Italian Switchblade WIP

[Jeffinn]

I had a few switchblade parts in a bag of parts that I bought previously so I decided to see about assembling it. Here's the liners with the bolsters soldered on and some highly visible acrylic pieces that will be used for the handles;

I cut and roughly fit the handle for the rear scale and pinned it temporarily in place;

For the front scale there has to be a channel cut in the back of the scale. I use a trim router and table for this but other guys freehand this in with a dremel and bit;

Now there needs to be a hole for the button to come through. I usually lay the scale along side of the liner and draw a pencil line where the hole needs to go (there's probably easier ways to do it but it works okay for me).I use a Forstner bit to get the hole and then file and shape as needed to get the button moving freely;

That's it for today, my back is telling me its time to take a break.
Tomorrow I'll shape the scales to the liners and start pinning everything together.
Jeff

[Railsplitter]

That's going to turn out nice, Jeff. I can't wait to see your updates.

[glennbad]

Looking good so far! I have a few autos to work on, but in my mind it's a different setup than standard folders. I'd hate to get wrapped up in them and lose focus on slipjoint work, but someday...

[Jeffinn]

So I worked on the switchblade again tonight and was able to get it roughed in and together. I sanded the scales to fit the liners then pinned them into place. I usually peen one side of the pins before installing them into the knife. Then I just need to trim the pin on the inside of the liner and peen it into place. This helps prevent damage to the knife handle scales.I also put multiple layers of masking tape on the handle scales and on my anvil to prevent damaging the outer pins;

Here's all the parts laid out for assembly. It was during this stage that I discovered that the spring wasn't the corrent spring for this knife. It was close so I decided to go ahead and assemble the knife;

When I peen the pivot pin I use a .004 inch feeler gauge with a notch cut out of it, placed between the blade and the Liner to ensure theres enough clearance for the blade to pivot freely;

So here's the final finished pics of the knife. It still needs a bit of finish polishing but all in all it turned out okay;

I'll finish polishing the scales a bit more tomorrow, see if any pins need to be touched up and then its on to the next project!
Jeff

[sam eib]

Looks good, keep it up!