Folder Making tutorials

[Messinger]

The things that have been most helpful for me have been:
1. Don's book
2. Ray's site
3. DRAWING DOZENS of patterns, transferring them to plastic sheet (or other quick-finishing template material), cutting, sanding, drilling, and assembling them with dowel pins, studying and refining.
4. learning from mistakes

The great thing about #3 is you can do it so quickly. You can go from paper to 'toy knife' in 10 minutes. And you'll know why it does or doesn't look and function to the expectations of your original inspiration. When it goes wrong it's no big loss (of time or material). When you get it dialed-in THEN start cutting metal, and expect fewer surprises.

-Ben

ps - detent ball tip: I saw your detent thread. If setting the necessary ball size and seat depth results in some of the ball protruding out the back of the hole just sand the back of the lock (putting a flat on the back of the ball) until it's flush with the back of the liner or it can get pinched between blade and bolster causing binding as you pivot the blade.

[Txcwboy]

As I recall, Don once told me his way was to drill the detent hole and ball at the same time. I forgot and I stuck the ball in. SO I was just asking if I could knock the ball out drill thru the hole into the blade to make the divet then reinstall the ball without any complications. I found my BOB T book and I will get MY WAY as soon as I procure employment again

Thanks

Dave

[Brett Holmes]

it takes a bit of efort to wade through all the other posts, but read the thread where don makes a barlow liner lock, theres some great info in there, its 99% of a tutorial.
brett

[Txcwboy]

I accidently found this today and it looks real informative . Havent had time to read it all yet.

http://www.herbst.co.za/tutorials/ho...r-lock-folder/

Dave

[MechNinja]

Txcwboy - that accident of yours must have been the best one of the day Thanks for the find!

[Don Robinson]

Originally Posted by Txcwboy

As I recall, Don once told me his way was to drill the detent hole and ball at the same time. I forgot and I stuck the ball in. SO I was just asking if I could knock the ball out drill thru the hole into the blade to make the divet then reinstall the ball without any complications. I found my BOB T book and I will get MY WAY as soon as I procure employment again

Thanks

Dave

Yep, Dave, you can drill thru the detent hole in the lock bar and into or thru the blade, but you must have all the parts fastened together well and in the correct closed position.

[Messinger]

Originally Posted by Don Robinson

Yep, Dave, you can drill thru the detent hole in the lock bar and into or thru the blade, but you must have all the parts fastened together well and in the correct closed position.

The book the book the book (Don's book). I'm telling you it's a must-have. Just last night I was giving it a quick review just to make sure I still have it MEMORIZED accurately. There is no other detent method that is as accurate and positive IMHO. The method also makes the strongest folding-knife IMHO. One of these days I'm going to build one just as a test mule (to be tested to destruction). I'm going use the open knife to bridge a gap between two surfaces and I'm going to hang weights across the pivot/stop-pin plane to see how much it can take before a pin shears or screw-heads pop causing de-lamination of the sandwich. I'm betting I could hang a small-block v8 from the thing.

-Ben (yes, some days I AM a little crazy)

[Txcwboy]

I ll put "MY WAY" on my Xmas list

thanks all

Dave

[Bill Vining]

Everything above is spot on. "The tactical folding knife" shows perfect example of how the liner locking geometries work. Ray's site has some excellent help as well.
Until I got Don's book, I had the most difficult time setting the detent and the stop pin. Now with Don's way becoming my way, I get the perfect fit every time.

Another area I had a hard time with was drawing the original design on paper. It drove me crazy. Draw-cut-test-redraw-cut test and on and on. It took me forever to get something on paper that worked. Then someone told me about "eMachineshop". They are an online machine shop that offeres a FREE CAD system for download. With this system you can draw out your knife and test geometries by rotating the blade on it's pivot. This thing takes about 15 minutes to learn how to use it. Once I am done with a drawing, I simply print it out and glue the drawing to the steel. Instant Patterns!!!


Bill

[Don Robinson]

I've been watching this and grinning my ... off!

Thanks again for the great recommendations.

Bill, "My Way" now comes with a design for a framelock folder included in the price. I decided some time ago to raise the price a little and include the design. It makes everything more clear and as you say, just copy the pages in the design and you have perfect glue-on paper patterns. By changing the scale on the copier you can make the pattern any size you wish.

Make the patterns, glue them on your material, then follow the instructions in the book as you build the knife.

You guys have raised my spirits while I'm recovering from major surgery.

Have a merry Christmas, everybody.

[Txcwboy]

SOLLLLLLD ! I just bought THE BOOK. Not to be confused with THE GOOD BOOK But a close 2nd . Hope I contributed to helping pay for some of those bills ! hehe get well soon Don.

Dave

[Don Robinson]

Well, Dave, if you're a "Wild Cowboy" your book will be sent tomorrow. The post office closed early yesterday, otherwise it would have been sent then.

Thanks. Email me if you have any questions. Any time.

[Frank Niro]

You might like this at howellbladesmith.com Frank

[Txcwboy]

Someone should do a tutorial on using that CAD program and drawing a knife. I downloaded it and watched a few movies but its taken longer than 15 min to learn Bill
I have wanted to be able to use CAD all my life but never had anyone to show me how. Its tough sometimes trial and erroring .

Dave

[Don Robinson]

Dave, I know how you feel.

I worked as an engineer most of my life. The first time I had to learn to use Autocad it took me a solid 7 months to be proficient. That was around 1992. Previous to that, I had always used a drafting board and a calculator.

Autocad and other top of the line software cost tens of thousands to buy, so now I use a simple 2 dimensional program called Deltacad that costs less than $50.00.