How To My First Frame lock Knife! (PIC HEAVY)

[Hellawell Knives]

I believe this is my first post. I've been lurking around for a while mostly from google as I was researching frame locks. Anyways I have been wanting to make a framel ock for months now and have finally gathered all the tools and materials needed to start. Please don't ask me how much I've had to spend to gather such tools and materials as the wife might find out and I'll be out of a home! I'll be honest and say that I don't really consider myself a knife maker. Instead I tend to call myself a maker, as I genuinely enjoy making whatever comes to my mind. One day its Cool custom Rings, the next its LED Signs and then its portable arcade machines. I just finished my first knife after about 8 months of working on it. I made it with an angle grinder,files and a whole ton of patience. It turned out fairly decent and was one of my most enjoyed projects. I'll post a picture but I am almost certain I will get roasted for it. ( I've posted it multiple times on facebook with negative comments) Anyways my first knife is from a video game I played as a kid, like I said, I see stuff that I want to make and I make it. It's not a knife I'd personally ever use but I liked it as a kid playing the game so I had to.

Anyways enough rambling, let's get to the good stuff. I am hoping to post pictures step by step of my progress, (PLEASE DON'T FOLLOW ANYTHING I DO) This will technically be my second ever knife, please don't use this as a guide and please look away whenever you see me on the mill I am no machinist. I am mostly doing this because Shannon Carter posted a build thread of their folding knife and it helped me quite a bit. I am hoping to return the favor!

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BUILD THREAD
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First here is a picture of my first knife. (Roast away)

Alright now I spent a good month learning draft sight and refining a design that I liked. It was challenging but I finally came up with a design that I liked and worked. Here is what I came up with.

I also made a step by step guide to follow. I find it helped stay focused and also helped me figure out what tools I needed.

I opted to use SV35VN It seems to be a popular steel for folders. It's 3/16 thick and 2 inches wide. This step is taking a lot longer than I want it to! Does anyone want to donate a surface grinder? I am on hour 1 of sanding this on the granite surface plate. Flat is important.

I know it isn't much but I wanted to start this thread before I forget and will hopefully remember to take pics as I go! Any questions feel free to ask!

 

[Hellawell Knives]

Some more late night progress! Mistakes and what I learnt!

Here is my blade steel flattened after about 2 hours on the surface plate. Had a tight suction to the surface plate.

Marked drilled and reamed the pivot hole. The pivots I got from alphaknifesupply and are undersized. I opted to get the .187 reamer but I think the .1875 would of been a better choice. Super tight fit, but hoping it loosens up after lapping.

Also drilled and reamed the stop pin holes. I noticed my pivot was off by a thousands or two.. You will notice the one stop pin is off a bit.

I've quickly noticed a few things and learned a few things from this. 1, I need to invest in an optical center punch. My punch marks where off a bit.. Not good when you are trying to do precise measurements and working with tight tolerances. I think the optical center punch would solve that issue and I am almost certain its what caused my stop pins to be off. Second, Surfacing a blade by hand really sucks, If I do decide to continue making folders I will no doubt be looking for a surface grinder or outsource it to someone if possible. Really I've just realized I still don't have the required tools to continue with this knife. I forgot that I need a clamp set so I can clamp the blade to the rotary table to mill the track, and ran into an issue trying to clamp certain fixtures to my vice as I don't have any parallels. Also a DRO would be a time saver and would help 1000% with accuracy and drilling and milling these holes. I am currently looking into an affordable DRO to help with that. I am currently stuck until I get my clamp set so I may wait or continue on with the handles in the meantime. Oh and also I wish I would of got some sort of tool steel to use as a blade, messing up a 20$ piece of steel hurts.

 

[danbot]

Some more late night progress! Mistakes and what I learnt!

Here is my blade steel flattened after about 2 hours on the surface plate. Had a tight suction to the surface plate.

Marked drilled and reamed the pivot hole. The pivots I got from alphaknifesupply and are undersized. I opted to get the .187 reamer but I think the .1875 would of been a better choice. Super tight fit, but hoping it loosens up after lapping.

Also drilled and reamed the stop pin holes. I noticed my pivot was off by a thousands or two.. You will notice the one stop pin is off a bit.

I've quickly noticed a few things and learned a few things from this. 1, I need to invest in an optical center punch. My punch marks where off a bit.. Not good when you are trying to do precise measurements and working with tight tolerances. I think the optical center punch would solve that issue and I am almost certain its what caused my stop pins to be off. Second, Surfacing a blade by hand really sucks, If I do decide to continue making folders I will no doubt be looking for a surface grinder or outsource it to someone if possible. Really I've just realized I still don't have the required tools to continue with this knife. I forgot that I need a clamp set so I can clamp the blade to the rotary table to mill the track, and ran into an issue trying to clamp certain fixtures to my vice as I don't have any parallels. Also a DRO would be a time saver and would help 1000% with accuracy and drilling and milling these holes. I am currently looking into an affordable DRO to help with that. I am currently stuck until I get my clamp set so I may wait or continue on with the handles in the meantime. Oh and also I wish I would of got some sort of tool steel to use as a blade, messing up a 20$ piece of steel hurts.

