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BossDog

KnifeDogs.com & USAknifemaker.com Owner
Staff member
I love an auto. my EDC is nearly always a Protech or Microtech.

Let's see yours.

Let's finally crack this enigma and get decent pictures of the insides of auto's and assisted openers and teach every one how they work and how to make them...
 
I have loved auto's since I was a child. I still do but don't trust them as an EDC unless they are a Double Action. Reason being I don't carry them besides the fact that they are illegal where I live is that they always fail. I have auto's by the best mfg's in the business and at one time or another the spring has broken.
I wish someone would make an Auto where the spring can hold up. Is it possible?
 
dumb knife laws

Laws sure funny (not funny ha, ha, funny like who dreams these things up?) In Tennessee the knife law says that a knife with a blade not over 4" is not considered a weapon so is not an illegal carry knife. So I carry a fixed blade with a blade that is exactly 4" long. (see the top knife in this picture.) Switch blades and by extension gravety, assisted openers, etc. are illegal because they are so readly deployable, but my fixed blade is ok. I usually don't say anything about this because I don't want to tell them that they missed something.
 

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I have loved auto's since I was a child. I still do but don't trust them as an EDC unless they are a Double Action. Reason being I don't carry them besides the fact that they are illegal where I live is that they always fail. I have auto's by the best mfg's in the business and at one time or another the spring has broken.
I wish someone would make an Auto where the spring can hold up. Is it possible?

I carried a Protech Godson and / or a Microtech Scarab for years. Never had a miss fire or break. Not once. I recently got a Godfather in a trade and have carried it of and on. It has not miss fired or broke. What brands are you carrying that are breaking?
 
I carried a Protech Godson and / or a Microtech Scarab for years. Never had a miss fire or break. Not once. I recently got a Godfather in a trade and have carried it of and on. It has not miss fired or broke. What brands are you carrying that are breaking?

You named it. I guess it all depends on how many times you open it as each time weakens the steel. I tend to play with them and open them often.
 
Maybe it's just luck of the draw?

It happened on 6 of them. I must say that the manufacture was very accommodating and changed the springs for me. I have no problem with the manufacturers as it is they nature of those kind of knives. My point to all this is that in an emergency I don't feel comfortable with an auto unless it is a DA.
 
I have never had one of my springs break.
Wayne- Tenn. state law says that any knife OVER 4 inches is illegal to carry.
If anyone has questions about the guts of autos, I'll be happy to answer them.
 
Let's finally crack this enigma and get decent pictures of the insides of auto's and assisted openers and teach every one how they work and how to make them...


OK Boss, I'm with ya 2thumbs

I've spent hours looking for detailed info & pics regarding auto & assisted auto mechanisms, all to no avail :rolleyes:
Excluding button locks, where schematics and info is everywhere, there seems to be very little info available.

I'm looking forward to (hopefully) examination and discussion of some more complex mechanisms :)


:cool: :cool:
 
Bill DeShivs is your man,.. if it exists, hes probably rebuilt one or five of them.
As for pix of autos,rare,custom,insides,etc.. either he or I will have a shot of it.
 
Raguel-
Speaking of pix, do you happen to have pix of the engraved, MOP, gold plated AK47 auto I did for Dood?
BTW, guys-Raguel has a CD for sale with thousands of auto pictures!
 
attachment.php


Do I have pix,ppphhhht,lolol.

Above is a one off, customed auto known to collectors as a type "AK47" Made by Bill DeShivs , this one is engraved,gold plated,MOP scales, heat blued button n screws,etc.
and lives in the frozen north.

** Now take note , NO these were NEVER actually made from AK47 parts,.. the only thing several of us who have dissected these could ever even come CLOSE too was the spring, and even that wasnt correct to any variant of AK we could find.
But, they ARE hard to find, and make a nice addition to a collection as a complete oddity.
 
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Oh yeah, before we ever even get there, lets have the regular gentlemans agreement from all over autoknife forums folks,.. NEVER discuss country to country shipping methods, how to get around customs laws, etc.
Thats just a bad idea all around.
Yes the laws governing autos are draconian and silly as all heck. But as it stands, they are a terrificly fun item to collect,but frowned upon by the powers at the top.
Lets keep that in mind and not mess up a good thing :)
 
-Raguel has a CD for sale with thousands of auto pictures!

Pics of just the knives or pics of the knives and their internal mechanisms ?
If so, I would like to hear more cool 1

Oh yeah, before we ever even get there, lets have the regular gentlemans agreement from all over autoknife forums folks,.. NEVER discuss country to country shipping methods, how to get around customs laws, etc.
Thats just a bad idea all around.
Yes the laws governing autos are draconian and silly as all heck. But as it stands, they are a terrificly fun item to collect,but frowned upon by the powers at the top.
Lets keep that in mind and not mess up a good thing :)

As my daughter would say ...... "I pinky promise" ;)

Try this one.

Now that's cool ! Is that your work Bill ?

Lets take it apart :D huh1



:unsure:
 
It is very interesting that auto knife springs break. Valve springs in an engine cycle about 12.5 times per second at 1500 rpms. THey tend to last over 100,000 miles. Not sure how many cycles that would be, depends on gearing. I doubt that many people can cyle their auto knives in one year to equal the cyles one valve spring gets in a day. Do you think that makers should be taking lessons from Detroit? A rebound spring in a pistol compresses to near max over 2,000 times before it shows much change. I am making some assisted openers with gun spring wire. Maybe these will last longer. My guess is that the knife spring manufacturers do not use the quality of materials that car and gun companies do.
Chip Kunkle
 
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