Swayback Wharncliffe How To
- Thread starter Bruce Bump
- Start date
Bruce Bump
Forum Owner-Moderator
After the ivory scales on glued in place I drilled the center and real holes to 3/32" and ran a 2 degree taper through the ivory so when I put the center pin through it wont have any side pressure on the tender ivory. I have to double check the tapers on all the holes later but right now its easy to crack the ivory from driving the center pin in and out. Notice the center pin has a long taper on it? That really helps to install it as the spring has a good deal of pressure on it.
I laid out and drilled the 1/16" holes for the front pins. They hold the scales on. Lay out the holes from the back side so you dont drill right into the milled relieved area. Use a center punch but be careful to not strike it too hard and crack the ivory.
I used a pencil in my drill press because I couldnt find a wooden dowell (dont turn it on) and cranked it down against the spring to compress it far enough to easily install the center pin. Put a drop of oil in the center pin hole and the pivot area. Never rotate the blade with the spring intalled unless you have oil in the joints.
With all three pins installed I cleaned up and evened all the rough profile. Go to a finer and finer grit belt. Later we will hand sand. Take the blade and spring back out and shape the ivory and bolsters. I like to put just a tad bit of taper to the bolsters and round them off for looks and to be pocket friendly.
Next comes the shield.
I laid out and drilled the 1/16" holes for the front pins. They hold the scales on. Lay out the holes from the back side so you dont drill right into the milled relieved area. Use a center punch but be careful to not strike it too hard and crack the ivory.
I used a pencil in my drill press because I couldnt find a wooden dowell (dont turn it on) and cranked it down against the spring to compress it far enough to easily install the center pin. Put a drop of oil in the center pin hole and the pivot area. Never rotate the blade with the spring intalled unless you have oil in the joints.
With all three pins installed I cleaned up and evened all the rough profile. Go to a finer and finer grit belt. Later we will hand sand. Take the blade and spring back out and shape the ivory and bolsters. I like to put just a tad bit of taper to the bolsters and round them off for looks and to be pocket friendly.
Next comes the shield.
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Bruce Bump
Forum Owner-Moderator
Been to Bellingham Washington for a couple days. Glad to be home and back in the shop.
Worked on the shield inlay, heat treated the shield parser plate, routed out the left side scale for the shield, drilled the shield deep enough to silver solder a pin to the back side, reamed the holes, peened the 1/16" scale pins, etched the shield and blade and dabbed some oxpho blue on them.
The scales need to be exactly the same thickness and sanded to near completion finish before reaming the tapered holes.
This is a 2 degree ream mounted in a hand held pin vice and a 9 degree carbide burr.
Worked on the shield inlay, heat treated the shield parser plate, routed out the left side scale for the shield, drilled the shield deep enough to silver solder a pin to the back side, reamed the holes, peened the 1/16" scale pins, etched the shield and blade and dabbed some oxpho blue on them.
The scales need to be exactly the same thickness and sanded to near completion finish before reaming the tapered holes.
This is a 2 degree ream mounted in a hand held pin vice and a 9 degree carbide burr.
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Bruce Bump
Forum Owner-Moderator
The parser plate needs to be hardened so the routing/inlaying mill end doesnt enlarge it when removing ivory for the shield. Unfortuneatly I cracked it when tightening it down. It is still usable but I wanted to use this one again sometime. I like this shield shape.
The green magic marker is used around the edges of the shield and when put into the ivory it leaves a witness mark on the contact areas on the white ivory. I scrape away just those tiny green contact points to help close gaps.
What isnt shown is the shield is slightly tapered and helps to tighten the gaps around the edges the deeper it goes in. The trouble is it can be driven in and crack the ivory so it needs to be thinned down and bottoms out. I want to pin the shield also so I drilled it from the back side but not all the way through it. I silver soldered a pin in the shallow hole and plan to cement it and peen it to the liner.
The green magic marker is used around the edges of the shield and when put into the ivory it leaves a witness mark on the contact areas on the white ivory. I scrape away just those tiny green contact points to help close gaps.
What isnt shown is the shield is slightly tapered and helps to tighten the gaps around the edges the deeper it goes in. The trouble is it can be driven in and crack the ivory so it needs to be thinned down and bottoms out. I want to pin the shield also so I drilled it from the back side but not all the way through it. I silver soldered a pin in the shallow hole and plan to cement it and peen it to the liner.
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Bruce Bump
Forum Owner-Moderator
I use finger nail polish and coat the pivot hole inside and contact area on both sides of the blade tang and the slipjoint areas and stops on the tang. If I dont resist these areas I'm afraid the "Zero" would change at all three blade positions because the ferric cloride does remove a certain amount of steel from the etching process.
I use a slow etch with weak ferric cloride and clean the etched parts in ammonia and water. Baking soda will also neutalize the etching acid. Next comes the bluing process. The blade and shield were at 2000 grit before they go into the etch so when they come out they need to be polished with 2000 grit and finer.
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John T Wylie Jr.
Rockstar and ACE vBulletin troubleshooter
This thread is majorly impressive , thanks for taking the time to document it Bruce.
Roger Pinnock
Well-Known Member
I've never seen a shield fitted before - cool.
