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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Steve Culver, MS: Slipjoint (detailed work in progress)
- Thread starter muddy672
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2006
- Messages
- 1,061
36. Surface grinding heat-treat scale from blade and spring.
37. Cleaning scale from pivot hole in blade using an expandable brass reamer and grinding compound.
38. Cleaning scale from the spring notch in blade using stones.
39. Final clean up of bottom of spring (I hope). Grinding the bottom of the spring where it rests on the tang.
40. Grinding the rest of the scale from the bottom of the spring. After grinding the scale off, I will then hand sand the bottom of the spring to final finish. This is hopefully the last work I will do on the bottom of the spring. If all goes well, I will not touch the bottom of the spring again, as I am about to start adjusting the tang and spring fit-up.
41. Using the “Ruple Dial” to set the tang and spring. This device was designed by Bill Ruple. It helps to quickly get the tang to spring fit-up and geometry close without having to assemble the knife repeatedly. The micrometer sets on top of the spring and measures the lift that the tang imparts on the spring. The tang is ground to set the rise of the spring in all three positions of the blade; open, half-stop and closed. The blade kick is also adjusted to fit the tip of the blade into the handle. This will only get the fit-up close; the final adjustments will have to be made after the knife is assembled and the spring is loaded. When the spring is loaded, it flexes, and the position of the blade will be different.
42. Once the spring to tang fit is set in the open position, the blade and spring are fitted to a liner with the pivot and rear pins. The spring is covered with layout dye and the spring is scribed along the top of the liner. The excess material is then ground from the top of the spring.
43. The spring is then positioned to pre-load against the tang and clamped to one of the liners. The center pivot hole in the liner is then drilled through the hole in the spring. The amount of pre-load is a bit of guess-work combined with experience. Too much pre-load can be fixed by grinding away some material from the bottom of the spring; too little may require making new liners and trying again.
44. The center hole in the second liner is then drilled through the hole in the first liner.
45. Assembling the folder using a drill press. This trick was shown to me by Gary Crowder. A wood spade bit with the pilot point round off is placed in the chuck and the knife is positioned on a board with a groove in it. The spade bit presses the spring down into the groove in the board allowing you to insert the pivot pin without pressure from the spring.
37. Cleaning scale from pivot hole in blade using an expandable brass reamer and grinding compound.
38. Cleaning scale from the spring notch in blade using stones.
39. Final clean up of bottom of spring (I hope). Grinding the bottom of the spring where it rests on the tang.
40. Grinding the rest of the scale from the bottom of the spring. After grinding the scale off, I will then hand sand the bottom of the spring to final finish. This is hopefully the last work I will do on the bottom of the spring. If all goes well, I will not touch the bottom of the spring again, as I am about to start adjusting the tang and spring fit-up.
41. Using the “Ruple Dial” to set the tang and spring. This device was designed by Bill Ruple. It helps to quickly get the tang to spring fit-up and geometry close without having to assemble the knife repeatedly. The micrometer sets on top of the spring and measures the lift that the tang imparts on the spring. The tang is ground to set the rise of the spring in all three positions of the blade; open, half-stop and closed. The blade kick is also adjusted to fit the tip of the blade into the handle. This will only get the fit-up close; the final adjustments will have to be made after the knife is assembled and the spring is loaded. When the spring is loaded, it flexes, and the position of the blade will be different.
42. Once the spring to tang fit is set in the open position, the blade and spring are fitted to a liner with the pivot and rear pins. The spring is covered with layout dye and the spring is scribed along the top of the liner. The excess material is then ground from the top of the spring.
43. The spring is then positioned to pre-load against the tang and clamped to one of the liners. The center pivot hole in the liner is then drilled through the hole in the spring. The amount of pre-load is a bit of guess-work combined with experience. Too much pre-load can be fixed by grinding away some material from the bottom of the spring; too little may require making new liners and trying again.
44. The center hole in the second liner is then drilled through the hole in the first liner.
45. Assembling the folder using a drill press. This trick was shown to me by Gary Crowder. A wood spade bit with the pilot point round off is placed in the chuck and the knife is positioned on a board with a groove in it. The spade bit presses the spring down into the groove in the board allowing you to insert the pivot pin without pressure from the spring.
