How I build a custom knife

[Blade]

Hello,

I will cover the steps that I go through to build a custom knife in the following pics.

The first few pics show how I lay out my parts, If I don't have a steel pattern I will use a printout or copy of a cad drawing or a hand drawn picture. I cut and spray glue the drawing to the material, in this case .125 titanium. The process to make the blade is the same as the handles or scales, I already had this blade made and heat treated, so that process will have to be shown in a future post.

[Blade]

The next pics show how I clean up the blade on the disc sander to remove the burs left by the saw. Then I mark the holes with a punch and drill with a 1-72 tap drill.

[Blade]

I drill the front side first or in this case the back because this will be a left handed knife which means that it is set up with the lock to be pushed by the left hand thumb so it is on the right hand scale. Then using small vice grips I clamp the two scales together and drill the second one using the first as a pattern. While I was drilling the second scale I broke the drill, the second pic shows the tool that I used to remove the broken piece which you can see in the third pic .

[Blade]

The next step is to tap the holes on the lock side scale, I use a tapmatic for this step but hand tapping works just as well just use a guide and you wont have any problems. Then I clearance drill and countersink the holes in the front for flathead screws.

[Blade]

Alright, it's getting late so I will show the next few steps and then cal it quits for now.

After the countersinks are done I screw the two scales together, then I drill and ream the for a 7/32 pivot pin which is the pin that the blade swings on. After that hole is done I place a try pin in it to hold the two halves steady and drill and ream the stop pin hole for either a 9/64 or 5/32 pin. The stop pin is what the blade opens and closes against.

[fluxcored]

Wow! Very informative and I like the pics detailing each step. Can't wait to see the rest.

[Rob.Wilson]

Nice one Blade   

Looking forward to seeing some more ,,,,,,,,,, very interesting 


Do you sell the knifes you make ?


Rob 

[Divided he ad]

Blade,


I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued.... I'm waiting to see about the spring. Always wondered how, what material and how to get it working properly?

Just one of those things, I've had a penknives since I was a kid. Always useful. Just current muppets over here are making it difficult to own a penknife without getting looked down upon for doing so? (different topic all together!    )


Still, looking forward to a good description of that bit 




Ralph.

[Blade]

Hi Rob,
Yes I make the knives to sell. It started as a hobby and turned into a business. A big plus is it allows me to get all the tools

Hi Ralph,
If the pic or link works here is how the lock will work, this knife doesn't use a spring on the tang of the blade it uses a lock cut out of the liner or scale.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1126.snc4/148833_130774430309047_100001294710363_172305_2318228_n.jpg

[Blade]

I will show how to set up the lock and cut it and how to make the lock face, which is where the lock contacts the blade when I get to that step. The fit is very important to the function of the lock, if the two parts are out of alignment you will either have a lock that slips or a lock that sticks so bad you can't unlock it.

[Divided he ad]

Aww... No spring 


No matter.... I'll be watching to see how this is done too.... Everything that someone else crafts is teaching material 

I'll not promise to remember it all....(don't have to, it's on 'ere)  But I'll recall some detail someday when I'm stuck doing something     







Ralph.

[Blade]

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued.... I'm waiting to see about the spring. Always wondered how, what material and how to get it working properly?

[/quote]

I can answer this question for you even though this knife doesn't use a spring. On most slipjopint knives with a spring the material is usually the same as the blade and you just heat treat it to a slightly lower hardness than the blade. The way that you adjust the tension is by removing material from the spring on the inside of the knife. The shape of the end or tang of the blade also plays a role in how the blade opens and closes, there are points that work like cams to make the blade "walk and talk" which is the snap right when it is full opened or closed. I attached a very basic drawing that I found on the web. 

[Brass_Machine]

Oh I love this. Very interesting... Like seeing the process. Can't wait for it to be finished.

Tell me about that drill press?

Eric

[Blade]

The drill press is  a turret made by Burgmaster, by pushing backwards on the handle you can switch to the next drill bit, there are 6 chucks. The head moves clockwise so I have my drill bits in order starting with an 0-80 tap drill then 1-72 and 2-56 drills. I also have two countersinks for 0-80 and 1-72 screws. I have three of them two are model 0-b and one is a model 1-d, the 0-b's are 1/4" capacity and the 1-d is 1/2" capacity. They are great machines for knifemaking because I don't have to change bits all of the time between different sizes.

