.
10/8/2012
Here's the knife, fresh out of heat treat and temper cycles. Looks rough, eh?
The next step I do is work the flats and and tapers with my 2 HP Burr King disc grinder. Nothing gets a flat flatter than a disc grinder for me.
The flats are hand rubbed to 220 grit from the guard area to the tip.
With the guard loosely installed, I scribe a centerline along the blade length and a line .500" away and parallel to the guard. These are the final grind to lines.
The knife is finish ground to 220 grit (about all I need to go for CPM 3V). I taper the holes in the guard with a 4/0 taper for 3/32" pins - the guard is installed with the pins, which are peened then squashed with a six ton press. If you don't taper the holes - you'll see a circle around the pins after buffing the sides of the guard.
Now it's time for solder. The guard, blade, 1/16" stainless rod, and solder are wiped clean with acetone and never touched by human hands. Pour your flux into the cap and set the bottle aside where you won't knock it over. I set the capful of flux on my Wilton vise anvil. I apply flux to the joint by dipping the 1/16" rod (or a clean nail) in the capful of flux and draw it around the knife/guard joint. Anywhere you leave flux, you'll have solder to clean off later.
I cut two 1/4" lengths of solder and using clean tweezers, lay a piece on each side.
Heat the guard from the underside until the solder just begins to melt. Now, dip the 1/16" stainless rod in the flux and use it to draw the molten solder around the joint while applying heat sparingly. Sometimes the solder won't draw due to a contaminant....this seems to happen most with a stainless guard to stainless blade. Applying more heat will only make it worse. I use a clean paper towel and wipe the joint fast - it will tin the problem area - then I go back to the heat/flux/1/16" rod to draw the solder all the way around the joint. When the solder stops pulling, re- dip the rod in the flux and your solder will draw some more. When you've drawn the solder all the way around the joint you can even it up by applying heat and drawing the 1/16" rod all around the molten solder. Doing it this way the solder joint looks damn near perfect. Here's the as-soldered joint on a stainless knife/guard:
Carbon steel/brass is the easiest to solder - stainless/stainless is the toughest.
After the knife cools down, I use a 1/8" diameter brass or nickel silver rod ground with a 45 degree bevel as a solder machining tool. I machine the joint by hand by pushing the rod to cut the solder. You can also use a brass bar ground flat on the ends - this will give a smaller, less radiused solder joint. You'll have to regrind the ends of the rod or bar because it's the burr that does the cutting. Here's the tool I usually use because I prefer a more radiused solder joint:
Here's the solder joint after cutting it with the solder machining tool:
After machining the solder joint with your solder machining tool, you may uncover a pinhole or two. It's not time to get out the rat poison - I put a little sliver of solder/flux on the pinhole, reheat until it melts, then re-machine the joint with the solder machining tool. Finally, I buff the joint at 1800 rpm with black hard-cut compound and the corner of a hard sewn wheel.
Here's the final product - I love a superb solder joint - it sets your knife apart and reeks of quality. Now go and boil that joint in water with a little Dawn and Baking Soda to neutralize the flux or the flux will leach out of the joint and pit the blade in a couple years. Don't ask me how I found this out.
Next I peen the joints where the guard meets the knife. I learned this from Steve Johnson. You end up with a frog's ass tight joint after machining.
The scales are ground to 1 1/2 degrees where the ends meets the guard, the red liners are cut and one side is epoxied to the tang. This angle is selected to assure the liners and scales all sit flush with the tapered tang and guard. After set, I rough cut the edges on one side and drill the holes. Then I flip it over and repeat. With both scales glued, I rough them out to shape then drill the rivets. Doing it this way, I always know I've set enough of the rivet into the scale and don't finish grind down to the threads. The jig I made has to be used to hold the tang parallel to zero degrees because the tang is tapered. The brass rivets are epoxied in and the handle is finished out on the disc grinder to 240 grit.
Here's the finished product after taking the handle and furniture to 400 grit and buffing with hard-cut black compound for a soft, satin finish. The double grinds and their plunge cuts are even on each side. Challenging for sure, but makes for a quality job.......I think I oughta jack up the price! The knife is sharpened to 400 grit, stropped and a matching 10 oz leather sheath with brass furniture is made. Time for the damages SpartanSaint!!!
I hope you all enjoyed this WIP as much as I did!
I received an order for my LG Boot Knife and thought I'd do a WIP of it. I guess what pushed me to do it was the enthusiasm shown by SpartanSaint:
To me, this excitement is what provides me some of the satisfaction I derive from designing and creating knives! So, SpartanSaint, here's a work in progress for your LG Boot Knife. I call it LG because the blade is inspired by Bob Loveless and the handle is inspired by Ron Gaston. Here's the specifications:
3/16" CPM 3V stock
HT to Rc 60-62
8 1/4" OAL
4" Double hollow ground blade
400 grit belt satin finish
Green canvas micarta scales
Brass furniture
Tapered tang with red liners
8-10 oz right hand leather sheath
Here's the stock material and the pattern:
After the blade is ground to profile and the holes drilled, the edges and tang end are marked using a height gage:
Next, I roughed in the hollow grinds, hollow ground the handle, then tapered the tang:
The next step is to drill the pins in the brass double guard and blade - can't do it after heat treat!!
