My attempt at a folder....

Self Made Knives

Self Made Knives

Well-Known Member
I'm working on my first folder, which also happens to be my fourth knife overall. I downloaded and sort of learned a free CAD program, Draftsight, for this project. If you're willing to try it, it sure beats paper templates for rotating your parts to see where stop pins and locks go.

My initial design was for a button lock auto, but even though it looked good on "paper", when I started trying to figure out spacing and clearance for the spring, my head started spinning. I quickly realized that I'm still a beginner, and I'd better back off and go with a liner lock first. I think I've already got one problem coming, let's see if any of you see it too.

Here's progress so far....

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That looks great for your first folder,,the one spacer screw looks to close to the edge,if that was your only mistake on your first folder be thankfull lol.the thing with folders is it takes less than one second to make a mistake,usually irreversible.
 
Ding, ding, ding! You nailed it, screws too close to edge. I drilled my pivot and thong holes, pinned them together, then drilled holes for screws. Looked fine when I profiled liners, that is, until I countersunk the screw holes. After some choice words, I considered scrapping them and starting over, but I figure I'll screw up something else too, so why not just continue on and call it a learning experience.

I made a solid backbone that acts as my stop for open and closed. I don't know if anybody does it like this, seems like most people are using pins.

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Mistakes happen,that's how most of us learn.I use stop pins with short back bars to cut weight,sometimes I even drill out the back bar.I think it makes cleaning easier too.
 
Bolsters?

I've never made a folder and I haven't used bolsters on a knife yet, so why not just double up, no sense playing it safe.

Roughed some out of copper and started shaping the thumb stud clearance. When I drew out this knife in CAD, it was going to be a button lock, so I never even checked to see if a thumb stud would work. Since its an afterthought, the only place for it that would clear, kind of stinks.

I think I'll have a problem with the 45 degree bevel on the bolsters when I start rounding the edges. I'm afraid where the wood meets the copper right at that point on the belly, it's going to look funny. We'll see...

The wood was cut from a chunk of what I was told is Brazilian Ironwood. It's pretty hard and polishes up nice. Did my initial rough grind, heat treating next.

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It's looking good as far as design and materials go.

It will be interesting to see what happens when you cut the lock face on your blade for the lock to bear against and how that works with your ball bearing detent and it's location.

That's where a lot of guys have issues with design and it's often overlooked. keep us posted!
 
Ball detent

I've already cut my lock and put about an 8 degree bevel on the blade side. It's working about like it should, I think. I put the detent in it too, again, seems to be about right. I also learned why they sell 1/16" ball bearings in packs of 25 or more. I swear, if you drop one, it must vaporize on contact with the floor.

Last pic, is the place I'm worried about coming out weird. If I radius the edge too much, it'll change the line on the side of the knife. I wish I'd made the bolsters go about a 1/4" past that point, then wouldn't be an issue at all. Still learning....

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I have discovered that the hard way. I've got 0.015 washers and my detent is at 0.020. It won't go any further bottomed out. Since then, I learned the trick about using washer as the depth stop. Oh well, maybe next time, but for now I went ahead and started cutting out a clearance space under the bolster and scale.

Parts are heat treated now and went back to the grinder up through 320 grit to bring my grind the rest of the way up. I'll finish it with hand sanding later, started roughing out the wood scales.

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Worked on knife a little tonight. It has 9 screws overall and of course they all have to be shortened a little. I think I dropped each of them at least twice, sending me to the floor with a flashlight looking for them a couple dozen times! Next folder I make, I'm going to order extra pivots, extra screws, extra washers, extra thumbstuds etc. Before I even start on the knife, I'm going to sprinkle all the extra parts on the floor, at least that way, maybe I can find what I need while I'm down there!
 
It's also a good idea to put all the screws in the same hole they came out of every time you take it apart and put it back together,that way they don't mysteriously get longer or shorter.
 
To thong or not to thong, that is the question...

To thong or not to thong, that is the question...

I put thong holes in my liners, haven't drilled them in the wood yet, kind of thinking it doesn't need them, not sure. I worked on the scales for a few minutes tonight, got them roughed out pretty close to where they'll end up. I think I'm going to switch to hand sanding from here on out, too afraid the grinder is going take a bite out somewhere.

Got strip of titanium to make a pocket clip, but can't figure out the best style or how to attach it with it looking stupid. Guess that was another thing I didn't include in my initial plan.

Overall, I'm not too happy with the knife. It's got so many mistakes, I keep wanting to scrap it and start on another one. But, then I argue with myself that I am learning a lot from the mistakes, so I keep going.

I've got a super busy week coming up and then we're going on vacation the week after, so I won't be working on the knife for the next 2 weeks. These will probably be the last in progress pictures of it. Next time I post pictures it should be with the finished knife.

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Finished!

Finally took the time to finish the knife today. I was really kind of down on it a couple weeks ago, but it ended up better than I thought it would. Not perfect, but not too bad for my first folder. Especially since it's also only my 4th finished knife too!

Recap: O1 blade and spacer, copper bolsters (salvaged from electrical buss bar), Brazilian ironwood (salvaged from a substation switch handle). Pivot, thumb stud, washers, etc. from Tracy's store.

Now I'm ready to make another!

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Good job - looks good. You've got a WIP here, be sure to post it to WIP thread. Good chance of winning.

Ken H>
 
KenH said:
Good job - looks good. You've got a WIP here, be sure to post it to WIP thread. Good chance of winning.

Ken H>
Click to expand...

Guess I don't know what you mean? Assuming WIP means "work in progress", but I didn't realize there was place I should've posted to. And, win what?
 
Your folder came out very nice for your first one. any mistakes you make are usually remembered, at least with me,cause it takes so long to fix them..if they can be. for dropping your screws, I use a piece of double sided tape inside a small box, that way you can place the screws on the tape as it comes apart, keeping them all timed. it's also handy to just put the box away while it's apart and everything stays put.
 
Oh, I see. Guess I would need to start a new thread over there and summarize the project? Can't see a way to move this whole thing to a different section.
 
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