A New York Special WIP **VIDEO ADDED**

[TK Steingass]

Greetings All:

Joe Paranee asked me to do a WIP on the Loveless Style New York Special I'm making for him - it's been a few years since I've done one so maybe it's time. The photos in this WIP are how this old Warhorse makes a knife - I'm not saying it's the best way - it's just my way. Feel free to comment along the way and don't be afraid to ask questions.

This is my second shop - I built it 3 1/2 years ago when Susan and I moved to Maine....18 x 24 building with R69 insulation in the ceiling - R23 in the walls. It's heated and cooled by a Fujitsu heat pump so I don't have to mess with a wood stove. Recessed lighting and light painted walls and ceiling to maximize lighting. It's situated high up on a hill, next to the house - my workbench has three windows which overlook pristine 700 acre Silver Lake, the drinking water supply for Bucksport, Maine


Now on to the knife. I will use .187" thick CPM-154 stock, 1 1/4" wide for the knife. After being cut to length the stock is ground flat with my TW-90 using a 60 grit belt. On my machine I can achieve parallel to .001" - good enough for this application.

The blade will eventually go into the heat treat oven rough ground at 60 grit. Next is the layout of the pattern and grinding of the profile. The TW-90 is then set up to grind the tighter radius curves in the handle. I used 1/2" small diameter wheel on my TW-90 (great, versatile machine BTW).







Now it's time for the biggest dust generator in my shop - the disc grinder. I use a 2HP variable speed 12" Burr King grinder to grind the profiles at a true 90 degrees - when I ground the initial profile.Here's a photo of the dust collection system I use for the disc grinder - I use an old Kirby Legend to draw on my partially water filled bucket - the water is necessary because I grind, wood, steel, bone, my fingernails and knuckles - we don't want any sparks igniting the metal/wood dust in the bucket, do we?





Next I'll drill out the lanyard and corby rivet holes using a letter F drill bit. The F size is .257" diameter - inserting a .250" lanyard tube into a .257" hole puts a lot less stress on the material around the lanyard hole and prevents splitting of the scale material between the back of the lanyard tube and butt of the handle.

For the guard, I'll be using 416 stainless with 416 stainless rod - I will surface grind the guard to a thickness of .185" - the side that mates with the scales will be ground to 120 grit - the side that will be soldered is progressively ground using gator belts to 800 grit. I like the gator belts because they last four times longer and there's no spline jump off the platen. The orientation of the guard face to the belt movement will be vertical/120 grit, then offset 30 degrees/220 grit, vertical/400 grit, offset 30 degrees/600 grit, then finally vertical/800 grit cork belt. I find that by varying the orientation of the guard face with each grit, I see when all the previous scratches are ground out - I will then buff to mirror using green matchless at 3600 rpm. This methodology is also used for finishing the flats and prevents a washboard effect when harsh light is reflected off the surface.

More tomorrow gentlemen - it's getting late and I'm fighting the typo monster.

 

[Steve Nuckels]

TK, thanks for the glimpse into your "Special" piece of paradise, and your very nice shop. Looking forward to this WIP. You are a excellent maker and prolific in your production. It will be interesting watching your time line as you proceed.

Joe is a great guy, glad to see you working with him, and see what you two come up with! I will be watching with great interest. Now get some sleep!

Steve
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Member, W.F. Moran Jr. Foundation
ABS Apprentice

 

[Sled]

Going to be a great WIP. Spent lots of time in Maine, Canoed the Allagash and several other rivers up there. You have a beautiful spot...that's for sure! Love your knives TK someday I'll own one.

 

[JParanee]

Very exciting

I have long admired TK's work

When he posted what I thought to be a stunning rendition of the NY Special which is my favorite design in the Loveless genre I asked if it was available ..... of course it was not

Well this leads to now

On to why I like this design so much

Many we will recall in years past I have had a pention for larger defensive blades but alas these days I find myself in more urban jungles than than exotic ones even though I did just get back from Panama a few moths ago

My point is I'm is suits more these days and I've really scaled down my carry pieces

The NY Special to me exemplifies the compact defensive blade

Svelte and clean it is the blade that really started the small defensive concealable blade genre in my opinion

I find it very interesting that a lot of very elite warriors are leaning toward compact guard-less style designs

The Blood Shark is one

Dom Raso of former Seal team 6 fame and Dan Winkler just came out with a small guard-less style blade shown here that takes a huge styling and size que from the Lovelss NY Special

[video=youtube;dv-_ge-4RnY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv-_ge-4RnY[/video]

The NY Special is such a refined version and after all these years still in my opinion leads this pack of smaller self defense blades and I do not think anyone is doing a better version than TK

This one will be done in White Micarta scales and black leather to match one my EDC Carry pieces







The grips in these pics look whiter than they are

TK thank you for putting me on the list my friend looking forward to this and also in doing a video review when I get it

They piece will be on display at Blade this year for those that want to see it in person

 

[JParanee]

Btw

TK

I was so excited to see this started I forgot to say

You have a beautiful place there buddy

 

[TK Steingass]

Love it up here in Maine - we got two feet of snow during the last Noreaster - here's a view of the house up from the lake.....the shop is just off to the left. The neighbors refer to my place as the one up on the hill with the "driveway from hell." . Appreciate the kind words fellas.



