WiP! The Bingalor Rises

[Lorien]

Looking awesome!!!! Excellent problem solving too!!! I'm lazy, I would have stuck in a couple of washers for the bearings to ride on!! Nice job so far!!! Enjoying this immensely!!!! Thank you for sharing your trials and tribulations

some people look at life and see nothing but problems, I always look for solutions. Not sure where I got that, but I reckon it was probably my dad. I will add that most problems can be solved with a few washers

I am so impressed by your problem solving. I think I'm clever as a fixer, jig man and set up guy but the complexity of this construction is daunting and you are never stopped - for long - by a glitch in your "fluid" system. I'm learning ways to use tools that I have never considered. Your establishing a new center line for scribing your arcs and your adaptation of your tools for cleaning out your bearing counterbore, among others, are elegant. Really fun reading through this WIP - and I will never do any of this kind of build.

I'm always thinking about those blade smiths in Nepal, India, Pakistan- South East Asia in general- who produce pretty amazing cutlery without fancy grinders, drill presses, electricity...or even shoes! I just love that human characteristic of creative ingenuity- it's one of the few things we have going for us as a species

He definitely makes me feel like an ignoramus!!!

I know the feeling! I get it every time I visit Instagram and see all the incredible makers I follow there. Which is why I figure my time is better spent in my shop than on the computer, lol!


blade's ready for heat treating. It's S35VN, so I austenitize at 2025F for a bit and pull an interrupted quench/snap temper with liquid nitrogen for the cold treatment

good night, sweet blade.

time to chill out for a bit

meanwhile, back on the ranch

this canvas micarta is smelly, so instead of turning it all into carcinogenic dust, I remove as many big chunks as is practical before hitting the grinder

I've learned to trust my pilot holes, they're there to keep things accurate, so I just go to town and drill what needs drilled hoping I did my job well enough before to keep everything lined up

leaving some material around the profile of the handle, the shape is ground close to final dimensions

using the same procedure I used to cut the lock bar face, I cut the lock bar. It's time consuming and tedious, but does a good job of creating a clean, narrow slit.

just like that

I've left enough material to hold everything together for now

 

[RayseM]

Do you have a preferred cutting wheel? Brand - size? It looks like you are doing that with a drill press. If that is the case, is it variable speed electronically? You can't be repositioning the belt on the pulleys all the time.

 

[Lorien]

Do you have a preferred cutting wheel? Brand - size? It looks like you are doing that with a drill press. If that is the case, is it variable speed electronically? You can't be repositioning the belt on the pulleys all the time.

I picked up some extra thin abrasive Dremel disks on sale awhile ago, so that's what I've been using. All this work is on my drill press, and the thing that makes it work is the on the fly rpm adjuster. Makes all the difference. It's a Wen unit, cost about $500- has a lever on the side you pull or push radially and a digital rpm readout. Not the world's best tool, but it was cheap and a huge upgrade from what I had before, (and still use)


it's time to start drilling and tapping some fastener holes. I thought I was being clever by shielding the lines with tape, but the juice wasn't really worth the squeeze.

this is a scale fastener hole. It'll be a 5mm x .8 because I'm going to use bicycle rotor mount bolts, and metric is how we do up here in Canada.

holes drilled and surfaces flattened again. It's so important to remove the bulging caused by drilling, because it can cause subsequent holes to be less than straight

the backspacer fastener holes are going to be a 3mm .5 thread, also using fasteners scavenged from a bike. In this case, stainless fasteners for holding a dereilleur hanger to a mountain bike

a side note; if you are going to drill titanium, make sure at least one of these two things is true-
1. have lots of fresh bits on hand in the size you need
2. you want to learn how to sharpen drill bits

nice, clean holes...

I chuck the tap in the drill press and manually turn the chuck, while...

...I apply compression using the height adjuster on the drill press. Compress, turn chuck 1/6 of a turn, lock height adjust down, repeat...

