Spring Blade's First Knife Project

[Spring Blade]

Hey Everyone!
Some of you may recall that I had expressed an interest in customizing knives myself, and I'd like to share with you the fruits of my very first effort...

My Dad loves the "Trapper" shape of pocket knife, so I decided to build him one for his birthday. I ordered two identical kits of a "Bear Trapper", and designated the first one as my practice knife. As such, I decided that I should try a little of everything during its construction, and learned a ton of stuff that will help my Dad's knife turn out even better.

I used what were so far my least favorite scales (I've been laying in some stock), and following the precepts of the many things that I have already learned here on this forum, was able to produce a knife that I am only slightly embarrassed to present to you as my very first try at building anything like this. One thing I discovered too late, was the difficulty in filing a double back spring design that had to meet and match in the center ( it is a practice knife...)

Otherwise, I'm pretty proud of the finished product. Here are a couple of photos, and a link to a few more, that I am happy to present for your perusal...

The first two pins I ever peined on a knife...

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Its a nice hand full of knife.

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A little file work on the bolsters...

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And the link...

http://s591.photobucket.com/albums/ss35 ... 20project/

[eastcoastsniper]

That beautiful...What is the scale material? It looks like marble

[lars]

This is way more then a try. It turned out beautiful!

[TRYKER]

nice job!!! and the filing came out nice to very unque design


tryker

[Viking45]

I would say you made out very well. Your dad will be proud to show that around.

[malan]

thumbs up ! could this be the beginning of " knife making insanity" for you? The same insanity that took over my life ?....LOL cool...! I remember my first.....
ps....you've probably been tutored and heard countless ways to peen....You should tell me how your going about it anyway....I have some tricks that may possibly help if your having any kind of headache doing it...

[Spring Blade]

thumbs up ! could this be the beginning of " knife making insanity" for you? The same insanity that took over my life ?....LOL cool...! I remember my first.....
ps....you've probably been tutored and heard countless ways to peen....You should tell me how your going about it anyway....I have some tricks that may possibly help if your having any kind of headache doing it...

Hi Malan,
Yeah, I think its too late for me, I'm already infected! My Wife has been referring to herself as a "knife widow" because I spend all my time in the shop practicing, planning or building...
Peening was one of the skills I was most worried about learning, so any advice in that direction is an offer that I can't refuse!
I am using a 4 oz. ball peen hammer on the small anvil pictured in the first photo I posted. Through trial and error during practice, I have found that .07 to about .08 inches of pin length beyond the target peened length seems to work well. Once I have the pin filed carefully to length, I very slightly chamfer the pin holes to allow for a little pin expansion. Then I tape the knife up with painters tape (it doesn't leave a sticky residue), making sure that I can easily peel it back around my work area. I insert the pin and place the work on the anvil and begin tapping away. I use very light taps, really letting the hammer do the work. I usually start out with pretty vertical strokes to try to get a nice spread from the center, then work outward in a circular pattern. I have found that it helps to rotate the work piece 90 degrees often as well. This helps even out the bias caused by the angle of your stroke. I stop often and examine my progress with a magnifying glass and calipers. I work on one side for a couple hundred taps then turn the knife over and work the other side, back and forth, back and forth. I noticed during practice that peening against the flat surface of the anvil had a tendency to flatten the peen on that side, so I drilled a series of different sized dimples in the face of my anvil and use those to help shape both sides of the pin as I work. The hardest bit comes right at the end when I'm trying to get a nice uniform mushroom shape that actually meets the surface of the knife all the way around the pin. As it turns out, those dimples on my anvil are a big help here. I just choose the right diameter and depth of dimple and use that to close down the edges of the pin. I was actually pretty happy with how they turned out on this knife. Its pretty hard to tell in the photos, but they have a nice uniform appearance, are very tight, and have pretty close to the same diameter from side to side.

I would love to hear any and all advice from all you knife buildin' guys!

Thanks!

[malan]

I think your on the money....

[eastcoastsniper]

thumbs up ! could this be the beginning of " knife making insanity" for you? The same insanity that took over my life ?....LOL cool...! I remember my first.....
ps....you've probably been tutored and heard countless ways to peen....You should tell me how your going about it anyway....I have some tricks that may possibly help if your having any kind of headache doing it...

Hi Malan,
Yeah, I think its too late for me, I'm already infected! My Wife has been referring to herself as a "knife widow" because I spend all my time in the shop practicing, planning or building...
Peening was one of the skills I was most worried about learning, so any advice in that direction is an offer that I can't refuse!
I am using a 4 oz. ball peen hammer on the small anvil pictured in the first photo I posted. Through trial and error during practice, I have found that .07 to about .08 inches of pin length beyond the target peened length seems to work well. Once I have the pin filed carefully to length, I very slightly chamfer the pin holes to allow for a little pin expansion. Then I tape the knife up with painters tape (it doesn't leave a sticky residue), making sure that I can easily peel it back around my work area. I insert the pin and place the work on the anvil and begin tapping away. I use very light taps, really letting the hammer do the work. I usually start out with pretty vertical strokes to try to get a nice spread from the center, then work outward in a circular pattern. I have found that it helps to rotate the work piece 90 degrees often as well. This helps even out the bias caused by the angle of your stroke. I stop often and examine my progress with a magnifying glass and calipers. I work on one side for a couple hundred taps then turn the knife over and work the other side, back and forth, back and forth. I noticed during practice that peening against the flat surface of the anvil had a tendency to flatten the peen on that side, so I drilled a series of different sized dimples in the face of my anvil and use those to help shape both sides of the pin as I work. The hardest bit comes right at the end when I'm trying to get a nice uniform mushroom shape that actually meets the surface of the knife all the way around the pin. As it turns out, those dimples on my anvil are a big help here. I just choose the right diameter and depth of dimple and use that to close down the edges of the pin. I was actually pretty happy with how they turned out on this knife. Its pretty hard to tell in the photos, but they have a nice uniform appearance, are very tight, and have pretty close to the same diameter from side to side.

I would love to hear any and all advice from all you knife buildin' guys!

Thanks!

Springblade, You just offered your first tutorial and didn't even realize it.

The different size dimples to hold the pin heads securely and help mushroom them was a great tip.

[Bill DeShivs]

You can aqvoid the "halo" around the pivot pin by polishing the bolster before peening.
Nice job!

[Spring Blade]

Thanks Guys, I try to pay attention to detail...

In response to your earlier question 'Sniper, the scales I ordered were "Poly Pearl Black Cherry" from Texas Knifemakers, but I'm not sure that's what I got. I don't see any hint of Cherry, more of a very dark grey and a lighter pearl grey.

We may never know...

Because this was my practice knife for building Dad's knife, and Dad's knife has "Barked Horn" scales that need to be sanded from the back to preserve the cool exterior, I actually sanded these poly scales from the back (even though I didn't have to). The first thing I realized was that the sanded back of the scale would have to be absolutely flat in order to mate up with the liner, easier said than done. I built a fixture (pictured below) to hold the scales squarely and safely while sanding them to the necessary thickness.
The little thread is to give me a guide as to how far to sand, although the calipers are the final judge.

These are my Dad's scales, pretty cool huh?

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This is my home built work bench, built from one sheet of 5/8 inch plywood and two 8 foot long 4X4's.

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Man am I having fun!!!

[Vagrant]

[Razor_54]

Nice job. Very well done.
Great workshop.

[xlr8]

Spring Blade,

I learned valuable things from your peening. Thank you. Your knife looks KILLER and I think your Dad will be proud! Oh, BTW, your garage looks VERY similar to mine....Wierd.

[panner]

Very nice work on the knife and i luv the work shop