Looks like you're off to a good start! You will need to correct your hole positions somehow, but it's doable! I suggest using a centre drill with your mill next time instead of a punch. Definately get some parallels!

 

[Hellawell Knives]

Looks like you're off to a good start! You will need to correct your hole positions somehow, but it's doable! I suggest using a centre drill with your mill next time instead of a punch. Definately get some parallels!

That reminds me of a mod I need to do on my mill. It's so dark where my milk is I can never see what the heck I am doing. Going to make a light to go under the mill so I can actually see my workpiece and align things up easier. Thank you!

 

[john april]

looks good, keep em coming !

 

[coldsteelburns]

Draw filing with a good mill fill can take plenty of time off of flattening the surfaces before moving on to the surface plate and sandpaper. The wider (larger) the file surface the better, so something like a 12" mill file would work well. If by chance you don't have one already, either a NOS (new old stock) Nicholson off of ebay or a Pferd are two good choices. You can get a good 12" Pferd mill file here

It may be a bit easier for you to draw file the surface of the steel before it's cut off from the parent bar stock, as you will be able to file past the ends of the section of bar stock you plan on using, or just cut it a bit oversize and then trim/grind off the ends when you're finished filing.

Btw, your first knife turned out great. I'm not sure why it would receive negative comments (other than the fact that Facebook tends to attract some very opinionated people with no little to no tact or respect)... Perhaps it was the rainbow colored clouds or the pink coil around the blade?? jk - I actually like the picture, although the coil around the blade is a little bit distracting, but it's nice work, especially for being your first .

~Paul
My Youtube Channel

... (It's been a few years since my last upload)

 

[danbot]

H Hellawell Knives If you buy ground bar stock you can do most of your blade work before flattening and then you are only needing to flatten a small area.

 

[Hellawell Knives]

Draw filing with a good mill fill can take plenty of time off of flattening the surfaces before moving on to the surface plate and sandpaper. The wider (larger) the file surface the better, so something like a 12" mill file would work well. If by chance you don't have one already, either a NOS (new old stock) Nicholson off of ebay or a Pferd are two good choices. You can get a good 12" Pferd mill file here

It may be a bit easier for you to draw file the surface of the steel before it's cut off from the parent bar stock, as you will be able to file past the ends of the section of bar stock you plan on using, or just cut it a bit oversize and then trim/grind off the ends when you're finished filing.

Btw, your first knife turned out great. I'm not sure why it would receive negative comments (other than the fact that Facebook tends to attract some very opinionated people with no little to no tact or respect)... Perhaps it was the rainbow colored clouds or the pink coil around the blade?? jk - I actually like the picture, although the coil around the blade is a little bit distracting, but it's nice work, especially for being your first .

~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (It's been a few years since my last upload)

Thank you for the suggestion! I will definitely look into it, seeing as I am already stuck flattening another piece due to messing up the first! The negativity from my first blade is actually positive to me. I get a lot of people saying that it is fake and I just bought the knife from china. I get where they are coming from seeing as you can definitely buy the same blade design I did from MTECH. I guess I just did a really good job at replicating it that it looks identical to the factory produced ones.

H Hellawell Knives If you buy ground bar stock you can do most of your blade work before flattening and then you are only needing to flatten a small area.

I need to flatten the blade before drilling pivot holes etc.. And I would need the extra stock for clamping when I mill the slot.

 

[Hellawell Knives]

Well not much of an update, I am currently saving up to buy an optical center punch and a clamping kit. Two items that are preventing me from going forward. It's tough buying tools when you are self employed and just starting out! Hoping to sell a few items soon to buy the stuff I need. I've been itching to make this knife for a long time and nothing hurts more than being stuck starring at parts. In the meantime I was able to make this tool. Should make it quick and easy to center the rotary table on the mill. I made it out of aluminum unfortunately. It's all I had on hand and I also wanted to test it out before making one out of steel. My mini lathe isn't the most powerful thing so I am not 100% on how well It would cut steel.

 

[danbot]

I need to flatten the blade before drilling pivot holes etc.. And I would need the extra stock for clamping when I mill the slot.

Mill it flat, then use a center drill to spot the holes, then drill/ ream. Then all holes are perpendicular to the top face of your work.

 

[Hellawell Knives]

Mill it flat, then use a center drill to spot the holes, then drill/ ream. Then all holes are perpendicular to the top face of your work.

I got the precision matthews pm25. Wonder how well it would handle milling stock flat.

 

[danbot]

I got the precision matthews pm25. Wonder how well it would handle milling stock flat.