Next step is to cut the recess in the blade for the guard.....here's the blade set up in my Clausing 8530 vertical mill. The slot was cut .005" undersize at .180" for the .185" guard thickness as insurance against lash in the vertical mill.



A few file swipes on the slot shoulders will just get the guard in - then I'll round the bottom of the slot in the blade to mate with matching bottom of the slot in the guard.



Next step is to layout the rough grind lines on my surface plate with a height gage. The blade is .187" thick, divided by 2, minus .025" leaving a height of .0685" - this will leave two marked lines centered, .050" apart. After heat treat, the primaries will be ground to about .030". I do it this way in case there's a surface depression in the ricasso that may have to be ground out after the forced air quench in my quench plate clamp. The clamp keeps the blade straight but runs the risk of messing up the ricasso. Being rough ground at 60 grit and rough grinding to .050" provides insurance that the primary hollow grounds can be centered on the blade when they're finish ground. I also mark the grind lines with the same measured height on the rear of the tang for the taper.



Now it's time to mill the blade slot in the guard - it will be centered, at .187" wide. The slot must be deep enough to leave the guard about .025" proud above the spine for reasons I'll discuss later.



The guard is placed on the blade and two 1/16" holes are drilled through for the guard pins.



Time to rough grind the primary hollows - I use Bruce Bump's file guide to keep all four corners closely matching - since I grind on a 2" wheel, I just barely have enough clearance for the guide screws to clear the sides of the wheel holder- I had to grind down the file guide screws a bit to accomplish this. I set the guide to give a 3/8" wide ricasso on this knife. On the bigger Loveless styles I'll go with a 1/2 ricasso width. I've done it without the file guide but I find it faster to use the guide as a stop for the rough plunge cuts, then finish grind the plunge cuts with a J weight 220 grit belt after heat treatment.



Now its time to hollow grind the tang - the first step is to cut notches in the rear of the tang down to the .050" scribe lines I placed with the height gage. Then the tang is hollow ground with a 2" wheel leaving about 3/8" land along the spine and handle. The late Bill Davis told me he grinds his tapers after heat treatment. I do too in part, but I hollow grind the tang prior to heat treatment so there's material to help keep the blade straight but less to remove during the taper process after heat treatment. The blade is now ready for heat treatment - a foil wrap and into the oven it goes. I heat treat for maximum toughness and edge retention and that's all I'll say. This cowboy is smart enough not to discuss religion, politics, or heat treat methodology outside of his own immediate family.

 

[john april]

awesome ! nice shop & house.

 

[Robert Dark]

Nice place you have there TK. I still have a couple of those old dinosaur Kirbys (yea, I know... I never throw anything away). Your setup has gotten my tired old brain gears to spinning.

Thanks for the WIP. Geezers like me can always learn new tricks.

 

[AVigil]

Loving it!

Thank you for sharing this.

 

[Erin Burke]

Next the tang is hollow ground with a 2" wheel leaving about 3/8" land along the spine and handle. The late Bill Davis told me he grinds his tapers after heat treatment. I do too in part, but I hollow grind the tang prior to heat treatment so there's material to help keep the blade straight but less to remove during the taper process after heat treatment.

This is a great tidbit here. :thumbup:
Thanks for sharing your process.

Erin

 

[JParanee]

Great stuff TK

Just a note to reflect back on my last thread .....When is it time for a deposit ?

I reached out to TK to request his payment info so that I could forward full payment

He politely declined and said when it's done you can pay me

A true gentleman

 

[AVigil]

Great stuff TK

Just a note to reflect back on my last thread .....When is it time for a deposit ?

I reached out to TK to request his payment info so that I could forward full payment

He politely declined and said when it's done you can pay me

A true gentleman

If you disappear we all know where to find you

 

[Scott Hanson]

Nice clean shop in a beautiful area, I'll be looking forward to future posts, thanks for sharing.

 

[TK Steingass]

Thanks for the WIP. Geezers like me can always learn new tricks.

Robert - From one old geezer to another, always a pleasure my friend.

 

[Steve Nuckels]

Very good stuff!

Thanks for taking the time!

Steve
----------
Member, W.F. Moran Jr. Foundation
ABS Apprentice

 

[Dangerously]

I've eaten off plates dirtier than that shop.

 

[JParanee]

If you disappear we all know where to find you

I'm easy to find that's for sure

 

[Matthew Gregory]

Excellent work in process!!!!

I have grinder envy.

