Robeson 3 3/8 inch jack knife with aluminum frame

[#goldpan]

I had this project on my mind for long time. However the original knife came to me in such sad shape that I had to start from scratch. Which is why it took me so long to get to it. The only parts useable were the blades, back springs and the center liner. Everything else was broken .... The tang stamp is the old Robeson Shuredge Rochester mark.

The first thing I had to do was to lay out the new liners in aluminum. The bolsters are made integral to the liners so I drew it out with that in mind.

Then I cut them out of the bar stock and ground the pieces to the same length.

Then I machined cut outs to accept the handle scales. I used my hillbilly machining rig that I got from Jerry D.

The machining made the two pieces stick together and created some very sharp ears sticking out the sides. So I broke them apart and with some filing and sanding got them ready for the scales.

I gave the liner a rough shape and added some decorative scale pins.
( Not sure where the extra pics came from... I deleted them but )

continued on the next post!

[#goldpan]

I pinned it all together and checked to make sure everything worked.

After peening the pins I began to finish it grinding it to its final shape.

Then there was more filing and sanding.

And after some buffing its ready!

Thanks for looking!
Randy

[bighomer]

Randy thank you for posting this, great work. Beautiful knife.

[CharlieR]

Great job..looks sharp. Now, what's a hillbilly machining rig?

[#goldpan]

Great job..looks sharp. Now, what's a hillbilly machining rig?

Charlie, a hillbilly machining rig consists of a drill press with a machinist vice attached to the work table and an end mill bit inserted into the drill instead of a drill bit. Its not as good as a actual mill but it works well enough for me. The machinist vice allows the work to be moved in and out as well as side to side. It lacks precision depth settings, but with a little care during set up it gets the job done!

Randy

[orvet]

Looks good Randy!
I like the hillbilly machining rig!
It has real possibilities, especially with a drill press vise that will move on the X and Y axis.

[glennbad]

This is way cool! Nice work!

[cattaraugus57]

Really like that!

[#goldpan]

Thanks guys! As I have been told, and its very true, this stuff is addicting!

Randy