Wait...Thats NOT what I ordered!!!

[Robert Hankins]

Mods feel free to move this to Around the Grinder if so inclined but I believe it has merit here.
Advice while getting into folder making to be sure the material you are ordering is what you will get! Example ordered 16ga SS online which according to the conversion charts will be .0635 thick welllllllllllll turned out to be .0600 thick!
Went to a local metal dealer next and picked up a piece marked 16ga again get home and it is .0570 thick.

This may sound like no big deal to some but when you are sqeeking in tight tollerances for a well made folder it makes a difference. Adjustments can be made in other areas to "Make it Work" but that's not the idea.
After spending all the time to design and make a knife worthy of being called "Custom" it can be a pain.

Bottom line if you can get past the clerk taking your order and get to the one's who actually fill the order...have them measure it for you first. This will save countless hours of grief not to mention many wasted $...

Your reccomendations are welcome

 

[Vinny203]

sir the only thing i got to say to that .... is man i really think you make a pretty butterfly knife

 

[Shakudo]

Tolarances can be anything these days depending on where the metal is coming from and what standard the distribtor is using.if you are ordering by guage size you may as well give up.even precision ground can be off by .002 inch or more. take a look at this link.

http://asuwlink.uwyo.edu/~metal/gage.html

side note.........this is the reason surface grinders,lathes and milling machine are used.

 

[mete]

Yes gage is based on weight for sheet !! Remember also that the material is rolled in wide sheets and as it goes through the rollers the rollers bow so the center of the sheet will be thicker than the edge !! There is a higher tolerance precision rolled sheet too.Remember that unless you buy precision ground stock you'll also have some decarb at the surface ....Well, gage is still better than the old days when every company had a different system !!

 

[Chuck Gedraitis Knives]

If this material is for folder liners I don't see the problem? The tight tolerances you need are the thickness of the blade and the backbar. To me liner thickness does not matter, unless you just trying to keep the whole knife thin? I use .050 TI on everything.