 

[TK Steingass]

Now that I'm out of heat treat, I rough grind the tang. The reason I do it in this order is to minimize the amount of material I have to flatten and polish on the flats. My 2HP reversible Burr King 12" variable speed grinder is what I use cause nothing gets it flatter than a disc grinder - it does not have the 1 degree bevel and I still use it to flatten bowie blades - just lift up a little on the tip. RW Wilson taught me how to flatten a tang and it works good for me.

The distance between the disc and the work rest is too wide which causes the knife to get sucked into the grinder (don't ask me how I figured this out). I made up a spacer plate to drop in to narrow the gap and give more surface for the spine to rest on when grinding. I use a metal push plate - wood just gets too hot, burns and doesn't keep a true 90 degree.









I'll grind down to the notch in the handle butt and when near it, keeping pressure on the push bar, work the grind up the tang by pushing the point of the blade. I use a fresh 60 grit ceramic disc and grind to just behind the guard notch. If I grind the tang too thin at the butt, it's recoverable by simply grinding about .005" off the butt after the scales are applied to show more tang.




Now it's time for the flats - since I ground down the tang, I have a lot less material to flatten. I use my good old Coote grinder with a ceramic platen and go 120, 220, 320, 400 grit gator belt , then 600, 800 cork belt. Each grit change is alternated between parallel to belt travel and 30 degree offset to assure previous grinding marks are removed.



Then I buff the flats out to mirror using green matchlesss on a 3600 rpm sewn buffing wheel. I use harsh light to see if the washboard is removed - I wear a glove on the hand holding the blade because it gets so hot I can't hold it with my bare hand - this amount of pressure is necessary to achieve a good mirror. In RW Wilson's shop he put so much pressure on the blade when buffing he has to cool it with water.

Next, I final grind the primaries. Same drill: 60, 120, 220, 400 grit gator belt, 600, 800 grit cork. Now for the tedious part......you can't alternate the grind orientation like on a flat so I alternate green chrome buffing with a four year old 600 grit cork belt loaded with green matchless. This is SR Johnson's method......I've had this belt so long I named it Pig's Snout because I can't wear it out. .

I only work and buff the bevels and stay away for the flats (which are done) to get a crisper looking grind on the final product. Here's the sequence with green matchless: 3600 spiral sewn buff, 3600 loose buff, harsh light to find scratches, Pig's Snout with green matchless. I work one bevel at a time and keep both machines running until I get a true mirror under harsh light with no ripples. There are other ways of getting a good mirror I'm sure, but this works for me - it took me about three years before I was happy with my method and the results.

Now that the bevels and flats are done - one final tang grind with 120 grit disc all the way up to the guard notch - I check the tang with a straight edge to make sure it's dead flat. Time to solder the guard on.

 

[TK Steingass]

Now it's time for installing the guard - prior to assembly everything has to be hospital clean with acetone to get a good solder joint. The pins are peened and pressed with a six ton press. Since this guard is 3/16" thick with 1/16" pins, I can get away without tapering the holes in the guard. When I use 3/32" and 1/8" pins in thicker guards, I taper the holes to eliminate the dreaded circle around the pin that you'll get if you don't taper the holes.

Earlier I said I leave the guard about .025" proud above the spine - this proud area is then peened to get a frog's ass tight seam where the guard is exposed along the sides of the tang after the spine is finished. I use the same method for my subhilts too.



Solder time! Here's what I use to solder: cap full of Stay Clean liquid flux with the main bottle set aside where I won't knock it over :grumpy:, two 1/8" sections of solder cleaned with acetone, one 1/16" stainless rod to work the molten flux cleaned with acetone, tweezer to place the flux along the joint, and a 1/8" nickel silver rod placed in a scribe holder. A 45 degree bevel is ground on the rod to machine the solder joint after it sets up.....Charles Vestal taught me this. My buddy Schuyler Lovestrand uses a square brass bar to machine his solder joints - I prefer a more radiused look so I use the 1/8" nickel silver rod - brass works too but the burr doesn't last as long as nickel silver.





The 1/16" stainless rod is dipped in the flux and a bead of flux is placed along the solder joint - then the solder is placed on both sides with the tweezers. If I'm sloppy with the flux, I have more solder to clean off. I heat under the guard with my propane torch until the solder just begins to melt - by dipping the stainless rod in flux, I'll use it to pull the molten solder all the way around the knife/guard joint. Finally, I'll work the whole molten joint with the stainless rod to remove any pin-holes. Here's the as-soldered joint just prior to machining it with my nickel silver rod:



After radiusing the solder joint with the nickel silver rod - I'll buff the solder joint in an 1800 rpm buffer using black hard cut on a narrow spiral sewn wheel.



Here's the finished solder joint - I like a nicely executed solder joint - to me it just shouts QUALITY. Then the whole knife is boiled in a secret recipe of Dawn and Baking Soda to neutralize the flux acid. This is a proprietary recipe that I have a patent on.