Who makes their own folder clips? .. and how do you do it?

Kevin Wilkins

Kevin Wilkins

Joined
Oct 7, 1998
Messages
1,459
Hi everybody, I'm getting on with my liner locking folders and want to start making my own clips from Grade 5 Ti 6al4v. I thought I'd use 0.040 inch. I also have a strong press and already have a number of forms for bending etc, but whenever I start with the Ti it ends up breaking or cracking at the bend. I's sure heating would help, but I don't know how hot I should get it? Can I use a small propane torch... I don't have access to anything hotter right now...

Here's a photo of one of my recent folders with a boght stainless steel clip. And thanks in advance for any help and advice!

heim_closed_clip.jpg


heim_spine.jpg


1.jpg
 
Great looking knife Kevin! :)

I've made several of my own clips and also have bought some. For me, the easiest way has been to buy premade titanium clips from Halpern Titanium and then grind them to a more pleasing shape. I find I'd rather spend my time doing it that way rather than going through the whole bending thing.

You can easily bend the ti if you heat it first with the propane torch. Of course, it always gets more complicated than that because you will then have to remove the heat colors and scale that occur. Once the piece is no longer flat it gets to be a pain.
 
hi Peter, thanks for the info. As I have the tooling I want make the clips in shapes that are more fitting to the knife, rather than using the preblanked ones - I've seen the ones from Halpern... if Propane gets the Ti hot enough, then I'll give that a try...

BTW heres another knife I finished on Friday... thi one doesn't have the clip problem ;-)

pit_fol_6.jpg
 
Doesn't look like many of you guys make your own clips... using the torch to heat up the Ti seems to be working well, but I will have to reall build the proper forms to keep the bends nice and smooth... but once I have em...
 
That last knife is a real beauty Kevin. Sure wish I could get a folder to come out looking like that.:eek:
 
Halpern shears the titanium and makes the first two bends on my clips with their existing die setup. I make the last bend using a vise, plastic faced mallet, and a die block with a small radius at the top edge. (The radius helps reduce the chance of breaking when forming the titanium cold.)

After I grind the edges parallel, the holes for the screws and the blind slots are cut on my milling machine.

On certain installations (like the example below), I grind a notch in the upper inside edge of a clip to clear the pivot assembly on a small wheel attachment.

knifeart_1695_13013372


photo courtesy of www.KnifeArt.com
 
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