I googled your machine and it looks like a nice little hobby mill. Get a nice little fly cutter and don't take cuts more than about 0.02"-.03"

 

[Hellawell Knives]

I'm back! Been a long time since I've made much progress. Spent the last few months saving up for some much needed tools and equipment. Since my last post, I've purchased and installed a DRO, purchased a coaxial indicator, a tormach superfly surface cutter and a bunch of other stuff. It took quite a bit to install the DRO, making brackets and making sure everything was parallel and level. What a life saver this thing is! Don't think I could of gotten to far with ought it! I also got a coaxial indicator, so no more janky jig to center my rotary table. Today I just finished my very first successful blade! The blade is 3/16th SV35VN. I did the whole process of cutting,reaming and milling of the slot in one process on my rotary table thanks to the DRO, the track and pivot should be super accurate! I can now move onto the handles. First time working with titanium so this will be interesting. Here are a few pictures of the process. Maybe once I am going I can make a new thread to clean things up.

Picture of the Jig I started to surface.

Coaxial Indicator centered to .0005

I unfortunately don't own a surface grinder so I payed a local place 20$ to have it surfaced.

Close up of the milling process and also a view of the jig I used. Worked great!

Rough profiled with the band saw

Final profile finished on the belt grinder.

I am now about to start on the titanium handles. I do know I am missing some tools so I think this will be another slow process. All of this is new to me so I usually spend a day just thinking of how to do it, and am constantly second guessing myself. I am dedicated to finishing this. Oh and I forgot that before this I made a test piece out of o1 tool steel and cut out some MDF handles on my CNC. Just to see the profile and if what I am doing is working. So far so good

 

[Josh Rider]

That reminds me of a mod I need to do on my mill. It's so dark where my milk is I can never see what the heck I am doing. Going to make a light to go under the mill so I can actually see my workpiece and align things up easier. Thank you!

Looks great!
Lowe’s has these little stick on LEDs that you can put on the underside of your mill. They are working pretty good for me.

 

[Jake_Lucas]

Looks like a fun build thread, subscribed!

 

[The_Iron_Joe]

Looking forward to seeing more from you!

 

[microbe]

Nice work, but what happened to the flipper tab?

 

[Hellawell Knives]

Nice work, but what happened to the flipper tab?

On my prototype piece I used some leftover 1/8th tool steel I had laying around, unfortunately it was only 1.5" and the blade calls for 2" so I had to leave most of the flipper out. the main blade you see the flipper is intact though.

 

[Hellawell Knives]

Looks great!
Lowe’s has these little stick on LEDs that you can put on the underside of your mill. They are working pretty good for me.

View attachment 980841

I actually built my own little halo light with a leftover led halo I had from a Headlight build I did on my car, thing is crazy bright!

 

[Lapedog]

I believe this is my first post. I've been lurking around for a while mostly from google as I was researching frame locks. Anyways I have been wanting to make a framel ock for months now and have finally gathered all the tools and materials needed to start. Please don't ask me how much I've had to spend to gather such tools and materials as the wife might find out and I'll be out of a home! I'll be honest and say that I don't really consider myself a knife maker. Instead I tend to call myself a maker, as I genuinely enjoy making whatever comes to my mind. One day its Cool custom Rings, the next its LED Signs and then its portable arcade machines. I just finished my first knife after about 8 months of working on it. I made it with an angle grinder,files and a whole ton of patience. It turned out fairly decent and was one of my most enjoyed projects. I'll post a picture but I am almost certain I will get roasted for it. ( I've posted it multiple times on facebook with negative comments) Anyways my first knife is from a video game I played as a kid, like I said, I see stuff that I want to make and I make it. It's not a knife I'd personally ever use but I liked it as a kid playing the game so I had to.

Anyways enough rambling, let's get to the good stuff. I am hoping to post pictures step by step of my progress, (PLEASE DON'T FOLLOW ANYTHING I DO) This will technically be my second ever knife, please don't use this as a guide and please look away whenever you see me on the mill I am no machinist. I am mostly doing this because Shannon Carter posted a build thread of their folding knife and it helped me quite a bit. I am hoping to return the favor!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUILD THREAD
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First here is a picture of my first knife. (Roast away)

Alright now I spent a good month learning draft sight and refining a design that I liked. It was challenging but I finally came up with a design that I liked and worked. Here is what I came up with.

I also made a step by step guide to follow. I find it helped stay focused and also helped me figure out what tools I needed.

I opted to use SV35VN It seems to be a popular steel for folders. It's 3/16 thick and 2 inches wide. This step is taking a lot longer than I want it to! Does anyone want to donate a surface grinder? I am on hour 1 of sanding this on the granite surface plate. Flat is important.

I know it isn't much but I wanted to start this thread before I forget and will hopefully remember to take pics as I go! Any questions feel free to ask!

What is going on with your first knife? Why does it look exactly like one of those knockoff tracker knives? Was that on purpose?

Anyway the folder looks like it is turning out good!