Roger
Roger
Allen Newberry
newberry knives
Bruce you always have the best WIPs!
johnny warner
Well-Known Member
Wow, looking good! Looks like it will be another winner!
Bruce Bump
Forum Owner-Moderator
Thanks again guys!
I have it finished. I like it has a good side and a not so good side. The shield side is very pretty but the other side has a crack that formed overnight at the front scale pin. I'm going to call it my "$200 crack" because thats how much I need to subtract from the price. It seems that white ivory is so brittle that it hairline cracks just by smacking it with a hammer. Thats one thing that I have heartburn about, working on a knife for a week and getting everything nearly perfect and precise and then take a ball pein hammer to it for the final assembly. Why in the heck cant we use screws like everything else in industry? Why hammer it together? Are fine swiss watches peened together?
Anyway this set of scales is too pretty to replace so I'm going to see what my customer wants to do.
Enough rant for now.
Here is the bushing, it is staked in place by a circle of pricks from a very sharp center punch so it cant rotate when the pivot pin is cinched down tight.
I like the shoe shine method of hand finishing the bolster and scales. They are polished up to 2000 grit and quickly touched on the buffer. The ivory is masked off and the bolsters are hand rubbed back to 1500 for a satin finish.
The final assembly is done with the small ball pein hammer being careful to peen the pins just wide enough to fill the space and stop. Any more spreading is detrimental to the ivory. Ask me how I know.
I have it finished. I like it has a good side and a not so good side. The shield side is very pretty but the other side has a crack that formed overnight at the front scale pin. I'm going to call it my "$200 crack" because thats how much I need to subtract from the price. It seems that white ivory is so brittle that it hairline cracks just by smacking it with a hammer. Thats one thing that I have heartburn about, working on a knife for a week and getting everything nearly perfect and precise and then take a ball pein hammer to it for the final assembly. Why in the heck cant we use screws like everything else in industry? Why hammer it together? Are fine swiss watches peened together?
Anyway this set of scales is too pretty to replace so I'm going to see what my customer wants to do.
Enough rant for now.
Here is the bushing, it is staked in place by a circle of pricks from a very sharp center punch so it cant rotate when the pivot pin is cinched down tight.
I like the shoe shine method of hand finishing the bolster and scales. They are polished up to 2000 grit and quickly touched on the buffer. The ivory is masked off and the bolsters are hand rubbed back to 1500 for a satin finish.
The final assembly is done with the small ball pein hammer being careful to peen the pins just wide enough to fill the space and stop. Any more spreading is detrimental to the ivory. Ask me how I know.
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Johnny Roberts
Well-Known Member
A fine knife and an outstanding tutorial.
I learned a lot from you, Bruce.
Many thanks.
I learned a lot from you, Bruce.
Many thanks.
Brent D. Cramer
Well-Known Member
I feel your pain Bruce! The wounds are still fresh!!! I have found that soaking the Ivory in peanut oil for days or even weeks before I work with it helps a bunch! It looks great though....I know I wouldn't mess with it. 
Bruce Bump
Forum Owner-Moderator
I feel your pain Bruce! The wounds are still fresh!!! I have found that soaking the Ivory in peanut oil for days or even weeks before I work with it helps a bunch! It looks great though....I know I wouldn't mess with it.
I think Tony Bose soaks his white ivory in peanut oil. Of coarse I didnt do that but if it dries out and there is stress against it wouldnt it eventually crack there anyway? I've pretty much decided to screw my scales on with pre-ban ivory.
Bruce Barnett
Well-Known Member
Hey mate,
Bout time ya finished it Shame about the crack but i guess thats just part of the game..........I guess i will get to experience that at some stage. The sheild came up nice though, well done2thumbs
Cheers Bruce
Bout time ya finished it
Shame about the crack but i guess thats just part of the game..........I guess i will get to experience that at some stage. The sheild came up nice though, well done2thumbsCheers Bruce
Bruce Bump
Forum Owner-Moderator
Hey mate,
Bout time ya finished it
Cheers Bruce
Its good to let me crack another one so you can learn from my mistakes. I kept #002 because of this same thing. You'd think I would learn. Even with the small hairline crack it really is a sweet little knife. Roger T has his eye on this one, I want to see if he can live with it. Another thing about elephant ivory is heat build up when grinding the pins flush. Any amount of heat will cause that area to crack later. If this were a set of pistol grips the customer would pay me extra for the cracks because preban ivory naturally cracks with age.
Bruce Bump
Forum Owner-Moderator
I read a thread awhile back where somebody else had a crack around a couple pins and had a scrimshaw artist tie it into the scenery. I may just do that.
John T Wylie Jr.
Rockstar and ACE vBulletin troubleshooter
Crack or no crack , that is a fine folder...
crack.....hmmm, more like a character mark in my eyes
crack.....hmmm, more like a character mark in my eyes
Bruce Bump
Forum Owner-Moderator
Crack or no crack , that is a fine folder...
crack.....hmmm, more like a character mark in my eyes
Thats what I'm calling it, from now on it will only be referred to as a "Character Mark". No more "C" word will be used on this thread.
ThankYou John! 2thumbs