The first twelve parts
Several of you have asked for instruction for making the all wood folding knives I,ve been doing for a number of years. Hope I can give that instruction through this blog series. If to many get fed-up with this please let me know to stop. Starting today 4/27/16 we will begin. It would probably be a good idea to have a folding pocket knife handy to be able to look to see the pieces we are talking about. I will be making three knives at this time.
#1 is choosing the material. You can make the handles (scales) from whatever dark color (for good contrast) wood you would like. You will need some very light colored stock such as maple for the material which would normally be the shinny stuff (on a metal knife) such as the bolsters, blades, blade liners and springs. For this knife we will use 1 1/16" wide material (best in most cases). Bolsters and handles should be close to 1/4" thick. Handles are 1/4 X 1 1/16 X 2 1/16". The blade and spring stock is 1 1/16 wide X appx 0.150 to 0.175 thick X 4 3/4" long.
All this is not real critical but all four pcs. should be very close to the same thickness.
pictures tomorrow of blade and spring stock. Next is the blade liners and again 1 1/16 wide X 4 3/4 X appx. 0.040 thick. When you have all these twelve pieces cut to your satisfaction it is time for the first glue up.
I will try not to forget I have been doing this for fifteen years and you will be getting instructions after my hundreds of mistakes. You are now fitting the handles and bolsters to the blade liners. It is best to get the closest fit as to ends butting tight and liners and other pieces straight with each other. I use an abundance of glue and only wipe off the bottoms for now.
Best to use three fairly strong squeeze clamps and the clamp for the ends pushes the bolsters and handle ends tight to each other.
Looks like a lot for a small operation but is very important that every joint is tight.
Now allow to dry completely and tomorrow we take off the clamps. Then get rid of the glue squeeze out and square up these assembly's. PMs with questions are welcome or you can ask through comments so so all can see the answers. Good luck cutting. Thanks for looking.
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Several of you have asked for instruction for making the all wood folding knives I,ve been doing for a number of years. Hope I can give that instruction through this blog series. If to many get fed-up with this please let me know to stop. Starting today 4/27/16 we will begin. It would probably be a good idea to have a folding pocket knife handy to be able to look to see the pieces we are talking about. I will be making three knives at this time.
#1 is choosing the material. You can make the handles (scales) from whatever dark color (for good contrast) wood you would like. You will need some very light colored stock such as maple for the material which would normally be the shinny stuff (on a metal knife) such as the bolsters, blades, blade liners and springs. For this knife we will use 1 1/16" wide material (best in most cases). Bolsters and handles should be close to 1/4" thick. Handles are 1/4 X 1 1/16 X 2 1/16". The blade and spring stock is 1 1/16 wide X appx 0.150 to 0.175 thick X 4 3/4" long.
All this is not real critical but all four pcs. should be very close to the same thickness.
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