I just start cutting the threads this way because it's perfectly in line, but I finish with the hand tool. Having straight threads to get started really helps

titanium is thirsty metal. Although I don't generally use cutting oil when drilling, for tapping it's a must. It's very slow going with titanium, it tends to gall, so breaking taps is a real issue especially smaller ones. Just gotta develop a feel for it

 

[jfk1110]

I'm not going to be happy once you are done. Enjoy this daily!!! Thanx again for sharing it...

 

[Lorien]

I'm not going to be happy once you are done. Enjoy this daily!!! Thanx again for sharing it...

I'm slightly ahead of my photos, so I can assure you that you have another week or so of updates at least!



countersinking the backspacer fasteners so that the heads are flush with the handle...went through my box of drill bits, eyeballed one that looked about right and got to it.

like so

now, to work on the backspacer. I went through all the material I have on hand to find something close to the dimension I need. Not much luck with G10 or micarta on hand, but I've had this old brake arch since the 90's and it's the perfect thickness. This thing was from a time when bicycles used the rim of the wheel as the braking surface, if you can believe it! Brake arches were designed to minimize deflection of the seatstays during braking, increasing the power by stiffening the supports for the brakes. This particular one was made right here, on Vancouver Island, by a couple of guys who saw a future in hemp composites. That's right, this thing is made from hemp fiber! Truly a BC product

trace the edge of the blade and cut it out with the bandsaw

trace the edge of the blade onto the liner in the closed position

clamp the spacer to the liner and use the fastener holes to guide the drill bit through the backspacer and...

...screw it together!

this is the most exciting time of building a folder. When it actually becomes something. Until now, it's kind of like flying blind, but once it's all one piece and holds itself together, it feels more real!

 

[Lorien]

back at the handle scales. Just flattening the outside face of the material for the next steps

flip the scales over, and use the countersink for the bearing to mill out the handle fastener pockets, but...oh wait!

the OD of the countersink is smaller than the fastener heads! How do I make the hole bigger without making a catastrophic mess?
Duh! Make the OD of the fastener head smaller, silly!

success!

tracing the lockbar slot and face onto the handle

prep'd to mill out the lock bar relief. When a knife like this opens and closes, the detente ball pushes the lockbar out when the ball hits the ricasso. If the lockbar can't move outward enough, the knife will bind and won't work properly

ending up with this

using the marks I established earlier, it's time to drill out the pivot fastener reliefs. I take my time- measure, drill, measure, drill...then set the depth gauge for the other side

a cozy fit

 

[jfk1110]

back at the handle scales. Just flattening the outside face of the material for the next steps

flip the scales over, and use the countersink for the bearing to mill out the handle fastener pockets, but...oh wait!

the OD of the countersink is smaller than the fastener heads! How do I make the hole bigger without making a catastrophic mess?
Duh! Make the OD of the fastener head smaller, silly!

success!

tracing the lockbar slot and face onto the handle

prep'd to mill out the lock bar relief. When a knife like this opens and closes, the detente ball pushes the lockbar out when the ball hits the ricasso. If the lockbar can't move outward enough, the knife will bind and won't work properly

ending up with this

using the marks I established earlier, it's time to drill out the pivot fastener reliefs. I take my time- measure, drill, measure, drill...then set the depth gauge for the other side

a cozy fit

Looking good..... Really don't want this build to end!!!!!

Although you probably are!!!

 

[RayseM]

What exactly is your rabbeting bit - that in the drill press too? I guess I need to get myself one of those speed controls. Make a drill press so much more versatile. Your chuck must spin perfectly true.

I appreciate this WIP too J jfk1110

 

[Lorien]

Looking good..... Really don't want this build to end!!!!!

Although you probably are!!!

still plenty of photos, but I finished up last night

What exactly is your rabbeting bit - that in the drill press too? I guess I need to get myself one of those speed controls. Make a drill press so much more versatile. Your chuck must spin perfectly true.