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2006
- Messages
- 1,061
46. With the knife in the open position, the back of the knife is ground flat, leveling the blade, spring and top of the liners. Now comes the (hopefully) final fitting of the blade to spring. The tang is ground to set the top of the spring level with the top of the liners in the half-stop and closed positions. If the blade tip is not positioned correctly in the handle when the knife is closed, the kick is ground to correct that. This requires a lot of disassembling the knife, grinding a few thousands off, reassembling the knife, taking it back apart to grind some more, put it back together……..you get the idea. All of this I do with assembly pins and an old pivot bushing. There will be some difference in the size of these pins and bushing compared to the knife’s final parts. Later in the knife’s construction, I will use new pin stock and the actual pivot bushing that will be installed in the knife. Final adjustments may have to be made at that time.
47. The edge of the blade is covered with layout dye and is scribed for grinding. This is done to center the edge on the blade and give me a target to grind to when doing the actual grinding of the blade bevels. The blade is now .120 thick, so I set the height gauge to .070 and scribe the edge of the blade with the blade resting on one side, turn the blade over and scribe again. The result is two lines spaced .020 apart down the center of the blade.
48. The scribed lines on the edge of the blade.
49. The blade is then fastened to a brass bar that I use for grinding folder blades.
50. The edge of the blade is ground at about a 45 degree angle down to the scribed lines.
51. The edges ground to center and the blade ready to grind the bevels.
52. Grinding the bevels on the blade. I bet I am the only knifemaker that you have ever seen that grinds while standing on one foot. 
53. Sanding the riccasso and tang on a sheet of 400g paper glued to flat material.
54. Hand sanding the blade.
55. Crappy photo; but the finished blade.
47. The edge of the blade is covered with layout dye and is scribed for grinding. This is done to center the edge on the blade and give me a target to grind to when doing the actual grinding of the blade bevels. The blade is now .120 thick, so I set the height gauge to .070 and scribe the edge of the blade with the blade resting on one side, turn the blade over and scribe again. The result is two lines spaced .020 apart down the center of the blade.
48. The scribed lines on the edge of the blade.
49. The blade is then fastened to a brass bar that I use for grinding folder blades.
50. The edge of the blade is ground at about a 45 degree angle down to the scribed lines.
51. The edges ground to center and the blade ready to grind the bevels.
52. Grinding the bevels on the blade. I bet I am the only knifemaker that you have ever seen that grinds while standing on one foot. 
53. Sanding the riccasso and tang on a sheet of 400g paper glued to flat material.
54. Hand sanding the blade.
55. Crappy photo; but the finished blade.
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2006
- Messages
- 1,061
56. Sawing excess from the handle material. The handle slabs need to be thinned and it is easier for me to tell when I have ground them to the correct thickness if I first have the slabs cut to the basic shape of the handle.
57. Grinding the handle slabs to the correct thickness.
Steve Culver
President - Kansas Custom Knifemaker's Association
Culver Knives
Meriden, KS
www.culverart.com
57. Grinding the handle slabs to the correct thickness.
Steve Culver
President - Kansas Custom Knifemaker's Association
Culver Knives
Meriden, KS
www.culverart.com
Thanks so much for this series -- it's always fascinating to see how different makers approach the whole process.
The idea is to wrap them airtight (and with very little air left inside) - this prevents most of the oxidation that causes scale to form on the steel during heat treat, thus saving a lot of work cleaning it off afterward (scale formation also means that you're leaching carbon from the surface of the steel). Some folks put a little paper (rice paper or 100% cotton rag are best) inside the foil to make sure all the oxygen is used up inside (especially if your wrap turns out to be not quite totally airtight).
-- Dwight
The idea is to wrap them airtight (and with very little air left inside) - this prevents most of the oxidation that causes scale to form on the steel during heat treat, thus saving a lot of work cleaning it off afterward (scale formation also means that you're leaching carbon from the surface of the steel). Some folks put a little paper (rice paper or 100% cotton rag are best) inside the foil to make sure all the oxygen is used up inside (especially if your wrap turns out to be not quite totally airtight).
