How to make a liner lock folder - need guidance

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Musicman88

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Sep 25, 2020
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Hey peeps, so I make fixed blades and wanted to look into making a folder. Ive gone and searched the internet for some tutorials and even found some but i have questions… and what better place to ask those questions than the forums!

Do i need to use titanium for the liner? Its bloody expensive, cant i use 420 instead? If i do use SS do i need to harden it? Is it even possible to harden stainless with a coal forge?

As always I appreciate the input but will probably have more questions so please bare with me!
 
Stainless is fine.
It should be hardened, but not as hard as a blade.
Hopefully, Bill or one of the folder guys will chime in soon.
 
A good learning tool if you are new to folders is to get a good quality kit and use it as a guide for making yours.
Jantz sells the K605 kit, which is a very typical liner lock folder. The KV605M is a slightly smaller version of the same type knife.
knifemaking.com

605 Locking Liner Folder

Purchase The Locker Liner Folder Blade Kit for the blade you need to cut through materials quickly and accurately. This kit includes the blade, belt clip, and more.
knifemaking.com knifemaking.com
 
Musicman88 said:
Hey peeps, so I make fixed blades and wanted to look into making a folder. Ive gone and searched the internet for some tutorials and even found some but i have questions… and what better place to ask those questions than the forums!

Do i need to use titanium for the liner? Its bloody expensive, cant i use 420 instead? If i do use SS do i need to harden it? Is it even possible to harden stainless with a coal forge?

As always I appreciate the input but will probably have more questions so please bare with me!
Click to expand...
Start with the cheapest material you can find or you have. When you make ten fully functional knives in a row you are ready to destroy several titanium plate and expensive steel in which you put lot of time and lot of sweat..............and then you will realize how bloody cheap/expensive titanium is :)
 
I wouldn't worry about hardening the liners on your first few. It's doubtful that 99% of your typical off the shelf liner locks have hardened liners anyway.
As for hardening them in a coal forge, the data sheets recommend a pretty long soak for 410 and 420 stainless. That said, a lot of makers just spot harden by heating with a hand torch and quenching with air or in oil.

You might also keep an eye out on eBay for some better prices on "scraps" of titanium. Lots of guys are selling drops or cut offs that are still good sizes for the average knife scale, and they're often not very expensive, compared to even a new sheet of 410 or 420 stainless. You might have to clean them up a little bit, but they're usually not terrible.
 
Thanks for the info Drew, I make knives for myself mostly more of a functional art form rather than a business so nice to hear that i can spot treat stainless. Do you reckon i can get a desirable hrc for the liner in the coal forge? I know stainless needs long soaking but i also know that my forge can damage the metal and having no indication of temp ive never really dared do any stainless steel work. I mostly work with o1 1095 and o2 so im a newbie with stainless.

When making the cut out for the lock, do i have to bend it? How does that work? :S That part confuses me a little.

I can get a sheet of 420hc 168 x 1,5 x 1000 mm for 13euros and titanium grade 5 (ta6v) 125 x 1.5 x 500 mm for 57euros.
 
Looks like an incredible resource! However living in the EU and seeing the cost price on amazon, it would probably cost more for the book than the materials :s including ceramic balls washers pivot pins and screws
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
A good learning tool if you are new to folders is to get a good quality kit and use it as a guide for making yours.
Jantz sells the K605 kit, which is a very typical liner lock folder. The KV605M is a slightly smaller version of the same type knife.
knifemaking.com

605 Locking Liner Folder

Purchase The Locker Liner Folder Blade Kit for the blade you need to cut through materials quickly and accurately. This kit includes the blade, belt clip, and more.
knifemaking.com knifemaking.com
Click to expand...
I actually dismantled a fox training knife i used for escrima, wondering mosty how the lifted liner is done, i mean the lock.
 

Build a linerlock

I thought Id do a pictorial of a linerlock Im making, might be useful to some, so here we go: Here are the basic parts, roughly cut out. Theyre all a little oversized so I can grind them all down together for a tight fit. Step 1 is drilling all the holes in one of the liners; Im...
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com

Here's one of the better liner lock WIP/Tutorials I've seen. Yes you will need to bend the locking portion of the liner. You can do a gradual bend along the length of the lock, or you can make a more localized bend down at the bottom of the slot that you cut. You want the locking portion of the lock side liner to bend toward the opposite liner. If your geometry is correct, the blade tang should keep the lock tab from touching the opposite liner.

