Tantolizer

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ILikeStilettos
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Tantolizer

Post by ILikeStilettos »

A week or so back one of my Facebook group members posted a beautiful bayonet bladed Frosolone by JimBrown257 which reminded me of a picture I had captured and saved a long time ago and shown below. This is a stylised version of a tanto (which Bill DeShivs called a "ridiculous grind that added nothing to the performance of the knife") and which I think is pretty wicked cool.

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I typically name my designs simply to give them a point of reference in my own mind and to facilitate conversation with other folks as we discuss them. I really planned on doing this blade shape in a rounded bottom Frosolone handle, perhaps without placing the buttons so low, and deemed it the Tantalone. As I began developing this idea I realized that the Frosolone handle was not working out and I just decided to make a handle that did work. The long straight back made it peek like crazy and demanded a bunch of real estate to create room for the kickspring on the top side and for the point on the bottom side. I eventually settled on slightly less than full rotation (179° to close rather than 180°) and put a slight angle on the spine at the point to drop it more toward center. At that point, the Tantolizer was born!

I have also been talking with a very nice gentleman and Master Cutler, Chris Crawford, who was started on his path of building high-end switchblades by none other than the late great, Don "Merlin" Hall. We have had a couple of wonderful conversations in which we try to hold our mutual awe in check while just bouncing ideas off each other.

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It seems that every conversation I have with a knife enthusiast is grist for the mill when I sit down to design. My partner, Duke "Knivemaker55" Charlesworth, mentioned that he liked doing pinned-on quillons and the opportunity to use a mixture of stainless, brass, copper and nickel-silver to feature multiple colors on a knife; so those appeared. Since the build-along project Pat Havlin inspired on the other forum, he likes cutting pins and we are of the opinion that this is the single most reliable method of locking a blade open. I'm personally intrigued by cutting the locktab down to liner width so that it self-conceals behind the top bolsters and the fast action provided by a kicker tensioned lockback. Hence, that's the combination that you see represented here.

I typically illustrate a side-on and a bladewell-up view of my designs. In this case the shots including internals are this standard approach, while the simplified external views are backspring-on to illustrate how the hidden picklock/lockback looks. I've grappled with the design of lockbacks and their subtleties. If you increase the interference fit of spine to kicker, you increase the tension of the tab against the blade and make its function more dependable, but the cost is that the tab presses hard against the blade and makes friction during opening. Also the tail of the lockbar rises out of the handle. It finally dawned on me that by properly angling the fit of the tail of the lockbar to the spacer/kicker in the pommel area, the tail can't rise. If the heel of the blade is just tangent to the underside of the tab, then frictions is reduced. Now you can increase the interference fit and get good pressure on the locking mechanism. Eureka!

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In the detail below you can see the ball on the end of the kicker which protects the sharp edge of the knife and the room that has been provided to allow the blade to move slightly past 179°, thus ensuring the sear pin seats and that the kicker is not pressed flush against the back spring. I try not to expose the end of the kicker when the blade is deployed, or if it is, to keep it to a minimum. I am enamored with bottomless designs, but this one seemed to need a bit of metal to protect the end of the knife. I also went for maximum blade to handle length, hence I wanted to reinforce this area since there is so little overhang.

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I often include a small semi-circular notch centered on the intersection of choil and blade edge, called a Spanish notch in some circles, and simply a sharpening notch in others. As the grind fades out often there is extra metal here that makes sharpening difficult. I noticed that Chris located his notch just aft of this intersection rather than centered on it. I used his approach and complimented him on it. Then I had to explain what I meant by a Spanish notch. He was certainly doing the right thing, only the terminology was new to him.

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In this case, a large oval button, angled slightly from horizontal to match the shape of the handle, seemed to fit with the rest of the design. Of course, other methods are equally acceptable. I have left this up to the builder/buyer should anyone decide to commission the design.

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As drawn, the knife is exactly 13" (33 cm) long, with a 6" X 3/4" X 5/32" (15,2 cm X 19 mm X 4 mm) blade. The quillons measure 1-3/16" (3 cm) tip to tip. It's about .84" (2,1 mm) without the guards and .97" (2,5 mm) with them, depending on whether the builder fully, slightly, or doesn't recess them. The illustration is for 1/8" (3,2 mm) material recessed 1/16" (1,6 mm). Note that as illustrated the liners measure .09375" (2,3 mm) to leave plenty of wall around the .09375" (2,3 mm) lock pin.

