WIP: Arkansas locking Hunter

[ken erickson]

When you are performing your grinds on the blade, does the grind follow the radius at the end of the blade, or is it more or less a straight grind down the length and it just tapers itself out to the edge? In the first picture when you showed the start of the flat grind it looks to follow the edge but in the last it looks as if it were made straight down the length of the blade. Hopefully this question makes sense. Thanks

Chuck

Chuck, PM sent, thanks for the great question!

I am sure some folks may not know what the heck makers are talking about when they say "relieved frame or liners". This pictures shows the ugly scratches that will occur on the visible part of the tang if this step is omitted

This is my quick and easy way of marking the inside of the frame were I have to remove about .008 to prevent the scratching of the tang

I use a rotary table in set up in my milling machine with a end mill , in this case 1/2 dia. Using this method will give me a mirror relief cut on both frame sides in a matter of minutes

The milled relief before removing the milling marks. No more scratched tangs!

I am cutting the choil utilizing a fixture and grinder I made solely for this purpose. Overkill some would say, but I like it!

Now onto the fun stuff! I have the frame held down on my tooling plate, ready to mill everything that does not look like Arkansas Hunter bolsters! Here you can see the 3 stations I leave set up in my mill. Left to right. Relief cut station, bolsters/frame station, and finally on the far right is my station used for fly cutting nail pulls and long pulls

I like this shot as it shows that I did my part and ALL four corners of the bolsters match up with its mate, along with the relief cuts lining up

This shot shows my scribed lines for putting the bevels on the bolsters.

Last one for the night! This one shows the bevels ground in. Things are looking more and more like a Arkansas Hunter!

 

[Steven65]

Thanks for posting this wonderful process for us all to marvel at Ken.
Your work and attention to detail is fabulous!:thumbup:

Steven

 

[waynorth]

This is where my kids used to ask me to read another story, cause the first one was so much fun!
"Please Dad! Please Dad!"

Ahem . . . .great show Ken! Knife knut's dream.
Thanks for the concerted effort!

 

[aggiebuilder2003]

What do you mean when you say "fly cutting"?

Having a blast!

Chuck

 

[John L]

Ken: Any hints on how you index your liners on your plate for cutting bolsters? Clearly there are rights and lefts. Is there an easy way other than measuring or ???? Thanks.

John

 

[ken erickson]

Ken: Any hints on how you index your liners on your plate for cutting bolsters? Clearly there are rights and lefts. Is there an easy way other than measuring or ???? Thanks.

John

John,

I will pm you as I could do a compete tutorial on this subject.

UPDATE:

Charlie has decided on My Jigged and Dyed bone for this knife. There maybe a bit of a pause in the next set of pictures. Thanks everyone for the views and kind comments. I meant to add, that I hope I am also able to entertain somewhat with this thread.

 

[JB in SC]

Very nicely done Ken. The Case/Bose version was pretty easy to pluck open, the addition of the lock makes it even easier.

I know the pattern predates the era, but I always felt the angled bolsters and flat lines gave it an art deco look.

Someone will be very happy when this baby is delivered.....

 

[waynorth]

Very nicely done Ken. The Case/Bose version was pretty easy to pluck open, the addition of the lock makes it even easier.

I know the pattern predates the era, but I always felt the angled bolsters and flat lines gave it an art deco look.

Someone will be very happy when this baby is delivered.....

Good observation, JB. This knife was designed during the Deco period in Art. Considered to be most intense between World Wars I and II, but the movement likely spanned 1900 to 1950 more or less, in the opinions of most observers. The influence persists today, according the great Guru Google!!

 

[ndeezl]

Fantastic thread. As Corey said before I've learned a lot about the inner workings of a traditional lockback, thanks Ken. Can't wait to see the end results!

Nathan

 

[puukkoman]

This is a really cool thread.... Thanks for giving us a window into your process, Ken!

 

[DennisStrickland]

this candor from a maker ca'nt help but generate gobs of respect for the involvement required to achive this product. thanks dennis

 

[wellington]

A great work in progress thread Ken, very interesting see how you go about making such a knife, meticulous attention to every detail, looking forwards to seeing how the build progresses.

Going to be quite a knife when finished Charlie

Mick

 

[ken erickson]

I received an email from Charlie(waynorth) and thought I would pass on a few observations before I post this next set of pictures. Charlie, who is a very easy going, very nice guy, asked me via email in his laid back way if I was going to thread the bolsters. We had not talked specifically about this back when we firmed up this build. While I knew all along I was going to thread the bolsters, after all, I think they are an integral part and look to the Arkansas Hunter, I had never mentioned it. Reading between the lines, I could be wrong, I could feel his panic, not knowing if I was going to delete them!.

