my first slipjoint

Heck yeah. I've seen a few with micarta bolsters. I'd still peen it, but also put some super glue on those bolsters. I've found that gorilla glue on folders for handle material and bolsters that are non metal is awesome.

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Thats the way to find out how they work. I have disassembled slippys and used the parts for a template
 
How would a guy with very basic shop tools create a nail nick in the blade? Assuming a nail nick is necessary....
 
You can make a simple nail nick a couple of ways. First, you could go at it with a hand held Dremal tool. You'll have to have a steady hand to get it cut in straight and clean. Second, you can chuck up an abrasive cutter in a drill press and clamp your blade in a small vise that you can use to slide past the cutter.

I would say you should have a nick in a slip joint folder. Unless you get the tension just right it will be hard to open the blade.

Erik
 
Making a clean nail nick with home shop equipment was daunting for me. If the nail nick looks cheesy, well... Anyway what I did was use my drill press with a Dremel cutoff wheel. The important thing is to have your blade firmly clamped in a drill press vice and make sure that the vice is clamped so that you can control how deep the nick is and how long you want it. Once that Dremel wheel grabs the blade it is very difficult to control the blade so that you have a nick that is an even depth, etc. Here's a picture of the set up.

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Here's a picture of the knife further along.

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I learned while making this knife that I should use a new cutoff wheel for the last few passes. It makes the cut sharper and the nick look cleaner.

Also, if you decide to use steel liners, you can use your electro etcher to relieve them. Here's a picture of the parts to a knife I posted in this sub forum showing the relief I did with the etcher and a nail nick made as I've described.

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Using the etcher is genius. Do you make a stencil, or is it okay to use a contact pad with small area and work your way around with it? Those are some pretty clean lines- I'm thinking you masked it off somehow.
 
John Wilson said:
Using the etcher is genius. Do you make a stencil, or is it okay to use a contact pad with small area and work your way around with it? Those are some pretty clean lines- I'm thinking you masked it off somehow.
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I used scotch tape as th resist and cut the pattern when the tape was on the blade. Then I removed the tape where I wanted the etch. I wish I had used colored tape. It would have been easier to see the pattern I was cutting with the exacto knife. Once masked with the resist, I set the etcher to max and etched and etched and etched, stopping often to clean the pad, until enough material was removed.
 
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So if I am looking at this correctly you taped off the area and the area, ahead, below and behind the pivot was removed by use of the etcher! Is that correct, Sticks???




Sticks said:
I used scotch tape as th resist and cut the pattern when the tape was on the blade. Then I removed the tape where I wanted the etch. I wish I had used colored tape. It would have been easier to see the pattern I was cutting with the exacto knife. Once masked with the resist, I set the etcher to max and etched and etched and etched, stopping often to clean the pad, until enough material was removed.
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Never heard of that, (using and etcher to create a relief)! :les: Now there is one to think about!!! Where there is a will, there is a way!! I have given thought to the relief of a slipjoint and I do not have a mill so I can see what you accomplished and, "it works"!
 
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C Craft,

Yes! Whatever doesn't have tape on it will etch. And scotch tape, the shiny kind (probably any plastic tape would work), is a resist so the etcher won't remove anything covered by it. After a while the heat of etching builds up and the glue begins to let go. I'd practice on a piece of scrap.

I went to the local craft store hoping I could find some pre-cut round tape "thingies" that I could stick over the pivot hole for a more finished look, because cutting a circle is difficult, but couldn't find any.

The reason I did this was because I used 304 SS for the liners. It is cheap but not "free machining" meaning that it was difficult to mill the relief. I'm lucky to have a friend with a mill, also a fellow knife maker", and we ripped up a set of liners trying to mill them. So, after looking at how deep an etch you can make with a stencil I thought this might work. But, I does take a while.
 
Thanks for the info and thanks J Leclair for allowing me this moment in your tread to ask questions! It is never my intention to take over someone else's thread but, at times you hear info you just have to take that moment to ask a question, or sometime that opportunity gets lost. I intend soon to take a stab, (pardon the pun) at my first slip joint so any info I can glean along the way goes into the ole memory bank!
 
No problem man. That's a really good tip I would have never thought to try relieving the liners with my electro etched. And without a mill relieving the liners wasn't going to happen. Now I might give it a try.
 
Hey all, I've been busy with fixed blade orders so haven't had much time to work on this project but today I got the nail nick cut in with a diamond cutoff wheel and a dremel mandrel from home Depot in my drill press. Cut a very nice clean nail nick thanks for the tip :) also got the blade sanded and the back of the spring shaped. I think its ready to go out to heat treat on Monday.
 
Just heard from the heat treaters and they are telling me that they are unable to temper 154cm down below 56-57 is this going to be ok?
 
Is there any way I can temper it lower myself? I know I have seen others use 154cm for blade and spring so it must be possible to temper it lower somehow....
 
J.Leclair said:
Just heard from the heat treaters and they are telling me that they are unable to temper 154cm down below 56-57 is this going to be ok?
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I don't really understand why they wouldn't be able to go lower than that. Tempering at 1100F to 1200F should take it somewhere around 50HRC according to this chart:
154CM-TC.gif
 
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