Liner Lock Finally

I will show you how I make my "knives of liner lock design". I thank several people for steering me in the right direction and save my scrap pile from getting any larger than it already was. Johnny Stout had a great liner lock class at his hammer in, and Craig Shelton gave me a one day rundown. Everything else is trial and error. Nothing compares to seeing it in person. There is a certain sequence of events that need to be adhered to to make things work. i.e... drill your bolsters before you tap your liners for them, don't drill for clearance on both liners, just one, etc...

Make a design in manilla or cardboard. I use Mylar. You can find it at Hobby Lobby or Michaels... Look for clearances open and closed, stop pin placement, closed position. Move pivot till it is in the best position for everything to clear and close. I've heard of 60/40 formulas, calculations, etc..., but I just put the pivot a little below center. The mylar works great and you can move the knife open, closed, anywhere in between and allows you to correct unforseen problems before you invest the time as well as steel and Ti.

Sorry about the delay, seems to be working now...

Lay out your pattern on Ti. I use layout fluid/spray and a scribe on .050" 6al4v. I leave a little extra on the front of the liners and on the back of the blade. I like my blade to just get out of site under the bolster in the closed position. After heat treat, I can shave a little at a time till I get a good fit and lockup. You can always take a little more off, but you can't put it back.

Clamp liners together and rough to shape. For those that have ground Ti, you'll know what I mean. If you haven't, here goes. Don't run your vacuum, wear a resp and an apron (stuff tends to catch afire, namely you and your clothes), use fresh belts, sharp bits, etc...
Mark & centerpunch, your holes, then drill the pivot to 3/16", and ream to size. Any other drilling will be done with both liners clamped AND pivot pin in place.

Lay out stop pin. I use 1/8 hardened dowels from Rex, MSC, all the big knife suppliers...
I leave the stop pin down from back of knife some to allow a little room for final shaping.

I picked up a tip from Art Washburn about stability and tolerence in a liner lock. Drill for a dowel between your first 2 spine screws (should be 1/16"). With just a little slop in your 0-80 screw holes or countersink, your knife will go together a little different every time. This dowel keeps things rigid and the knife will not twist on you. I am using a 1/8" pin on this knife, but have some 1/16 dowels on order for future applications. Note pivot pin and stop pin in place...



I'd like to mention something about the drill press... Don't assume it driils straight perpendicular holes or that your bits make round holes. I use cobalt bits and go through them regularly. Gotta have both.

The spine is sandwhiched by the liners. On larger blades I use 3 screws along the spine, on smaller, 2. With my pivot, stop pin, and dowel in place and clamped, I can now drill my spine screw holes to 0-80 tap size. I use a #55.

While I'm here, I drill my bolster holes and scale holes.

I lay out and rough out my spine material(Devin's ladder in this case), drill a 1/8" hole where I want the stop pin, assemble with the stop pin, and clamp to liners.

I now drill my dowel hole through liners into my spine material.

I Install my dowel and drill my 0-80 tap size along the spine.

Notice that all holes drilled are done with the pivot, stop pin, and dowel in place.

With my liners basicall laid out, I layout, scribe, and rough out my blade(again, Devin's).

I centerpunch my pivot hole in the blade.

note: I usually use my mylar pattern and punch through it with my centerpunch. Whatever works for you.

Drill to 3/16"...



...then ream

Almost forgot to mention, but I feel it is pretty important. In between grinding, drilling, tapping sequences, I use a granite block and a sheet of 220g paper to keep the burrs knocked down.



I've heard of makers using glass, or any flat surface... I use a big chunk of granite also doubles for my leather working.

Now it's starting to come together. I test fit, checking for clearance around the stop pin, opened and closed orientation.



Here you see I'll need to trim a little off the bottom and back of the blade to clear the stop pin.