Workshop procedures to finish a good one!

I thought I'd share a little of my process for you guys. Remember that I am just like you guys, and this stag DDR-1 is only my third knife, so we ALL could learn something! I am not the expert, just willing to share.

Tools: I am sooooo lucky. I work in a motorcycle dealership with a bunch of stuff, and my best friend who got me into knife collecting (best friend?? Hrrrmmph!), runs an antique furniture repair business/woodworking shop. I started with a couple of large slabs of that stag from knifekits, and started by thinning it down. First I took a rough file and went over the face to get as close to the pattern as I wanted, then I could start thinning out the backside to about 1/4" or less (they come thick). He had a 50g belt on a 6" sander. This stuff stunk up the shop for a DAY!!

Then I roughed out the shape on the flat side with the pattern from the liners, and cut it with his bandsaw. Placement of the profile was key in getting the symmetry.

Next I took the bolsters and set the table at 30* with a disc sander and trimmed them, and THEN I took the scales and did the same. Only now could I fit them in and get my holes aligned. (You will lose length as you slide them into the dovetail, so DON'T do like me and cut them too close. I had to trim my blade about .040" because it was sticking out the back after I met the shortened slabs) I used a 1/64" bit going right through the threaded liner bores into the stag. then I measured the OD of the screws and cut the counterbore from the other side, setting my depth off the table by about .080". Now I could screw the scales onto my liners with the bolsters.

But not before I cut a small backspacer from a supply of his hardwood stock. (This took two attempts ) It is CRUCIAL to get the proper .140" thickness. I used a dial caliper to check my width when doing it on the belt sander.

I drilled the backspacer holes and fitted the SS liners, backspacer, and bolsters together with the screws. Now I had the body of the knife with all the slabs intact ready to get down to the level of the liners. I took the project back to my own shop to continue.

I used a 6"x48" belt sander I got from Harbor Freight about ten years ago. It is a POS but it still runs. It has a 3" roller at the bottom to help get into the curves, though. I went over the perimeter and the sides again, and gave the slabs a bevel after the outside was finished.

You like that spacer? So do I. I didn't BUY some, though. I looked around and found a red plastic microfich card separator for holding your place. It's now done with a piece of cardboard!! Just the right thickness. I cut it to size, beveled the edge, and drilled it to the liner. THEN since I have screwed up my geometry, I had to thin out the scales to make sure my holes in the slabs aligned again. Otherwise they would rise up the thickness of the spacer, and the bolster's dovetail would push it out. Aaarrrggh. This led to another small reprofiling of the slabs. I'm a rookie!

Fileworking the blade: First I took the thumbstud off the blade. I decided to stick with the pattern I had already done before, since I liked it and it is the only one I can do right now. But this time, I made sure I inked and measured the spacing (1cm) from stem to stern. This is key on maintaining a consistent pattern. I used a small conical orange stone with 1/8" shaft and a Foredom flex tool. to do my cuts. I did it in about three passes, so I wouldn't go overboard crossing the lines. I held the blade in the vise and did the work with my tool.

BIG TIP! If you are going to do this, buy a set of those magnifying visors. It really brings this work up close to get accuracy to your pattern. I did this with my nose about 4" away from the work! I can't imagine doing it with out some form of close magnification.

Blade finishing: I used 120/180/400 to sand out the blade bevel, and I used the belt sander with dull 240 to do the flats. I set the blade on a piece of flexible cardboard to do the bevels.

I assembled the knife and checked the action and just played with it for a day. I needed a break. It was ready--but not finished. Malcolm gave me some water-based stain to do the scales, as they were a little raw. I soaked and rubbed them to color. It came out well.

I must have drawn twenty different filework designs that I *thought* would be nice. In the end, I found that the files I have were not good enough, and that the liners are a really good SS, so it was very hard. I opted instead to do it with my rotary tools. I took a piece of 8" metal the same thickness, and experimented with a bunch of patterns to get the 'hang' of it. I settled on a 1 1/4" diameter cylindrical stone and the small conical one again. After deciding what looked best, I measured the distances (again at 1cm). Now I took the liners and screwed them together flush. I determined that I would do the OUTSIDE of the liner instead of the INSIDE. Why? I don't know. You be the judge. It's a matter of choice.

I inked up the top edge and a bit of the sides, and scribed my lines on three sides. If you look you will see where I screwed up in my markings by starting 1/8" too far forward. Sigh.

With the experiments, I found I couldn't see my marks with the tool stone bits blocking the view of what it was cutting, so I tried a different approach. I held the rotary tool in the vise and worked the liner into it. NOW I could see my scribes!!! (The Foredom is a flex-shaft machine with a variable speed foot control. It is the very best.) This was soooooo scary to do, because of the potential for disaster. I took my time and did a pretty good job. The magnifiers were REALLY needed here.

Lastly I cut down the thumbstud's diameter, and cut a small crater in the top for a better grip. The original base overlapped my deep filework. Notice my clean screw on the backside? That was because I chucked the backstud out of the lathe onto the dirty floor with an agressive cut. After a half hour I gave up!!!! Necessity is the mutha of all F*CK *PS! (Ooopps, wrong quote! )

That clip needed to go one because the bolsters are drilled, so I looked it over and came up with a theme that would carry over my filework. Measure, scribe, cut. You get it now.

I gave the whole shebang another few assemblies and used a fine abrasive flap roll to go over the clip and the bolsters and the liners. Somewhere along the way I gave the insides a rubbing, too. I also did this on the belt sander to ensure my surfaces were flat.

I drip a little blue or red loctite on the metal bench and take a toothpick to dauber a bit onto the threads of the screws. They are real small. I bought a full set of Torx nut ####### in every size, and you NEED to use them frequently. Please spend the extra money to buy an extra set of screws for roughing and *losing* them!

Whew!! I'm tired once again, but I offer you a glimpse of what it takes to go through this from start to finish. Hope you get something out of it. I need to hear your own tips as many of you might have yet a better way to approach things. I'm all ears!!

Thanks for reading,

Coop

Coop,

Those dovetail bolsters look great but ain't they a bugger.

Thank for the tip on putting the Foredom in a vise and working against it . I have a Foredom but have used files so far.

I got some of the stank (oops, I ment stag) but I haven't used it yet. I'm waiting for one of the new kits.

Thanks for posting you methods, we are all looking for ways to do thing easier? and faster and more precise.

Bob Sigmon