All About Pocket Knives

Putting together a center line scribe that will go down in my all time over kill and over thought tool category. The stiddy was out of control at times but this one might have that project beat. Yes an important step to mark the blade pre grind but I have taken this to a ridiculous level.
What are some of your over the top tools?

Gary

So far, my smart phone.... For a centerline finder, it seems using a micrometer to find the blade thickness and then a correctly sharpened drill bit of the same size finds the center as well as it needs to be found. Or did I misunderstand what you meant?

I have a home made center finder. If anything it is underkill. Don't have a picture but take my word for it. It works very well but finding the center line is a bit of trial and error. Far from scientific.

Wayne

I have a super simple center finder that seems to be as accurate are is necessarily. It was inexpensive, easy to make a copy of and great for finding center if the edge of a piece of steel.
I will try and remember to take pics and post it tomorrow.

Oops. Steel.

I just mic the thickness, divide by 2, lock the caliper and drag it down the edge, scripes the center just fine

A friend uses a height gage on a 3" piece or red marble to do the center mark or marks on the blade blanks . So I was going to purchase a height gage since I don't want to alter (tool wise) from what he does. Well they are expensive so I purchased just the scribe fitting to use somehow. Top elbow device in pic.
I also purchased a planer gage thinking I could attach the elbow scribe assembly to that.
My machinist suggested that I could modify the planer gage alone with a piece of carbide steel inserted the same as the scribe elbow.
OK fine.
Well that is when my steel knowledge went from 3rd grade to 12th grade and the fun started.
To be continued...

Gary

This is the tool I use-
It has a hardened scribe tip (depth is adjustable) in the center and two legs on either side.
You just put one leg on either side of the piece of metal to scribe, twisting sideways so each leg is against its side: Then slide the tool down the edge of the metal. It usually takes me more time to find the tool in its drawer than it takes me to scribe a line.

I don't remember where I got it, probably from Jantz. IIRC, it was about $10-$12.



I discovered how hard it is to take a pic of the edge of a sheet of metal. The line looks a bit off center in the picture, but with the piece in hand the line is dead center.

There ya go. Same, same for wood that I posted and erased. Inexpensive, quick and accurate.

Edit: And you can make it yourself in several sizes.

Here is an EDM wire cutter which was used to cut the tool steel and carbide insert.

Gary

So here we go. It should work out ok.

Looks like that should work fine Gary.

Wayne

btrwtr wrote:Looks like that should work fine Gary.

Wayne

Thanks Wayne. So I learned about high heat silver solder or brazing. In the past I used a butane torch and low melt silver solder for bolsters.
That didn't want to work on the carbide/tool steel connection so I sent it out for high heat acetylene brazing and silver (51%) which connected the two pieces in seconds.
The hot wire cut left a super sharp tip/edge so no grinding was needed. I am really impressed with the EDM equipment.

Gary

Over kill is right

Miller Bro`s wrote:Over kill is right

I am trying take care of the light weight tools before I pull the string on the heart of the shop, the grinder. I have learned a tremendous amount this year considering where I started. Sometimes I feel like I am stalling to get to the meat and potatoes of the operation but the same time I will be glad to have some of the minor and sometimes hard to find tools ready to roll.

Gary

Gary, if you are this meticulous about the tools I can`t wait to see what the knives look like

Miller Bro`s wrote:Gary, if you are this meticulous about the tools I can`t wait to see what the knives look like

Interesting thought and I might have set myself up for a disaster. I was and still am interested in the basic folders like old rope knives with stag handles that are pretty basic in design and finish.
Now I am being influenced by some exotic metals and folder designs like front flipper liner lock type systems. IKBS bearing systems with titanium liners. Hollow grind blades and detent balls with lock face pins and slots. Bee line kick stops that and jimped flipper tabs that disappear when knife is open.
I got to settle down eventually and dig in to something here.

Gary

I only took apart and put together one knife so far, I posted the thread here, learned a lot with still much more to go. Building a knife from scratch is totally different from just taking an existing knife apart and putting it back together. I still have to practice heat treating, forging, etc. Never enough time to get out in the shop and do what I want to do it seems.

Take your time and go forward at your own speed, that`s what I am doing, I don`t care how long it takes me eventually it will get done.

Gary, have you ever done anything like this before. I have no idea what your skill level is but from your questions it kinda sounds like you're getting the walking before the crawling. I wish you all the best and look forward to seeing the results. Go get 'em partner.

I started out using tools I had to fix knives.
When I consider how the old cutlers built knives that still survive today and work quite nicely 100+ years later I am amazed at what basic tools they used. They seem to me to be works of art rather than machine shop creations.

For me it worked better to learn the basics and learn how to do them the old fashioned way with hand tools, rather than spend a lot of money on tools I will rarely use. The more specialized a tool becomes the fewer applications it has. I would love to have a break press that would put the crink in the liners to open up the mouth of the blade pocket. The reality is it would take up too much room in my shop and I would seldom use it, but I would LOVE to have one!

I have done some of what your doing regarding certain pieces of equipment or aspects of repair. My experience was I spent on money on tools that I really didn't need and would have been better off learning the basics first, but that is just me. I didn't have a big budget, which also influenced the process.

This is written in retrospect, looking back on how I started repairing and customizing knives.
You are a totally different person and my method may or may not work for you.
However you do it, good luck and keep us apprised of your progress!
This has been a very interesting thread following how you are going about getting started.