After all the holes are drilled, each hole is chamfered:
The rough ground blade is now ready for heat treat in my digitally controlled oven. My recipe is soak at 1250F for five minutes, ramp to 1950 F and hold for 30 minutes, plate quench with forced air, then triple temper at 1000F three times for two hours each. This recipe will provide the maximum toughness according to CPM 3V literature.
Sweetie pie hates what I'm doing to her electric bill.
Wrapped in stainless foil and ready to put in the oven. At $168 a roll, you can see why knifemakers aren't rich! Later gentlemen.
10/8/2012
Here's the knife, fresh out of heat treat and temper cycles. Looks rough, eh?
The next step I do is work the flats and and tapers with my 2 HP Burr King disc grinder. Nothing gets a flat flatter than a disc grinder for me.
The flats are hand rubbed to 220 grit from the guard area to the tip.
With the guard loosely installed, I scribe a centerline along the blade length and a line .500" away and parallel to the guard. These are the final grind to lines.
The knife is finish ground to 220 grit (about all I need to go for CPM 3V). I taper the holes in the guard with a 4/0 taper for 3/32" pins - the guard is installed with the pins, which are peened then squashed with a six ton press. If you don't taper the holes - you'll see a circle around the pins after buffing the sides of the guard.
Now it's time for solder. The guard, blade, 1/16" stainless rod, and solder are wiped clean with acetone and never touched by human hands. Pour your flux into the cap and set the bottle aside where you won't knock it over. I set the capful of flux on my Wilton vise anvil. I apply flux to the joint by dipping the 1/16" rod (or a clean nail) in the capful of flux and draw it around the knife/guard joint. Anywhere you leave flux, you'll have solder to clean off later.
I cut two 1/4" lengths of solder and using clean tweezers, lay a piece on each side.
Heat the guard from the underside until the solder just begins to melt. Now, dip the 1/16" stainless rod in the flux and use it to draw the molten solder around the joint while applying heat sparingly. Sometimes the solder won't draw due to a contaminant....this seems to happen most with a stainless guard to stainless blade. Applying more heat will only make it worse. I use a clean paper towel and wipe the joint fast - it will tin the problem area - then I go back to the heat/flux/1/16" rod to draw the solder all the way around the joint. When the solder stops pulling, re- dip the rod in the flux and your solder will draw some more. When you've drawn the solder all the way around the joint you can even it up by applying heat and drawing the 1/16" rod all around the molten solder. Doing it this way the solder joint looks damn near perfect. Here's the as-soldered joint on a stainless knife/guard:
Carbon steel/brass is the easiest to solder - stainless/stainless is the toughest.
After the knife cools down, I use a 1/8" diameter brass or nickel silver rod ground with a 45 degree bevel as a solder machining tool. I machine the joint by hand by pushing the rod to cut the solder. You can also use a brass bar ground flat on the ends - this will give a smaller, less radiused solder joint. You'll have to regrind the ends of the rod or bar because it's the burr that does the cutting. Here's the tool I usually use because I prefer a more radiused solder joint:
Here's the solder joint after cutting it with the solder machining tool:
After machining the solder joint with your solder machining tool, you may uncover a pinhole or two. It's not time to get out the rat poison - I put a little sliver of solder/flux on the pinhole, reheat until it melts, then re-machine the joint with the solder machining tool. Finally, I buff the joint at 1800 rpm with black hard-cut compound and the corner of a hard sewn wheel.
Here's the final product - I love a superb solder joint - it sets your knife apart and reeks of quality. Now go and boil that joint in water with a little Dawn and Baking Soda to neutralize the flux or the flux will leach out of the joint and pit the blade in a couple years. Don't ask me how I found this out.
Next I peen the joints where the guard meets the knife. I learned this from Steve Johnson. You end up with a frog's ass tight joint after machining.
The scales are ground to 1 1/2 degrees where the ends meets the guard, the red liners are cut and one side is epoxied to the tang. This angle is selected to assure the liners and scales all sit flush with the tapered tang and guard. After set, I rough cut the edges on one side and drill the holes. Then I flip it over and repeat. With both scales glued, I rough them out to shape then drill the rivets. Doing it this way, I always know I've set enough of the rivet into the scale and don't finish grind down to the threads. The jig I made has to be used to hold the tang parallel to zero degrees because the tang is tapered. The brass rivets are epoxied in and the handle is finished out on the disc grinder to 240 grit.
Here's the finished product after taking the handle and furniture to 400 grit and buffing with hard-cut black compound for a soft, satin finish. The double grinds and their plunge cuts are even on each side. Challenging for sure, but makes for a quality job.......I think I oughta jack up the price! The knife is sharpened to 400 grit, stropped and a matching 10 oz leather sheath with brass furniture is made. Time for the damages SpartanSaint!!!
I hope you all enjoyed this WIP as much as I did!
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