How much more difficult is it to build a folder?

[rnhood]

There seems to be far more fixed blade knives than folders in the custom theater. I assume the primary reason is that building a quality folder is more difficult than building a quality fixed blade. But, I could be wrong. Perhaps the demand for a fixed blade is stronger. Or, maybe I am just not looking hard enough at what all is available.

I guess my question is: Is it more difficult to build a folder all things being equal?

 

[Keith Montgomery]

That depends. Fixed blades can be very difficult to make, and some folders are quite simple to make. Overall though, folders are more more difficult to make. You have to make sure the action is smooth, there is no blade play, the blade centers when closed and the lock performs properly (unless it is a slipjoint of course). Slipjoints have their own set of problems, with the back springs and getting the walk and talk right. You don't see many makers that start out making folders. Most learn on fixed blades and then graduate to folders.

 

[RJ Martin]

Keith makes some good points. The skillset is certainly different between fixed blades and folders. So are the tools and equipment needed to produce them. Without my surface grinder and milling machine and several specialty fixtures I designed and built (using the surface grinder and milling machine!), I could not produce folders with consistent, repeatable reliability.
Then, there is the machining aspect, which is paramount when you throw Titanium into the mix. Tapping heads, carbide tooling, flood cooling, etc.
This adds up to big money in a hurry.

 

[BladeGoblin]

R.J.

I enjoyed reading your response, it's great to see you on the forum.


Anthony



My personal favorite.

 

[tom mayo]

Well, beside the fact that you have to be an accomplished knifemaker in the first place if you are going to make a proper knife; and there are at the very least, approximately 11 more parts in a folder than a stiff knife; and there are about 6 precision machine operations that are not required in a stiff knife...........everything is just about the same!!!!!

 

[the possum]

I can see them as both difficult depending on what you want to compare. Yeah, with the folder you have the mechanisms and moving parts to worry about. But keeping the grinds perfectly straight and even on a great big fixed blade, without having any dips or ripples in all that surface, presents its own set of challenges too. Instead of carefully fitting moving parts, with a big fixed blade I spend my time hand sanding out every scratch on perhaps ten or twelve times more surface area than a folder blade has, knowing that one slip in all those thousands of strokes could ruin the crispness of the lines.

I once made a miniature slipjoint folder in one day and night. With the equipment I currently have, there just ain't no way I could ever do that with a great big bowie. So again, I guess it depends on what you want to compare.

 

[Don Hanson III]

I will spend more time on a larger carbon steel bowie than I will on a small/med damascus folder and with more difficulty in the bowie but then agian, I've built alot more folders than bowies. For customs over $400, I will have to say there are more folders being made. This is based on what I see at shows and dealer sites, although most of the knives shown and talked about here are fixed blades and mostly forged.