Frame handle hunter WIP

J

jkf96a

Well-Known Member
Frame handle hunter WIP *now with finished product*

I like to do something challenging for my 50/100 knives. This one is number 300, so I thought I'd try a frame handle hunter. It's a fairly complex project relative to the knives I usually make, but I have all the prerequisite skills. I owe a lot of my knifemaking knowledge to internet WIP's, particularly from Wheeler and Bump in the case of this knife. I doubt anything here is original, but here goes....

If I'm doing a complex build, I always start on paper. I also make a few copies. I decided on the top knife in this picture.
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Looks pretty simple on paper, but it's not really. I'm using mild steel for the frame and guard. I plan to filework the frame and blue both the frame and the guard. The liners and pins will be 410 stainless, and the handle will be sambar. The blade is CM154. If I counted right, there will be 11 parts, maybe 13 if I put in all the pins.

Some folks use dykem or other layout fluid and scribe everything. I've found it easier and just as effective to use the drawing as the template. That's why I make copies. I cut out the part I'm making and superglue the paper to the steel. Works great!
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Here's the frame rough shaped. One thing I want to point out in this pic is that I left the front end of the frame long on purpose. You'll see why later.
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OK, I want to follow this thread - Since seeing the "Master's" thread on a frame handle I've been wanting to try one. Following this thread is going to help me learn.

Ken H>
 
There are a lot of people better at fitting guards than I am, but I've learned a few tricks from those guys as well. I use a glued on paper template for the guard shape as well. Folded and cut, it's symmetrical that way. The guard is 1/4 mild steel left over from my grinder build. Waste not, want not.
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Notice I center punched a row for drilling. The blade is 3/16, so I used a 5/32 drill. I don't have a mill, but Harvey Dean pointed me toward a way to make the guard fitting much easier, even without a mill. I envy Nick Wheeler's method of milling the slot oversized except for a thin area that contacts the blade. I can't be that precise without a mill, but I can use the same principle. After I drill my initial row of 5/32 holes, I run a 1/4 bit through the same holes, leaving about 1/32 of steel left at the bottom of the hole. Like Nick's way, it gives me less steel to file for the actual fitup. Here's a pic of the holes from the top, before I started filing.
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I file the guard to fit fairly close, then I peen the face of the guard to roll the edges back in toward the guard slot. Then I drive the guard on for final fit. I used to struggle with how to hammer a guard on, till I found a piece of pipe and it all got much easier.
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Here's the final guard fitup, before I clean up the face of the guard. Notice the peening I was talking about. Fitup is pretty good at this point.
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Now that I have the frame roughed in and the guard fitted, it's time to fit the frame and guard together. I went with the Bruce Bump method of fitting tabs on the frame into slots on the guard. I don't have a separate pic of the guard slots, but you can see them later on in the sequence. First I set up the frame squarely in my file guide. This is a Bump file guide, BTW.
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Then I file the frame down to fit the slots in the guard. You end up with a square joint because of the file guide. Here's the final product in this step. The nubs on the end of the frame fit into the slots on the back of the guard.
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Once the frame and guard are fitted, it's time for the liners. I rough cut them on my band saw, then superglue the whole stack (frame, liner, liner) together for drilling. The glue held well, so I didn't have to fool much with pins and clamps as I drilled, other than to clamp the stack to my drill press table.
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For squaring up the face of the liners to fit up against the guard, it's back to the file guide. I used the frame to scribe where the file guide should go.
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Here's the guard, frame, and liners all fit up.
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After that, I superglued the liners to the stag pieces and rough shaped the stag. That's where I stopped for today. Here are a couple pics of today's product, dry fit.
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Even with no glue or clamps yet, everything fits pretty well because I took so much time making sure everything was squared up.
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Not sure if I will work on this tomorrow or not, but I still have to drill and final fit the stag, pre-assemble and polish everything to final grit, filework the frame, blue the guard and frame, and put it all together. Likely at least another half day's work, but probably more like a full day.
 