-- Dwight
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2005
- Messages
- 3,972
Enjoying this immensely. Thanks for sharing. :thumbup:
- Joe
- Joe
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2006
- Messages
- 19,374
Thanks for the explanation Dwight... :thumbup:
It makes the price of a custom slip joint seem like a true bargain when you can see all the effort that goes in to one..
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2004
- Messages
- 1,189
After seeing this, I am resolved to never attempt to make a knife. Customs are well worth the asking price.
God Bless
God Bless
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2006
- Messages
- 1,061
Numbering is off as Steve and I discussed some scale options as the ones we had chosen where not suitable, Steve purchased some new stag scales for this project and the work continues below.
67. A 1/16” hole is drilled towards the front of the liners to hold the front of the handle material.
68. The bolsters are contoured before the handle material is attached. This is done to minimize heat build-up on the handle material during final shaping.
69. Adhesive is applied and the liner/handle assembly is clamped to a steel plate to minimize warping as the adhesive sets up.
70. The handle material is ground down to the liners.
71. The liners are flattened on a disc sander.
72. The disc sander marks are removed by hand on a flat block with paper glued to it.
73. The pin holes are drilled through the handle material, while held to the bottom of a jig in my milling machine vice. I hold the assembly by hand so the drill bit will center in the holes in the liner. The jig assures that the holes go straight through and are not angled.
74. This is where my process differs from what I have seen other folder makers do. Most makers mill the tang reliefs in the liners at the start of the construction process; before the bolsters are attached and the handle material glued on. In my experience, the liners are prone to warp during the build-up of the handle assembly. As the tang reliefs are quite shallow, flattening the liners after the reliefs are cut can result in cutting away some of the relief. So, I decided that I would prefer to cut the reliefs after the final flattening of the liners. To do this, I built a jig that holds the handle assembly for milling. A piece of drill rod through the pivot hole is used to locate the handle assembly in the jig. Then a clamp in the jig is tightened to hold the handle assembly.
75. After the clamp is tightened, the drill rod is replaced by a bolt through the pivot hole to hold the assembly firmly.
76. The jig is placed in a rotary mill and the reliefs are then cut.
67. A 1/16” hole is drilled towards the front of the liners to hold the front of the handle material.
68. The bolsters are contoured before the handle material is attached. This is done to minimize heat build-up on the handle material during final shaping.
69. Adhesive is applied and the liner/handle assembly is clamped to a steel plate to minimize warping as the adhesive sets up.
70. The handle material is ground down to the liners.
71. The liners are flattened on a disc sander.
72. The disc sander marks are removed by hand on a flat block with paper glued to it.
73. The pin holes are drilled through the handle material, while held to the bottom of a jig in my milling machine vice. I hold the assembly by hand so the drill bit will center in the holes in the liner. The jig assures that the holes go straight through and are not angled.
74. This is where my process differs from what I have seen other folder makers do. Most makers mill the tang reliefs in the liners at the start of the construction process; before the bolsters are attached and the handle material glued on. In my experience, the liners are prone to warp during the build-up of the handle assembly. As the tang reliefs are quite shallow, flattening the liners after the reliefs are cut can result in cutting away some of the relief. So, I decided that I would prefer to cut the reliefs after the final flattening of the liners. To do this, I built a jig that holds the handle assembly for milling. A piece of drill rod through the pivot hole is used to locate the handle assembly in the jig. Then a clamp in the jig is tightened to hold the handle assembly.
75. After the clamp is tightened, the drill rod is replaced by a bolt through the pivot hole to hold the assembly firmly.
76. The jig is placed in a rotary mill and the reliefs are then cut.
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2006
- Messages
- 1,061
77. Temporary assembly pins are used to align the handle assemblies and the bottom of the handles are finished.
78. Excess handle material is ground away to prepare for pinning.
79. The front handle pin hole is chamfered on the inside.
80. Setting the front pin in the handle material.
81. The other pin holes are reamed with taper pin reamers to about 2/3 of their depth.
82. I cut the pivot bushing to length using the surface grinder.
83. Setting the pins.
84. The knife pinned and ready to finish grind.
85. The inside of the knife is packed with tissue paper and covered with tape to prevent grinding grit from getting into the pivot area.