As for heating your liner in the forge, I suppose it's possible to do a "quick" heat and quench and still raise your hardness enough to be an improvement. You can then temper in any old toaster oven or do a quick temper in your forge. It won't be as good as a proper heat treat, but still a little better than nothing, IMO.
I know some guys stick a piece of pipe in their forge as a "baffle" to help even out the heat. The liner would go inside the pipe, and the forge would heat the pipe from the outside.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
A good learning tool if you are new to folders is to get a good quality kit and use it as a guide for making yours.
Jantz sells the K605 kit, which is a very typical liner lock folder. The KV605M is a slightly smaller version of the same type knife.
knifemaking.com

605 Locking Liner Folder

Purchase The Locker Liner Folder Blade Kit for the blade you need to cut through materials quickly and accurately. This kit includes the blade, belt clip, and more.
knifemaking.com knifemaking.com
Click to expand...
I certainly hope this kit is better than a lock back kit I bought from Jantz years ago. I really thought I'd get some useable parts patterns. The pins literally came in the shape of a C and none of the sizes that worked with the kit. I put it away thinking maybe someday I'd figure it out. To say I was disappointed was a understatement. I knew it would be a "kit" but at least figured it could be something I could assemble with trail and error. And the instructions down right SUCKED
Click to expand...
 
Drew Riley said:

Build a linerlock

I thought Id do a pictorial of a linerlock Im making, might be useful to some, so here we go: Here are the basic parts, roughly cut out. Theyre all a little oversized so I can grind them all down together for a tight fit. Step 1 is drilling all the holes in one of the liners; Im...
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com

Here's one of the better liner lock WIP/Tutorials I've seen. Yes you will need to bend the locking portion of the liner. You can do a gradual bend along the length of the lock, or you can make a more localized bend down at the bottom of the slot that you cut. You want the locking portion of the lock side liner to bend toward the opposite liner. If your geometry is correct, the blade tang should keep the lock tab from touching the opposite liner.

As for heating your liner in the forge, I suppose it's possible to do a "quick" heat and quench and still raise your hardness enough to be an improvement. You can then temper in any old toaster oven or do a quick temper in your forge. It won't be as good as a proper heat treat, but still a little better than nothing, IMO.
I know some guys stick a piece of pipe in their forge as a "baffle" to help even out the heat. The liner would go inside the pipe, and the forge would heat the pipe from the outside.
Click to expand...
This is a great thread, thanks so much Drew. How come the user was banned?
 
Musicman88 said:
Looks like an incredible resource! However living in the EU and seeing the cost price on amazon, it would probably cost more for the book than the materials :s including ceramic balls washers pivot pins and screws
Click to expand...
The amazon price is out of sight because it is out of print.
Get it direct from his website.

The geometry lesson is vital.

How much $ in materials do you think you will waste to relearn what he knows ?

there is a crappy scan on the webs, but get the book.
 
12345678910 said:
The amazon price is out of sight because it is out of print.
Get it direct from his website.

The geometry lesson is vital.

How much $ in materials do you think you will waste to relearn what he knows ?

there is a crappy scan on the webs, but get the book.
Click to expand...
Its out of stock from the website. I agree that its important to get knowledge from people who have mastered the art I just think (and this is from personal experience) that considering the costs, i would rather get hands on experience from trial and error, even if i mess up 1-2-3 out of 5 blades (which will cost me around 100eu steel washers pivots etc) than spend 80 including import tax to get the book which will immediate cost me an additional 100 to get the materials. There are also more resources online that i can utilize that are free. Just came here to ask some good folks about some tips :)
 
Go to usaknifemaker.com, he has some hardened templates for liner lock knives. He also has a 5 part video series that shows you step by step how/why to do stuff. Can't beat it.
 
Musicman88 said:
This is a great thread, thanks so much Drew. How come the user was banned?
Click to expand...
Not to derail your thread, but long story very short: He's a better knifemaker than a businessman. He took deposits on way more knives than he had an ability to make, and then he all but stopped communicating with his customers. IIRC, he was banned after multiple messages asking for updates went unanswered.

He still puts together a pretty dang good tutorial/WIP though. ;)
 
Drew Riley said:
Not to derail your thread, but long story very short: He's a better knifemaker than a businessman. He took deposits on way more knives than he had an ability to make, and then he all but stopped communicating with his customers. IIRC, he was banned after multiple messages asking for updates went unanswered.

He still puts together a pretty dang good tutorial/WIP though. ;)
Click to expand...
 
I understand the difficulty and expense to acquire Bob's book, but I'll still say it's still good advice. Understandable if you can't find a copy reasonably, but in case you ever get the opportunity...You def will benefit from some resource that discusses folder geometry, locking face angles, etc.
Also, I'd recommend ti because I think its easier to achieve good results than stainless. The lock is a spring, so I'm not sure how you'd heat treat 420 in a coal forge reliably - doesn't mean you can't, I just wouldn't put myself through that. I have also not had good luck with discount titanium for to warps or bends which invariably put pressure on the blade at the pivot and kicks the tip off center. I do have a buddy that uses whatever is cheapest, I just got frustrated with it.

Best of luck!!
 
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