I appreciate this WIP too J jfk1110

this is a fairly exciting part of the process- cutting all the fasteners down. The knife really starts to feel like a real thing once all the protuberances are removed
using a fine tipped marker to cut close to final dimension

this is probably the most hilarious hack of this build, came to me in a moment of 'brilliance', lol

I recently bought this tool, along with the carbide countersink, from USA Knifemaker. Man, this is a purchase I do not regret! What a great little tool. It's slower than a fixture built to use with the grinder, but you can't beat it if looking for close tolerances. I have a couple other folders on the bench, which I'll get to once Blade is over, that ride on bushings and this tool is gonna be great for that

and this is what I used to shave down the handle fastener bolts. Very simple, rudimentary even, but it does the job well enough. Just a little piece of bronze that's tapped and threaded, and a washer to shim it to width so the fastener ends up the right length

 

[J. Doyle]

still plenty of photos, but I finished up last night




this is a fairly exciting part of the process- cutting all the fasteners down. The knife really starts to feel like a real thing once all the protuberances are removed
using a fine tipped marker to cut close to final dimension

this is probably the most hilarious hack of this build, came to me in a moment of 'brilliance', lol

I recently bought this tool, along with the carbide countersink, from USA Knifemaker. Man, this is a purchase I do not regret! What a great little tool. It's slower than a fixture built to use with the grinder, but you can't beat it if looking for close tolerances. I have a couple other folders on the bench, which I'll get to once Blade is over, that ride on bushings and this tool is gonna be great for that

and this is what I used to shave down the handle fastener bolts. Very simple, rudimentary even, but it does the job well enough. Just a little piece of bronze that's tapped and threaded, and a washer to shim it to width so the fastener ends up the right length

The pivot lap....can you tell me more? I've seen and heard of this but I don't get it.

It's for precision lapping the end of the pivot barrel, right? Or am I misunderstanding?

I never could understand why the pivot needed lapped on the end as it doesn't move/rub/wear on anything. What am I missing?

 

[mitch13]

Great work mate
Thanks for sharing

 

[Lorien]

The pivot lap....can you tell me more? I've seen and heard of this but I don't get it.

It's for precision lapping the end of the pivot barrel, right? Or am I misunderstanding?

I never could understand why the pivot needed lapped on the end as it doesn't move/rub/wear on anything. What am I missing?

you can also lap the stop pin. And by lap, I mean flatten the end. If you have a threaded pivot open at both ends, by lapping the ends after it's cut to length, the head of the bolt snugs up tight against it and won't loosen as easily. That's one thing I like about it. The other is the ability to fine tune the length to very close tolerance.

the puck has a set screw so that you can install different sized pivot holders, say .189 or .250. You put the pivot in the hole, stick the plunger in the top and use that to preload the pivot as you work the puck around in circles on your granite with whatever grit sandpaper you need

I think it works for bushings too, but I haven't tried it for that yet. Pretty cheap little tool that can help with some things

 

[Lorien]

time to work on the blade I guess

I've applied layout dye to the where the edge will be

the front of the handle's been traced with a marker, and I'm preparing to mark the edge on the granite block. I don't take measurements here, I just eyeball it, scribe the line and then flip it over and scribe again. The truth lies somewhere between the lines, which is good enough for me

like so

putting it all back together, you can get a good read on the tolerances which in this case are very close. The blade seems perfectly centered to me which is good news. Otherwise, I'd had to pull some grinder voodoo to make things look centred. Not my #1 option

layout dye about where the swedge will be. I deviated from this, but I think it's always good to start with symmetry and move toward chaos, as opposed to the other way round

I bought myself a radial platen recently, which I think approximates a 28" wheel. This is my first attempt at a hollow ground knife. The learning curve was STEEP!
here it is after my first pass with a 60 grit ceramic belt

working my way up to grits

I topped out at 150 grit, so now I'm on to die maker stones. I'm honestly not happy with how the grinding went, I mean it's serviceable and it was my first try at something new so I'm not busted up about it. What I learned, though, is that I need to figure out a solution to the hard face of the platen, as it leaves marks that are hard to find until later. Maybe a leather backing or a non woven belt. That would save me a lot of tedious hand work. S35VN is a pretty wear resistant steel, and with the cryo and slightly lowish tempering temperature, it's super hard. Should make for a nice, crispy edge