[Blade]

OK, here are some more photos. The next pictures show how I profile the handles on the flat platten on my belt grinder. This is done on an 80 grit ceramic belt and I grind close to my marks but leave a bit for finishing with the finer belts. The third picture show the profiled parts.

[Blade]

The next step is to make a couple of washers out of black toughened nylon. I use a couple of different cutters to punch out the washers. Then I place the two washers on the sides of the blade and measure to determine the thickness of the stop pin center section and the backspacer or standoffs which are held between the scales by the three screws.

The last two pics show 3/16" 416 stainless in the lathe being turned for a stop pin. On this type of knife I use a shouldered or stepped stop pin because there is nothing to retain the pin.

[Blade]

The next photos show the knife assembled to check where it needs adjustment, as you can see in photo 24 the blade doesn't open far enough so I took it to the grinder to remove a little material. Photo 27 shows the result, the amount of material that you remove can quickly change the position of the blade so you have to be careful not to remove too much, I am also using an 80 grit belt so I need to leave a bit for finishing.

Photos 28 and 29 show the same procedure as I adjust the knife for the closed position.

Well it is late so these will be the last photos for the night.

Thanks for all of the interest, please keep any questions coming.

[Divided he ad]

Thank you for the Drawing... Suppose if I hadn't been so busy (or idle?) I could have found similar myself?   


It is a very nice set-up you have there, as Eric pointed out... The drill/s are cool 


Very good of you to provide so many pic's, I might one day give something of this sort a try.... It'll be a one off I assure you. I'm not really into the production run kind of stuff. Makes my hobby seem more like a job! 




I note you haven't got the Quote thing down yet.

Just as a bit of help, if it has you perplexed.

The way I do it is :-



Start a reply as you always do.

Scroll down to the bit I want to quote. (it's usually in the few posts listed in the topic summary below. )

I highlight the phrase I wish to use, using the left mouse button and dragging the cursor across the words.

Then I right click on the highlighted box and click on copy.

I then return to the reply box above and right click in the position I want the text and click paste

Then drag the cursor across the text to highlight it and then click the quote box (second in from the right in the lower set of boxes, looks like a speech bubble with 3 lines in it)

Once it has put the [ quote ] things either side of your selected words (this bit's important) click the left mouse button anywhere on the screen. If you touch ANY key it will erase the highlighted area! 


Hope that's not too complicatedly written?  Once you have done it once or twice it's quick and easy 




Alternatively, just write [ quote ] and then everything after it is in a quote box, till you write [ /quote ] .... Just remove the spaces I've put in between the word quote and the [ thingamajigs!



Oh yer.... Always click the Preview button too, good to check what you're about to post!








Ralph. 

[johnbaz]

Hi Ralph

Have a look here, it the (british) home of custom knife making

http://www.britishblades.com/forums/forum.php



John


EDIT- DOH!!!!- sorry, i forgot to say, Very nice work Blade that's a smashing linerlock


.

[Rob.Wilson]

Great stuff Blade 

Enjoying the thread 


Rob 

[Divided he ad]

John,

Nice site... Although I'm sure it has all the details I want, it's huge and would take hours finding out the details I seek.... and I'm feeling a bit over worked and possibly lazy 
 
Not to mention my literature induced narcolepsy        


I think my time is best spent asking our new resident expert for now 




Ralph.

[Blade]

I think my time is best spent asking our new resident expert for now 




Ralph.

Cool! I have been on forums forever but I don't think I have seen the quote set up like that before. Hope I have it worked out now. Thanks for the help!


Thanks to everyone who has checked out my thread, I will be adding some more soon.

[Divided he ad]

Thanks to everyone who has checked out my thread, I will be adding some more soon.

Looking forward to it 



I've been on very few forums, mainly cause I really like the people on this one 






Ralph.

[Blade]

Time for a little update.

In the first pic I am removing some material from the inside of the handle, it was a little too wide at that section and I didn't like the way it looked. I am using a horizontal grinder to do this step, this is a machine that I built out of some spare grinding wheels that I had.