86. The back of the knife is finished first.
78. Excess handle material is ground away to prepare for pinning.
79. The front handle pin hole is chamfered on the inside.
80. Setting the front pin in the handle material.
81. The other pin holes are reamed with taper pin reamers to about 2/3 of their depth.
82. I cut the pivot bushing to length using the surface grinder.
83. Setting the pins.
84. The knife pinned and ready to finish grind.
85. The inside of the knife is packed with tissue paper and covered with tape to prevent grinding grit from getting into the pivot area.
86. The back of the knife is finished first.
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2006
- Messages
- 1,061
87. The sides of the knife are shaped using the rotary platten.
88. Smoothing and finishing by slack-belting with a scalloped edge belt. I run the belt upside down so I can see how the work is progressing.
89. Next, I switch to a well worn 400g belt for additional smoothing of the finish. I also run it upside down.
90. Buffing the handle material on my home-built variable speed buffer.
91. The knife is thoroughly cleaned with WD-40.
92. With the tissue packing removed; the knife is repeatedly flooded with WD-40 and blown out with compressed air to clean out all of the grinding grit.
93. Paste wax is applied to the handle material.
94. Sharpening by hand.
95. The finished knife.
The fit and finish on this knife is excellent. The grinds and especially the plunge line is perfect (not something I see often). The blade is a razor and finished well. The transition between bolster and scale is seamless.
The scales gave Steve some heartache as during finishing one of the scales was darker than the other. We discussed options over email and decided to send the knife to me for viewing. Steve insisted I hold on the payment until I saw the knife. As I mentioned above I was very pleased with the build of the knife though the scale color did concern me. Unfortunate as they were great pieces of stag. We discussed options again and I have decided to have Steve build another knife and we are going to use Ivory he has on hand. We had talked about ivory for this particular knife and I had pictures of Steve’s ivory scales and tusks to refer back to.
I have to say that Steve Culver handled this situation in the best possible way. His communication was and is excellent. He was completely upfront about the scales. He stands behind his work and his top priority is customer satisfaction with their (his) knives. It is easy to see solid character in his words and most importantly his actions. I am very excited to see the new knife once completed and I will happily show it off in this thread. I have been so impressed with Steve that I am asking to be put on his list for a fixed blade hunter and based on his site he makes stunning fixed blades.
Here is a portion of one of the emails from Steve explaining the color difference in the scales. I thought readers would wonder about this as I did so here is the response.
“I’m sure that you are wondering how I could not tell in advance that the scales would be so different. During the shaping process of the scales, the course grinding of the material creates the same effect as rough sawing a board; in that the torn fibers hide the true final finish appearance. If you look at photos # 84 and # 85, you will see that the slabs appeared to be similar in color at that point. You can imagine how my heart sank as I finished and polished the scales and watched the color change.”
88. Smoothing and finishing by slack-belting with a scalloped edge belt. I run the belt upside down so I can see how the work is progressing.
89. Next, I switch to a well worn 400g belt for additional smoothing of the finish. I also run it upside down.
90. Buffing the handle material on my home-built variable speed buffer.
91. The knife is thoroughly cleaned with WD-40.
92. With the tissue packing removed; the knife is repeatedly flooded with WD-40 and blown out with compressed air to clean out all of the grinding grit.
93. Paste wax is applied to the handle material.
94. Sharpening by hand.
95. The finished knife.
The fit and finish on this knife is excellent. The grinds and especially the plunge line is perfect (not something I see often). The blade is a razor and finished well. The transition between bolster and scale is seamless.
The scales gave Steve some heartache as during finishing one of the scales was darker than the other. We discussed options over email and decided to send the knife to me for viewing. Steve insisted I hold on the payment until I saw the knife. As I mentioned above I was very pleased with the build of the knife though the scale color did concern me. Unfortunate as they were great pieces of stag. We discussed options again and I have decided to have Steve build another knife and we are going to use Ivory he has on hand. We had talked about ivory for this particular knife and I had pictures of Steve’s ivory scales and tusks to refer back to.