Historically, Italian Stilettos have not been known as great slashing weapons and sometimes the blades weren't even tempered. The ability to produce a sharp edge is dictated most by the included angle between the surfaces of the grind; below 25° might be considered sharpenable, above 25° unlikely. This design is extreme and measures a scant 15° not counting the hollow grind. The second factor is blade material. A low carbon steel such as 1018 probably can't be tempered, while 1095, O1 and D2 can be made quite hard. I've always designed for the high end using a good steel, a 5/32" pivot, and 3/32" pins unless the space was critical, then standard 1/16" pins. Bill is right, this one is very radical, but it comes from aesthetic and functional thinking. The grind at the point is flat. The idea here is that 5/32" (4 mm) of good steel is very sturdy by having it full thickness for nearly the entire blade length. This point should penetrate and not break off (perhaps not against a steel drum, but certainly as a weapon.) I design for style and display, not mayhem, but it is possible. A safety could be added,
Dave Sause
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"And you're telling me this because, somehow, I look like I give a shit?"

"Let a smile be your umbrella and you're gonna get your dumb ass wet."
portlandmike
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Re: Tantolizer

Post by portlandmike »

Hey Dave, I think that’s a sweet design. It would look great in brass and dark horn. How do you feel about using brass? Anyway, here is the Frosolone that Dave is referring to...
Made by JimBrown257
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gravknife
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Re: Tantolizer

Post by gravknife »

Dave

I love that tanto blade shape and the knifes overall look.
It was one I would have loved as you know I collect Japanese steel .

Great to see you posting these again.

PortlandMike

Sweet froselone 8) ...that horn is really beautiful .
Another great knife by Jeremy .

Hope your both well .

Ian
sammy the blade
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Re: Tantolizer

Post by sammy the blade »

The grind is different, usefull or not I like the looks of it!
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ILikeStilettos
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Re: Tantolizer

Post by ILikeStilettos »

The knife PortlandMike so graciously posted is indeed the one that inspired me and I think it looks awesome in brass and that horn. JimBrown257 should be able to build either of the designs I show here. I just wanted to see them on a larger scale, but Mike, yours is a gem.

Gravknife and Sammy, thanks for the kind words, gents. You're the wind beneath my wings!

This thing was bugging me, it should have fit in a Frosolone handle, so I went back and looked again and did a couple of very minor tweaks. I increased the spine and dropped the point a bit, played with the pivot and superimposed the whole thing on a frosolone handle. The angles changed a bit, and rotated things to normalize them to horizontal. Here's what it should have looked like to start with. I did make it exposed rocker rather than concealed rocker, but Jeremy should be able to do most anything on the fly. Here is the one I call the Tantalone.

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Dave Sause
oldandfat@cox.net
(405) 694-3690

"And you're telling me this because, somehow, I look like I give a shit?"

"Let a smile be your umbrella and you're gonna get your dumb ass wet."
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picklocksrock
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Re: Tantolizer

Post by picklocksrock »

portlandmike wrote: Mon May 13, 2019 1:25 pm Hey Dave, I think that’s a sweet design. It would look great in brass and dark horn. How do you feel about using brass? Anyway, here is the Frosolone that Dave is referring to...
Made by JimBrown257
I really like that one!
“Tough times never last, but tough people do”
-Robert H. Shuller
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ILikeStilettos
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Re: Tantolizer

Post by ILikeStilettos »

picklocksrock wrote: Wed May 29, 2019 9:53 pm
portlandmike wrote: Mon May 13, 2019 1:25 pm Hey Dave, I think that’s a sweet design. It would look great in brass and dark horn. How do you feel about using brass? Anyway, here is the Frosolone that Dave is referring to...
Made by JimBrown257
I really like that one!
Sounds great, and Jeremy is just the guy to pull it off!
Dave Sause
oldandfat@cox.net
(405) 694-3690

"And you're telling me this because, somehow, I look like I give a shit?"

"Let a smile be your umbrella and you're gonna get your dumb ass wet."
Fishtail Picklock
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Re: Tantolizer

Post by Fishtail Picklock »

Impressive! That is SO nice!
Fishtail Picklock
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