The second pic shows my setup for cutting the standoffs which are the spacers that go between the handle scales, these pieces are cut to the same thickness as the blade and the washers combined, so in this case they are .165 and I need three of them. They are cut by using a bit in the tailstock as a stop for the 3/16" titanium, I then butt the parting tool against my stop and advance it .215 which is the thickness of my standoffs plus the thickness of my parting tool. Then I just part off and check my part, if it is off I adjust for the difference and then just advance the material into the stop again and cut the rest of the parts. By doing it this way I never have to move my parting tool. In the next picture I am center drilling my parts and the final pic shows a drill chuck I use to finish drilling them all the way through. This chuck has a base on it so that I can stand it up on the drillpress.

[Blade]

Two more pics for the night.

The next picture shows the liners assembled with the standoffs, these parts have to be all the same dimension or you will have a problem with the blade being off center and hitting the sides or binding and not opening and closing smoothly.

The other picture is of some little boxes i make on the mill for handling parts as I am working on them, the two compartment box is nice when you are polishing screws or some other repetetive steps because as you finish a part you just transfer it to the opposite side.

[Blade]

OK, haven't updated in a bit so here are some more pics.

My blade has some scratches that I want to remove before I move on so I will clean these up by lapping. I like to use thick plates of glass with wet and dry sandpaper for this. I just spray glue the paper so that it stays flat on the glass. This blade had some deep scratches and a tiny bit of warping so I hit it a bit on the lapmaster to save a bit of elbow grease, if it was worse or I wanted to thin it down a bit I would surface grind it. The last photo shows the finished blade.

[Blade]

The next steps shown are cutting the lock, the first picture shows the scale in the mill vice, you can see where I used a marker to lay out where I want the lock. I make the long cut first and then I stand the scale on end and back it up with a piece of steel so that it doesn’t flex and cut the short side on the lock. The nest two pictures show the finished lock and the scale being set up so that I can mill the relief on the side so that the lock is not too stiff.

I use a 1/16” HSS jewelers saw to cut the lock, you just have to be sure to run it at the slowest speed on the mill or it will melt the teeth right off of it. High feed rates can burn them up also. 

[Powder Keg]

Looking good! Thanks for the update

[raynerd]

Really excellent thread... !! Thanks for the all the pics and details.

[Rob.Wilson]

Great stuff  Blade 


Rob

[Brass_Machine]

Great stuff.

Next summer I am thinking about trying this. Great inspiration blade.

Eric

[Blade]

Thanks Guys!

Give it a try Eric, if you have any questions feel free to contact me.

The next photos show the setup for milling the side of the lock. I use a ˝” 4  flute carbide bit for this step. I like to mill away about a half inch long section, I usually take the thickness down to about .060. the middle two photos show the finished cut on the scale.

The last photo shows how I lay out for the detent ball. This is what holds the blade closed. I lay out the area that I want the ball to be in by using the blade as a pattern, I want the ball to stay on the edge of  the circular area that is by the pivot pin.

[Blade]

Next up I drill the scale with a #55 drill so that I can press in a 1/16” hardened stainless ball bearing., photo 51 shows the ball pressed in place. The next photo shows the scale in a vice and the “special” tool for bending the lock, the tool is a scrap of aluminum with a slot cut in it to go over the titanium and give you leverage to bend it, you can see the bent lock in the pic 54. I like to bend the lock so that the outside edge just meets the inside edge.

The next photo shows my setup for grinding the lockface on the blade, this is the area where the lock engages the blade when it is open. I like to set up the face so that when you lay a flat edge across the radius made by the wheel it measures at about 7 – 8 degrees. If you make this area too flat the lock will slide over it and if it is too steep pressure on the back of the blade will push the lock off and release the blade allowing it to close. The last pic shows the lock in the assembled knife, right now there is very little engagement, I do that so that I can do the finish work on the blade and not worry about having the lock travel too far over. I don’t like a lock to go any further than the center of the blade when it is set, this allows for wear as the knife gets used.

[Divided he ad]

Very interesting Eddie 

Lots of techniques that can be transferred to other jobs.

I do however think your blade looks a little blunt in the second to last pic 


 

Looking forward to seeing it all come together 




Ralph.