I have to say that Steve Culver handled this situation in the best possible way. His communication was and is excellent. He was completely upfront about the scales. He stands behind his work and his top priority is customer satisfaction with their (his) knives. It is easy to see solid character in his words and most importantly his actions. I am very excited to see the new knife once completed and I will happily show it off in this thread. I have been so impressed with Steve that I am asking to be put on his list for a fixed blade hunter and based on his site he makes stunning fixed blades.
Here is a portion of one of the emails from Steve explaining the color difference in the scales. I thought readers would wonder about this as I did so here is the response.
“I’m sure that you are wondering how I could not tell in advance that the scales would be so different. During the shaping process of the scales, the course grinding of the material creates the same effect as rough sawing a board; in that the torn fibers hide the true final finish appearance. If you look at photos # 84 and # 85, you will see that the slabs appeared to be similar in color at that point. You can imagine how my heart sank as I finished and polished the scales and watched the color change.”
Thanks to everyone for the compliments. I really enjoyed working on the progression thread. I would like to do a progression on another project some day.
I dont often have problems with material coloration, but this one was trouble from the start. The first set of slabs that I planned to use were amber stag. I have a large inventory of amber stag, but I only had two slabs that were suitable for use on this knife. The drop in the handle of this knife required that the slabs be large and the outer contour of the slab had to be correct for use on a folder. Initial shaping of the two amber slabs revealed a difference in their coloration. One had a brown/yellow color, while the other had a reddish tint. I conferred with Matt, and we located two sets of stag that looked likely to work on the knife. I purchased the two sets and from them selected the slabs that would fit on this folder pattern.
Initial shaping of these slabs displayed a minor difference in the color, but not enough to give me great concern. It was during the final finishing (mostly during buffing) that the color really started to change. The left slab came out a glistening white, as I expected. The right slab took on sort of a chocolaty color. Before the question comes up; No, I didnt burn the slab during buffing. I have a variable speed buffer that I run as slow as possible and I check for heat build-up often.
Because of the odd color of this one slab, I cant help but wonder if it may have been dyed by the exporter. Ive heard of this being done to improve the value of a marginal piece; although I know the importers frown on the practice.
The knife is now on its way to another gentleman, who may purchase it. I will build Matt another folder and use mammoth ivory on it.
I dont often have problems with material coloration, but this one was trouble from the start. The first set of slabs that I planned to use were amber stag. I have a large inventory of amber stag, but I only had two slabs that were suitable for use on this knife. The drop in the handle of this knife required that the slabs be large and the outer contour of the slab had to be correct for use on a folder. Initial shaping of the two amber slabs revealed a difference in their coloration. One had a brown/yellow color, while the other had a reddish tint. I conferred with Matt, and we located two sets of stag that looked likely to work on the knife. I purchased the two sets and from them selected the slabs that would fit on this folder pattern.
Initial shaping of these slabs displayed a minor difference in the color, but not enough to give me great concern. It was during the final finishing (mostly during buffing) that the color really started to change. The left slab came out a glistening white, as I expected. The right slab took on sort of a chocolaty color. Before the question comes up; No, I didnt burn the slab during buffing. I have a variable speed buffer that I run as slow as possible and I check for heat build-up often.
Because of the odd color of this one slab, I cant help but wonder if it may have been dyed by the exporter. Ive heard of this being done to improve the value of a marginal piece; although I know the importers frown on the practice.
The knife is now on its way to another gentleman, who may purchase it. I will build Matt another folder and use mammoth ivory on it.
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2007
- Messages
- 2,624
I actually find the scales give it character , I like it a lot !
Very nicely done.
Very nicely done.
black mamba
Gold Member
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2009
- Messages
- 23,459
"Matched" scales (especially stag) are in the eye of the beholder. I've seen some scales called matched where I could hardly tell both sides were the same material! With all the variability of stag (which is why we love it!) not one set in several hundred is truly "matched."
To me, yours are beautiful. Great job as always. Thanks a ton for the WIP.
To me, yours are beautiful. Great job as always. Thanks a ton for the WIP.
When they said they were "matched", they never said anything about them being matched with each other.
Thanks so much for this thread -- I know it's a real task to do one of these and this one was very well done - great pictures and descriptions. Definitely worth saving in my tutorials folder.
-- Dwight