WIP friction folder oops.

Godspeed

Godspeed

Well-Known Member
Ok so i'm making my first folder and i didn't put the washers on until i epoxied the pins in, afterwards i see this....:34:
uhoh.jpg


Uh Oh. Is there anything i can do here? I spent a ton of time on this and i hate to have those washers sticking out. Like i said the pins are there for good so taking it back apart isn't an option. Any help would be appreciated.
-Adam
 
Even though the pins are in, can you unscrew the pivot and slide the blade and washers out? or is one side of the pivot fixed?
 
Another option would be to drill the original pivot out, and replace both the pivot and the washers.

Aside from that, you might try just trimming the washers flush with an exacto knife.
 
You could put it in some boiling water for a few minuets and soften the epoxy and pull the pins out.Might scrap the scales but at least you could save most of it.
Also the washers don't look like their on the pivot pin maybe you could just pull them out.
Stan
 
This is one of those "OH CRUDE" moments that we all have sometimes. Each person will handle these situations differently, and depending on your own point of view, you could do several things. The simplest would be to trim the washers as previously mentioned, but even if trimmed flush with the liners, they will still show.

Like everyone, I make these kinds of mistakes too. Not as often as I once did, but "Murphy" is alive and well, and sometimes lives at my house! For me, at my present stage of knifemaking, if it's something that I cannot "make right", I will start all over. The best thing to do is work it out as best you can, and file this away as a "lesson learned".
 
EdCaffreyMS said:
The best thing to do is work it out as best you can, and file this away as a "lesson learned".
Click to expand...

That's by far the best way to look at it. In my opinion, as long as you learn something from it, then your time, money, or labor invested is by no means a waste.

Sometimes the fastest way to learn the right way to do something is to do wrong at least once or twice. I've also found that I can typically pull more that one lesson away from each mistake as well.

The only way to become a better knife maker is to learn what you need to improve on. And there's few faster ways of doing that than to make a bunch of mistakes first. ;)
 
Well.... I've done worse. Like gluing on scales, letting them set up, finish-sanding the scales through a few grits
and then realizing I forgot to heat treat it. lol.

The pivot pin was actually through the liners and into the scales a 16th" or so on each side, I was trying to
just take the washers out, but after i took the screws out of the pin it wouldn't budge. I tried prying it apart
but i heard a little cracking sound so i decided to stop before i ruined the whole thing.

soooo. I just trimmed them off. and of course it doesn't look all that great and I scratched the blade.
But It was my first folder and it still felt like i had invented the wheel, so i'm proud of it.
I'll post pics when i get it done.

Thanks,
Adam
 
Quote: soooo. "I just trimmed them off. and of course it doesn't look all that great and I scratched the blade.
But It was my first folder and it still felt like I had invented the wheel, so I'm proud of it."

YES! You stated it PERFECTLY!
 
Ha! Thanks Lonepine.

Well here it is, minus the CA glue finish.
It's far from perfect but, I LOVE this knife! :biggrin:
folder3.jpg


folder2.jpg


folder4.jpg


folder1.jpg


I've shown it to a few people(none of which had ever heard of a friction folder) and looking at it closed, everyone wanted to know what the big thing sticking out of the top was. I finally came up with "tactical glass-breaker".
 
I'd say for a first attempt, it could have easily turned out much worse! And if you love it, there's not much else to say.
You can only get better from here, and even more so now that you've found a couple specific areas for improvement.

Hopefully this will be the first of many, and I look forward to seeing your future work and "tactical glass breakers".... haha
 
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