In February George posted a thread for a new build incorporating the toggle he had shown me.
http://sharperdeal.biz/forums/viewtopic ... lit=toggle (more on this a little later)[my apologies to anyone who isn't a member of the SD Forum but I don't know of any way to bring the article over here.]
I thought it looked really interesting and shot him an email asking him to build one for me in a 13” and I would send him some material for the scales when I found something I liked. It would have to have some interest but not overpower the visual effect of the new toggle mechanism. A little while later I came across some Big Leaf Maple burl that had been stabilized and dyed blue that I thought would work and got it off to him. George thought it would work as intended so he incorporated it in the build.
As the build progressed George sent me some progress photos and I thought I’d share them here.
The blade and back spring are 5mm 01 steel and the liners are 3/32 stainless and the gems in the toggle are rubies. George uses stock sear and button assemblies so he routes out a recess in the button side liner so he’ll have enough sear length for a positive engagement between the sear and blade.
The upper bolsters are two piece with the ears carved out of a solid piece of nickel.
The carved and polished finished product.
Temporarily assembled with the blade starting to take shape. George knows I’m a fan of long thin profile blades so he narrowed the blade by about 0.040 for me and added the ½ length bayonet grind to enhance the visual impression of long and thin.
George mirror polishes the inside of the stainless liners and on assembly installs bronze washers to smooth the opening and reduce swoosh marks on the blade.
George adds his trademark red liners when the scales go on. They do a nice job of drawing the eye to the scales. Something I noted on this build is that George “melted” the bottom bolster pins into the nickel so they’re almost invisible.
Close up of the locking assembly before the pivot pin is installed.
George not only builds the knives but he takes better pictures of them than I do.
My poor attempt at photography.
George’s signature.
And now the rest of the story. (with apologies to Paul Harvey)
About 12 years ago I got a (to me) very special car. I joined a local car club of like minded enthusiasts and have had a great time with the car and have met some remarkable people (very much like the members of these forums). Over the years, while my health has remained relatively good, I’ve noticed my mental faculties have started to decline. Nothing specific just old age catching up with me. As a result I’ve decided to sell the car before I have someone tell me to hand over the keys or, worse yet, let my enthusiasm carry me away and be the cause of and accident.
I let the car club know that I’d be letting the car go and with that would be withdrawing from the club activities. Over the years I sort of took over the job of planning various outings and trips for the club that ranged from short hops out to somewhere that presented a fun drive for lunch (a good lunch drive would be 175 to 250 miles round trip) to 4 day annual tours around Oregon and the surrounding states.
I attended the car club annual picnic last weekend and along with a bunch of Thank You cards from the club members was presented with a parting gift of George’s original Toggle Mechanism knife referred to above. “You could have knocked me over with a feather” when I was presented with the knife. I was speechless and could just stammer out my thanks to the club members.
While he was dealing with the club’s order and my request George didn’t say a word to me so the surprise was total.
So now I have a pair of George’s Toggle Release knives in my collection. I think these are the only two that George is going to make of this build. He mentioned that they were too much work to do more so I consider myself extremely fortunate.
The pair.
DonC
