Making a folding knife. Part three

Well, the knife is now finished. I did thin and shorten the tang. I also straightened it a bit and gave the curl, well, more of a curl!. The blade was  then hardened, tempered, followed by an overnight soak in vinegar to disolve the scale that forms during forging. I then  wire brushed the blade and finally sharpened it so that I can shave the hair on the back of my hand!

I decided to do some file work on the spine of the blade, linking  it  to the twisted tang.

Onto the assembly. I made some thick conical brass washers because I could not find any to buy. The pivot is 4mm brass from  a DIY shop. I also made some thin brass washers to go between the blade and handle. They provide a nice smooth motion for the blade.

 The knife, half open.













Overall, I am very pleased with the result. I have learned a lot about forging, from making it. There are just a few details I will refine in the next knife.  Although  I like the look of the tang, I think it's a  bit too long, the handle is 3 3/4" (95 mm) long but with that long tang the length goes up to 6" (150mm), that makes it a bit too long to carry easily and comfortably inside a pocket, although it could be carried as a necker in a leather pouch. The tang will also be  finer and the blade a little thinner in profile.

Making a folding knife. Part two

Ok. The next step I took was to mark where the slot is going to be.

Then, off to the bansaw to cut the first part of the slot. I had to make sure the cut was parallel to the centreline of the tine. Then I had to cut a second time to create the slot of the right width for the blade.

The rest of the slot for the blade was cut with a hand saw, and finished with my trusty 120mm diameter angle grinder, with a thin cutting disk. I secured the tine in a vice with some leather to protect the tine and carefuly finished the slot. It's definitely a very good idea to wear a dust mask...:-(  Next time, I'll be doing this outside on a windy day, rain or shine...

 

  

The tang needs to be straightened up a  bit to centre it. I still think it's a bit too long  & a little thick, so I'll take the blade back to the forge at the weekend, as I am working tomorrow and Friday. As well, I'll have to make sure the tang lies closer to the back of the antler handle.

Making a folding knife. Part one.

This is going to be a "work in progress" sort of posting. I have started to make a friction folder knife with a antler tine I just got hold of, and I am going to use a blade I forged tonight.

The first picture shows the antler tine, with the cardboard model of the shape of the blade I had in mind.

This is the blade that emerged during the forging. I used a 9mm round bar of silver steel. Not quite the same as the pattern I made, but still quite nice I think, so I'll be using it.

The blade after a bit of work with a file. I made the cutting edge just under 3" to keep it "legal" in the UK. The tang looks a bit too long and I think I am probably going to shorten it a bit.

 This is what it looks like with the handle on top of the blade. The tang follows the cuve of the antler and I quite like it that way. Nevertheless, when folded it looks like its going to be quite a long knife, so I still might shorten the tang... It would be about 6 1/4" long folded and by cutting the tang, I could shorten it to about 5 1/2". Is it worth it? I need a bit more thinking time!

A bit of forging practice...:-)

I managed to find a little time to squeeze in a bit of forging practice today. I fired the gas forge and, using some bits of mild steel, made these two knives. Being mild steel, they obviously can't be hardened, but they'll make perfect letter openers! They were just fun and relaxing to make, nice things to do to loose yourself in. Number 1 is 7" (175mm) long and number 2, 6 1/2" long (165mm)

Back to reality

Well, the Xmas and new year period is over, and it's back to reality. I gave myself a few days off over the holiday, and have done little work. I needed that.

Now, I have been trying to make a living over the past year, out of making knives and leather work and turning that into a proper small business. I don't think it's going to go anywhere much. Just as well I have a part time job that I like doing. I was selling quite a few knives when I started last year. It didn't last long! Now? I have a couple of fixed blade knives to make and a folder. That's it. The recession is obviously bitting, or, what I make people don't want, or I am not good enough at promoting my work. Probably a combination of all these. Besides, it costs to promote your work. It won't help to have the VAT increase, the fuel price increase we had in the last few days, and of course the VAT increase will make the price of fuel increase yet again. Can't have those big businesses and bank make a loss now, can we? Never mind the little people. Who care about them? Certainly not the government, despite their "Big Society" and "we're all in this together"  meaningless crap.

Maybe I don't make enough stuff. But then I am not a factory in China, churning out millions of cheap tat, which it seems is what people want, not an "expensive" hand made knife.

How is a craftsman supposed to make even a modest  living? and does anybody really care, except other crafsmen & women and their family? "I don't know" and "I don't think so".

Any one with any ideas? I'd love to hear.

Funnily enough, I am not feeling terribly down about it all. It wouldn't help anyway. More pissed off with, and detached from, it...wondering what's going to come next!

Jest to nowy rok ...

... i mam nadzieję, że przyniesie to dobre rzeczy, a niektóre szczęśliwy czas, aby ludzie na całym świecie. Nie jestem tak naiwny, aby uwierzyć, że to wszystko będzie usłane różami chociaż. Miejmy nadzieję, że politycy wszędzie są nieco bardziej ludzkie i nieco mniej chciwi.

Kto to jest, który rzekł: Wierzę, że złego rządu jest zazwyczaj ze względu na rząd za dużo? Czy będą się uczyć? jury jest jeszcze na ten jeden.