Looking good Jason - you are making me brave.... maybe a frame handle will be one of my goals for 2014. BTW, that vine file work tutorial on your website is good - I plan to try that also.

Thank you for all the WIP - they really help folks like me.

Ken H>
 
Thanks, Ken. I learned a large percentage of what I know from WIP's on here and Bladeforums, figured I'd give back a little. Or maybe just regurgitate the genius of the guys I learned from :)

Haven't decided yet what to do with the filework. Thinking maybe vine or double cut wave on the frame, but my brother's trying to talk me into fileworking the liners and leaving the frame just blued. Either would be good...
 
Very Cool!
I love the Benton Hendry Vincent/Bump file guide shots!
Anxious to see the finished knife
 
I decided to filework the liners instead of the frame, after looking at a bunch of frame handle knives last night. Got the liners done, the handle shaped, and everything polished. Next is cleanup and bluing of the frame and guard. I'm taking pics as I go, likely have some more up tonight.
 
Alright, folks, here we go...

After church and lunch I started back on the project. I shaped the handle material and got everything polished out. The key to the operation was the pins in the handle that held the handle together, and two tiny drops of superglue on the ears of the frame to hold the blade and guard in place. The superglue was enough to hold it while I got everything polished. Here's a shot of all the pieces. I decided against the thong hole as in the original design.
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The next step was to filework the liners. Two tricks to show here. First I pinned and superglued (just a couple of drops) the liners together. Then I did both sides on the outside. If you do them together, it is much easier to make sure everything lines up. After I did the first two sides, I switched them around and did the other two sides. Here's a shot of the liners as I started.
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I used a 1/8 round tapered file, and the corner of a half round out of my needle file set. Those tiny files are hard on the hands. I went through a time several years ago when I stopped doing filework altogether, because my thumb and first two fingers would go numb and stay that way for days. The solution was to use handles on my files, and the fastest, cheapest, easiest thing I found: golf balls. You can drill different sized holes for different files. The needle file in the pic is one I used on this project, and the other is one I use for fitting guards.
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The next step after the liners was to brown the frame and guard. I've never done this before, but I followed the directions on the bottle. I used Birchwood Casey plum brown. The basic idea is to heat the fittings to 275 degrees and apply the plum brown with a cotton swab. Multiple applications are recommended. I did about 10, as I was still splotchy after the first 6. I used my heat treat oven as the heat source, and I put a couple of thin pieces of wire through the holes of the fittings so I could hold them easier.
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Here's a few pics of the whole thing dry fit after the fittings were brown. Getting close....
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I decided to glue it up in two stages. I glued up the handle pieces first. After that dries a while, I'll glue up the guard and blade. I roughed up the liners, stag, and frame with some 60 grit prior to glue up. Sure made me nervous with that coarse paper around an almost-finished knife! Here's the glued up pic, where I'm stopping for tonight.
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I'm still watching and learning from this thread...... I'll be on road tomorrow and won't really have net access until Wed night. I WILL be checking in Wed night, Good Lord willing and creek don't rise:)

Good work,

Ken H<>
 
I finished it up last night about 10:30, but had a kids' Christmas party this evening and couldn't get pics shot before dark. I'm travelling tomorrow, but will try and get some pics up Wednesday.
 
I didn't get to take good pics yet, but did shoot a short video of the completed knife, and I found a couple more progress pics to show.

I wanted to show a couple of pics of my glue-up jig. When a knifemaker passes unexpectedly, his wife is left to deal with all his knifemaking stuff. This jig came from the estate of another maker. I purchased a bunch of his equipment, and this jig was thrown in. The basic idea is that the front end clamps the blade, while the back end has a threaded rod to apply pressure on the butt of the knife. Since this knife is so far along, I padded everything with leather for the final glue up.

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Finally finished :)

[video=youtube_share;AY6z6iU2kJg]http://youtu.be/AY6z6iU2kJg[/video]
 
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