[johnbaz]

WOW!!

What a fantastic tutorial 

Folders take much more work (and precision) than fixed blade knives and this looks like it's going to be something special


Cheers, John

[Blade]

It has been a long time since I have updated this project log, I guess I should get it done being the knife is pretty much finished.

Photos 55 56 show how I lay out the end of the tang to place the detent ball hole. I use a sharpie marker to show me the track of the detent ball by marking the blade and assembling the knife and opening and closing it, then I carefully punch at the end of the track with a carbide punch and drill a hole with a #54 carbide drill. This hole and the detent ball in the lock are what holds the blade closed.

Photos 57 58 59 show the layout, the tool and the final result of putting in the releif for accessing the lock. These releifs allow you to have space between the liners for your finger or thumb to be able to unlock the knife and close it.

Photo 60 shows how I use a carbide faced micrometer to mark the center of my blade in preperation for grinding. I offset from center a bit so that I end up making two lines by sliding the mic along each side of the blade.

[Blade]

Photos 61 through 66 show my blade grinding jig and how I grind the blade. The jig is basically a hinge with a mounting plate that has threaded holes for securing the blade and two adjustment screws one for setting the height and one to change the height of the blade. You start with the jig set so that the grinder is just touching what will be the cutting edge, grind down close to the center line and start adjusting the height screw to adjust the blade as the edge is ground in.

Photo 65 shows how the grind looks when you make an adjustment but have not finished the grind, what I hope you can see is that there is a ridge or incomplete grind and the surface is not smooth and even. in photo 66 the completed grind you can see that all of the surface flows together and is even and doesn't have any ridges or odd lines.

[Blade]

Photos 68 - 70 show the thumb studs that I made on the lathe out of 1/8" stainless and a piece of 1-72 screw thread. In photo 70 I have the studs mounted in an extra drill chuck and I'm using a checkering file to create a pattern on the end of the studs so that they grab on your thumb when you go to open the blade. Photo 71 shows the knife just about complete, all it lacks is rounding over the handles and finishing everything. this knife will get a tumbled finish, which is nice because it is nondirectional and covers scratches from use very well.

[Blade]

This looks really great!

 

Thanks, this is pretty simple compared to your work 

[Divided he ad]

@ Kenneth :  Thanks, this is pretty simple compared to your work

Doesn't look that simple to me!  Looks like a lot of hard work!


Most definitely great though   




So many tips and tricks shown here Eddie. Very good of you to show how some of the jobs are completed   


I know you probably will but a final (finished)  pic is still required 






Thank you for a very informative well presented thread   (trying to commit much of it to memory  )






Ralph.

[Blade]

Here is a picture of the finished knife I can add more later if anyone is interested.

[ieezitin]

Blade.

I have been looking at this thread with interest and I believe you have produced a very special piece using a multitude of skills coupled with some tailor made equipment which through your hands works wonders.   Hats off to you very nice work and I have learned some things that are of use to me and my shop.
If you would be so kind could you photo a close up of the stamp and the side of the blade so I can see it better.


Happy days……..    Anthony.

[Blade]

Thank you for the kind words Anthony. I posted a couple more pictures, I think photo74 shows what you were asking for. I mark my blades with a pantograph.

[Divided he ad]

That's really, really nice Eddie.

Looks proper professional with the engraving on the blade too 



If I could ask one (possibly final) question?

What is the finish on the scales?  You might well have said this and I've missed it... My brian is not so good at the details these days! 



Again... Very,very nice looking knife. Excellent thread 






Ralph.

[Blade]

Hello Ralph, the finish is a tumble finish with coarse ceramic media. I buffed the handles after I shaped them and then ceramic bead blasted them before tumbling.

[Divided he ad]

Ahh, I shall have to investigate such finishes in the future. It's most effective 


Thank you.





Ralph.

[Blade]

The great thing about this finish is that it is pre-scratched and the finish is non directional so it handles use and abuse well.

[Divided he ad]

If I made that chief I'd be showing it off to everyone and keeping it wrapped in a cloth so it couldn't get scratched!! Well, at least for the first few months    

I'd probably use it sometimes.... Certainly not abuse it   






Ralph.