 

[Lorien]

on to the pocket clip;
I had some leftover titanium from another project, in just about the right size for a clip. Just drawing out a rough idea with a marker here

cut it down closer to size with the portaband

I wanted to use this aluminum dereilleur pulley bolt, but my tap is the wrong thread pitch for it. Here's a picture anyway

drilling a small pilot hole through all the things

holes been enlarged and the liner is tapped for 5mm- and I found an even better, titanium, dereilleur pulley bolt

one bolt is not enough for a pocket clip, you don't want the clip rotating out of position, so I drilled a second 2mm hole which will house a hidden pin

everything mounted up, it's looking good so far

mostly profiled out at this point, both sides flattened

starting to round things off, I want a nice smooth clip which feels good in the hand and won't wreck the pocket

the back side of the clip has been relieved, and thinned out enough so that it has some springiness to it

 

[Lorien]

working on the locking stuff;
I like the detente pilot hole to go all the way through, that way I can push the ball bearing out and adjust the depth of the hole it fits into. I'll drill a tiny bit, press the bearing in with pliers, eyeball it, push it back out, drill a little deeper, repeat...until the ball is sticking out enough to do its job. Most people would take measurements, and that's the smart way to do it, but this is all still so experimental for me that I find I work better when I just have at it. When I can afford to invest more in my tooling, there are all sorts of measuring devices I'd like to have but until then it's caveman engineering for me

the ball is just about deep enough in its pocket

using the same process I used to cut these slots, I've removed the last bit of material between the face face slot on the lock bar slot

with the knife assembled and snugged down, the lock bar face is scribed onto the tang

resulting in this very important little line

I approach the line gradually, holding the knife at a couple degrees from perpendicular. Again with the eyeballing- I want the ramp face to more or less match the arc that the lock bar. I leave extra material but not much. I have to remove the bulk of the material here, so that when I assemble the knife it more or less functions as it shouldj, (apart from locking up of course).

while applying pressure against the outside of the lock bar, it's pushed in while the lock bar relief is heated up. I use a shitty butane torch because it's what I have. Again, there's another tool that needs upgrading! It does work, though

here you can see the lock is beyond where it should be. But now that it's in position, I can apply heat and correct it. I'm aiming for it to swing to about halfway into the handle

 

[jfk1110]

 

[mitch13]

Very good you are getting there
Thanks for sharing.

 

[RayseM]

So I'm thinking to myself - how does he keep his phone/camera clean?

 

[Lorien]

the last part of the mechanism- the stop pin.
one of the other folding knives I made had a rotating stop pin as well. With that one, I did a cold fit; the stop pin was left in liquid nitrogen for a time to shrink it slightly and the idea was that it would stay put in the hole I drilled for it through friction alone. I learned that it didn't work out as planned, lol. So this time...straight to the epoxy

the inside of the hole was roughed up a little bit with a burr in my Dremel too, and the stop pin was also roughed up a bit with a cut off wheel. I used epoxy with toughener, and while I think it will hold up, only time will tell. This is one of the reasons that this knife is a prototype and will remain with me for testing

mapping out where I want my mark to be. I have a friend with a laser, and that's the way to go- for now

using a little double sided tape, the handle scales are attached to each other for sculpting

here the handle is rough shaped

then on to finishing out the blade. I'm not super happy with my grinding, that's a skill I'm still working hard to develop, so it is what it is.

the scales are mounted onto the liners for final sculpting. If you look close, you can see that I left material around the perimeter of the scales. I've made the mistake of not doing that in the past, which leads to the scale/liner transition being too abrupt, which created a situation where I have to modify the profile of the handle in order to fix a mistake. Design is supreme, in my book, and having to change any line in order to fix a mistake is something I try really really hard to avoid

 

[jfk1110]

Looking good!!!!