W każdym razie, nie sądzę, wszystko się zmieni, ponieważ rządy na całym świecie chcemy, idą zbyt wiele zainteresowania w status quo. Co spowoduje wyłącznie zmianę kiedy zwykli ludzie mogą realizować je zmienić. Jakoś, my zwykli ludzie, ale na życie polityków do wprowadzenia kilku nowych batteires w, i włączyć ich w aparatach słuchowych!

Udaliśmy się na promenadzie i plaży w nocy, aby zobaczyć w nowym roku w dość spokojnym miejscu z kilku ludzi, z wyjątkiem wokół otworów podlewania! Było miło impronptu pokaz sztucznych ogni przez jednego z klubów wzdłuż promenady, która bawiliśmy.

Życzę szczęśliwego nowego roku dla wszystkich!

Es el año nuevo ...

... y espero que cosas buenas y en algún momento feliz a la gente en todas partes. No soy tan ingenuo como para creer que todo va a ser un lecho de rosas sin embargo. Esperemos que los políticos en todas partes son un poco más humano y un poco menos codiciosos.

¿Quién es el que dijo: Yo creo que el mal gobierno se debe generalmente a un gobierno demasiado? ¿Van a aprender? El jurado está todavía fuera de éste.

De todos modos, no creo que las cosas van a cambiar porque los gobiernos de todo el mundo quiere que, van demasiado interés en el status quo. Las cosas sólo cambiarán cuando la gente común se dan cuenta que puede hacer el cambio. De alguna manera, que la gente común tienen que obligar a los políticos para poner un poco de batteires nuevo, y convertir sus audífonos!

Nos fuimos en el paseo marítimo y la playa la noche anterior para ver el nuevo año pulgadas Muy tranquilo, con poca gente fuera, excepto alrededor de los pozos de agua! Hubo una exhibición de fuegos artificiales agradable impronptu por uno de los clubes a lo largo del paseo marítimo que hemos disfrutado.

Deseo un feliz año nuevo a todos!

Es ist das neue Jahr ...

... und ich hoffe, es wird gute Dinge und einige glückliche Zeit, um die Menschen überall zu bringen. Ich bin nicht so naiv zu glauben, es läuft alles auf ein Bett aus Rosen obwohl sein. Hoffen wir, die Politiker sind überall ein bisschen mehr Menschen und ein bisschen weniger gierig.

Wer ist es, der sagte: Ich glaube, schlechte Regierung ist in der Regel durch zu viel Regierung? Werden sie lernen? Das Urteil steht noch aus in diesem Fall.

Anyway, ich glaube nicht, dass die Dinge sich ändern, weil die Regierungen überall finden wollen, gehen sie zu viel Interesse an den Status quo. Die Dinge werden sich erst ändern, wenn normale Menschen können sie es ändern zu realisieren. Irgendwie haben wir die einfachen Leute haben zu zwingen die Politiker, um einige neue batteires in setzen und drehen ihre Hörgeräte auf!

Wir gingen auf die Promenade und der Strand letzte Nacht in das neue Jahr auf ganz ruhig sehen, mit wenigen Menschen, die, außer um die Wasserstellen! Es war eine schöne impronptu Feuerwerk von einem der Vereine entlang der Promenade, die wir genossen.

Ich wünsche ein frohes neues Jahr an alle!

S'est la nouvelle annee...

... et je souhaite qu'elle vous apporte de bonnes choses et quelques moments de bonheur aux gens partout dans le monde. Je ne suis pas assez naïf pour croire que tout va être un lit de roses. Espérons que les politiciens partout dans le monde deviennent un peu plus humain et un peu moins gourmand.

Qui est-ce qui a dit: Je crois que les mauvais gouvernements sont  généralement due à trop de gouvernement? Vont-ils apprendre? Le jury n'est pas encore pret a juger.

Quoi qu'il en soit, je ne pense pas que les choses vont changer parce que les gouvernements partout dans le monde le souhaitez, ils vont trop d'intérêt dans le statu quo. Les choses ne changeront que lorsque les gens ordinaires se rendent compte qu'ils peuvent le faire changer. D'une certaine façon, nous les gens ordinaires devront  forcer les politiciens à mettre des nouvelles piles, et à allumer leurs appareils auditifs!

Nous sommes allés sur la promenade et sur la plage la nuit dernière pour voir la nouvelle année.  S'etait assez tranquille avec peu de gens dehors, sauf autour des bistros et des clubs! Il y avait un feu d'artifice agréable et impromptu par l'un des clubs le long de la promenade que nous avons apprécié.

Alors bonne annee et bonne sante a tous!

It's the new year...

...and I hope it will bring good things and some happy time to people everywhere. I am not so naive to believe it's all going to be a bed of roses though. Let's hope the politicians everywhere are a bit more human and a bit less greedy.

Who is it who said: I believe bad government is generally due to too much government?  Will they learn? The jury is still out on this one.

Anyway, I don't think things will change because the governments everywhere want it to, they go too much interest in the status quo. Things will only change when ordinary people realise they can make it change. Somehow, we the ordinary people have got to force the politicians to put some new batteires in, and turn their hearing aids on!

We went onto the promenade and the beach last night to see the new year in. Quite quiet with few people out, except around the watering holes! There was a nice impronptu firework display by one of the clubs along the promenade which we enjoyed.

Happy new year to the many people who visit my blog!