Anatomy of a lockback half-whittler

1fartsmella said:
Ken, That is the coolest custom pattern. I thought it might be helpful, if not interesting to see an old New York Knife Co of the same pattern. Now that I can relate to how hard of a knife it is to manufacture, I now realize why I've never seen another. When I first got it many years ago I thought it might have been a special order knife, but did eventually find a photo of one in a HSB catalog. The master blade on this one is probably about 3/16" short. Check the photo of the catch bit & you can see that the blade probably went a little further. Whoever was the original owner of this knife sure knew how to sharpen, it is still razor sharp. Keep in mind this knife was made between 1880 and 1930.

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Very interesting! I never knew a knife like this was ever made in the old days. They "simply" (because nothing is ever really "simple" with one of these beasts) took their locking whittler and created an extended catch bit that replaced both the unused secondary spring and the center liner, crinked the main blade over, put in a longer secondary blade (which is also a great feature with Ken's version), and possibly tweaked the one remaining spring to act a bit more strongly on the lock - pretty slick. (I would also like to point out the "reverse dovetailing" of the scales and bolsters that is very visible with these shots.)
 
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Barry,

Thanks so much for posting that knife! I find the construction interesting in the fact that the backspring is only as thick as the secondary blade. On the one I am making my backspring is the same width as the locking bar/rocker. When I get back in the shop I will take a few more pictures and post.

Thanks again!

Ken
 
Barry,

How would you rate the closing of the master blade in relation to the pressure required to unlock when the master is open?

Ken
 
ken erickson said:
Barry,

Thanks so much for posting that knife! I find the construction interesting in the fact that the backspring is only as thick as the secondary blade. On the one I am making my backspring is the same width as the locking bar/rocker. When I get back in the shop I will take a few more pictures and post.

Thanks again!

Ken
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I'm thinking NYKCo made it this way as the cheapest way to make it for a medium production run. If it had been a short run, I would have expected them to just keep both secondary springs as they were and use the normal sort of short, thick catch bit in place of the blade tang on the unused (except for the lockbar) spring. For a long run or general production pattern, they probably would have redesigned it with a somewhat thinner main blade tang and used a single spring (now not so thick with a thinner main blade) and a normal catch bit for the secondary blade.

-- Dwight
 
The cool thing about Barry's NYK using the thin backspring is that there is more room for the master blade edge. On the Tony Bose/Case with a center spacer and two backsprings the master blade center lays between the two springs. The master can be sunk very low with very close tolerances between the sharpened edge and spacer or spring as there is no follow through with the kick resting on the locking bar/rocker right above the pivot.

Ken
 
When in the open position the blade is tight & locked solidly. To release you need to apply a good amount of pressure to the release to unlock the blade. In other words it is not going to unlock by accident. At the same time it doesn't leave a crease in the thumb when unlocking. Upon closing, the blade has good snap not super strong but not at all weak. The knife is tight and has been well taken care of during it's "user" life. I hope this answers your question. Barry
 
1fartsmella said:
I hope this answers your question. Barry
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Very much so, Thanks Barry.

Sounds very similar to how this one works. You can pluck the master without any problems and locks open with a very positive "snap"

Ken
 
Men, if it was easy there would be a bunch of girls doing it. These LBW are fun to make, right Ken?
 
Tony Bose said:
These LBW are fun to make, right Ken?
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When I came in from the shop yesterday my wife told me she heard salty language(our term for cussing) coming from me. I honestly do not remember, LOL. Actually I am having fun.

I wanted to thank everyone for the input in this thread. I started by trying to educate but ended up learning . :thumbup:
 
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Tony Bose said:
Men, if it was easy there would be a bunch of girls doing it. These LBW are fun to make, right Ken?
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Darla: Oh Tony, I bet it's not ever so difficult to make a lockback whittler...

Zerogee (to himself): Man, why does he get all the girls!?!


;)


:p
 
Blues said:
Darla: Oh Tony, I bet it's not ever so difficult to make a lockback whittler...
Zerogee (to himself): Man, why does he get all the girls!?!

;)

:p
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Yep, that's how it goes - the Old Dog works those sexy whiskers and the smooth talk and the rest of us don't have a chance.
;)
 
Here are a few pictures of the finished knife. Please feel free to give any criticisms or suggestions, this being the prototype.

Thanks for all the input on this thread!

Ken

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"
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Sorry for the poor pictures on this one, I was having a "bad picture day"
 
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That's an impressive piece of hardware, Ken! Be worth at least a few $ gig-a-bucks imho! ;)
 
Looks great! I like the nice round, almost "barrel" cross section of the handle. My biggest gripe with modern customs is when they wind up square and blocky.
The two sizes of Clip blade are great also, although I would prefer one to be a Sheepfoot or Wharncliffe. Ebony is such beautiful stuff; nice choice.
 
waynorth said:
Can you show us the blades closed, Ken? ;)
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As much grief as I give you Charlie, I should have known better! LOL Added a picture looking down, with the blades closed. Even though the secondary blade thickness was kept at .093 there is plenty of clearance on all sides.(no blade rub) When working out the details on this knife I was asked to keep the small clip relatively robust.

By the way this knife is D2 and forgot to put it on my scale before sending it out:grumpy:;)
 
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ken erickson said:
As much grief as I give you Charlie, I should have known better! LOL Added a picture looking down, with the blades closed. Even though the secondary blade thickness was kept at .093 there is plenty of clearance on all sides.(no blade rub) When working out the details on this knife I was asked to keep the small clip relatively robust.

By the way this knife is D2 and forgot to put it on my scale before sending it out:grumpy:;)
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Nicely "nested"!!! You've done a great job on this one Ken. I suspect the new owner will be mighty proud!
 
I am just sitting here shaking my head. Incredible and great looking too.

That just looks like a bear of a project to take on.
 
Talk about nailing it on the first try. That's one fine lookin' knife!
 
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