IKBS questions

Ron Bendele

Well-Known Member
On the 'IKBS Making Of' page at http://www.ikbsknifetech.com/11/1504.html they speak of using an optional washer. Does anyone use a washer? If you do, where do you get it and what size is it?

On another thread Les Voorhies says to use the following counterbores:

"1/8" pivots use 1/4" CB, 3/16" pivot uses 5/16" CB and 1/4" uses 3/8"."

Michael Burch added:

"I use 7/32 pivots ... and use an 11/32 counterbore."

I typically use the 7/32 pivot, but have used and have 1/8 and 3/16 as well. I assume the washers would need to be different for each.
 
Those are basically seals, I ignored them for a long time because they didn't seem to be necessary (to me anyways) but I'm rethinking that now. Some one ask me how would the IKBS hold up in sandy conditions like in Iraq, I had to tell him I didn't know but I thought there could be problems if the bearing weren't sealed. I've been playing around with making the seals out of Nylatron and it seems to work well but slows the blade down a little bit, I'm going to try teflon in the near future. I use cheap hole punches that I got from Harbor freight and cut the OD 1st then go back and cut the ID to just larger than the track that the balls make. I cut my counterbore about .050 deep then when the balls have made their track in the titanium it leaves me with just over .010 clearance between the blade and the liners, so a .010 washer should be perfect.

I hope that helps.
 
Thank you for taking the time to answer Les. I had not thought about the balls making a track in the titanium. By your answer it appears that they leave a track depth of .0025. I use .015 washers, so I should counterbore to .045 deep. The 1/16" balls are .0625" = .045 (CB) + .0025 (track) + .015 (washer). Do they generally leave a track that deep in the titanium or does their depth depend on something?
 
You can make a deeper track and remember that I'm making educated guestimates on the track depth, I don't actually have a way to measure that. What Flavio Ikoma does is he clamps the assembled knife at the pivot area with wood blocks in a vice and slowly cranks down on the vise while turning the blade and makes an even deeper track for the balls. I've been playing around with Flavio's method but I haven't actually started doing it on the knives I'm making yet. Just adjust the formula to fit the way you make them.

Have you finished an IKBS knife and had it checked out yet? If you can make it to the Blade show I think Flavio will be there and he can give you all kinds of pointers.
 
I haven't made one yet. I am right now making a knife with Tracy & Dave's micro roller bearings. The next knife I want to make is with the IKBS to see what the difference is in both manufacturing and use. Duane Weikum of EDC knives responded to my licensing request - he asked that I send a prototype to them for evaluation. I have a table at the Blade show so if Flavio is there I will be asking him questions and hopefully have a knife for him to evaluate.

I wonder if using Flavio's method of creating the tracks while the washer is in place would be good for covering up any mistakes in counterboring depth. Or even for insuring the washer is a perfect fit.
 
I wonder if using Flavio's method of creating the tracks while the washer is in place would be good for covering up any mistakes in counterboring depth. Or even for insuring the washer is a perfect fit.

I would think thats very possible.
 
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