Well, here you go Charlie---------------------

This is my simple but effective fixture to replicate the spacing and depth on all four bolsters

This one shows the threaded cut, nice and straight with even spacing and distance from end of bolster were the scale will fit.

I ground a cutter just for this threading.

One more step completed!

 

[Rigaman021]

Another good question!

I mill my bolsters and liners out of one piece of bar stock or flat stock depending on the knife. The reasons I do this as I believe it yields a better knife and I can guarantee that a "seam will never been seen" between bolster and liner. The other reason is that I can very easy alter or custom tailor the liner thickness while retaining the same overall thickness of liner and bolster. If you look at a lot of old knives that used .032 cutlers brass often times you will see warping (from abuse mostly) of the liners. I will often times mill the recess leaving .038 on a knife of this size. While .005 does not sound like a lot, in terms of strength it is. Of course there is a downside , and that is material waste in the form of milling chips. Some would say that more time is spent milling a bolster/frame versus soldering bolsters on to a flat liner. This also brings up something I wanted to make sure was clear.

There are many ways of building a traditional folding knife. My way works for me but may not work for the next maker. Like has been said, "many ways of skinning a cat! "

That is what I thought you were going to say. That is great! I think all slipjoints should be made like that. Great work!

Thanks for the pictures!

 

[waynorth]

Some of the threading that Case does is indeed a bit wide for the respective knives, as nice as they are.
But when they left it off the Arkansas Hunter completely, I think that was a mistake.
The threads were integral lines in the design.
My instinct told me that Ken would just know that intuitively, but I admit it . . . . . I panicked (a little anyway), so I wrote, just to mention it!!
Honestly, Ken has such a good eye, a person could probably just order "a knife" from him, and be happy with the results!
But thanks for putting the "threads" to rest, Ken!!

 

[ken erickson]

Some of the threading that Case does is indeed a bit wide for the respective knives, as nice as they are.
But when they left it off the Arkansas Hunter completely, I think that was a mistake.
The threads were integral lines in the design.

I do wonder why Case left the threading off, when they did the Collaboration knife.

I have said it before, and it still makes me pause, with a pocket knife, a few thousandths here and there can make a huge difference in the overall look and feel of the knife.

Ken

 

[Will Power]

I have said it before, and it still makes me pause, with a pocket knife, a few thousandths here and there can make a huge difference in the overall look and feel of the knife.

Ken

Very true indeed! Fascinating thread this, it's like looking at old photos of some immense ocean liner under construction:thumbup:

 

[waynorth]

I do wonder why Case left the threading off, when they did the Collaboration knife.

I have said it before, and it still makes me pause, with a pocket knife, a few thousandths here and there can make a huge difference in the overall look and feel of the knife.

Ken

I know what you mean, Ken. It's one of the toughest parts of custom knife making IMO. A person can be a mechanical wizard, but if he doesn't develop an eye, his knives won't please, and won't sell.
You see many custom knives that are just a tad off; too wide here, curve not quite graceful, not proportioned like the classics of old.
Tony Bose tells me, even after all his experience, he still spends a lot of time just looking at old knives. Seems that's a big part of the education.

 

[Cubane]

Ken: Any hints on how you index your liners on your plate for cutting bolsters? Clearly there are rights and lefts. Is there an easy way other than measuring or ???? Thanks.

John

John,

I will pm you as I could do a compete tutorial on this subject.

If you ever do one I would be interested. I am not sure how my little mill would go at it but I think the end result would probably be worth the effort compared to soldering/welding the bolsters on. I'd also be interested to know how you go about fitting the scales in a situation like on this knife with the bolsters and end caps. I always start at the bolsters and go to the back so I have my scales done before my end caps.

Keep up the good work.

Alistair

 

[ken erickson]

If you ever do one I would be interested. I'd also be interested to know how you go about fitting the scales in a situation like on this knife with the bolsters and end caps.
Alistair

Alistair,

I had emailed John and assured him, the next time I mill out a frame with both bolsters and end caps I will do a tutorial in the shop talk sub forum. I feel that it is too complex, and picture intensive for this thread.

As soon as I get the bone prepped I will be showing pictures here in this thread.


Thanks again for all those that have viewed and commented. I immensely enjoy photographing, showing off my shop equipment and hopefully doing a bit of entertaining and teaching at the same time.

Ken