WiP! The Bingalor Rises!
- Thread starter Lorien
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Richard338
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This is stressful!
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I don't know why, but I laughed out loud- maniacally- when I read this. Probably because I need a nap.
blade's ready for heat treating. It's S35VN, so I austenitize at 2025F for a bit and pull an interrupted quench/snap temper with liquid nitrogen for the cold treatment
good night, sweet blade.
time to chill out for a bit
meanwhile, back on the ranch
this canvas micarta is smelly, so instead of turning it all into carcinogenic dust, I remove as many big chunks as is practical before hitting the grinder
I've learned to trust my pilot holes, they're there to keep things accurate, so I just go to town and drill what needs drilled hoping I did my job well enough before to keep everything lined up
leaving some material around the profile of the handle, the shape is ground close to final dimensions
using the same procedure I used to cut the lock bar face, I cut the lock bar. It's time consuming and tedious, but does a good job of creating a clean, narrow slit.
just like that
I've left enough material to hold everything together for now
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it's time to start drilling and tapping some fastener holes. I thought I was being clever by shielding the lines with tape, but the juice wasn't really worth the squeeze.
this is a scale fastener hole. It'll be a 5mm x .8 because I'm going to use bicycle rotor mount bolts, and metric is how we do up here in Canada.
holes drilled and surfaces flattened again. It's so important to remove the bulging caused by drilling, because it can cause subsequent holes to be less than straight
the backspacer fastener holes are going to be a 3mm .5 thread, also using fasteners scavenged from a bike. In this case, stainless fasteners for holding a dereilleur hanger to a mountain bike
a side note; if you are going to drill titanium, make sure at least one of these two things is true-
1. have lots of fresh bits on hand in the size you need
2. you want to learn how to sharpen drill bits
nice, clean holes...
I chuck the tap in the drill press and manually turn the chuck, while...
...I apply compression using the height adjuster on the drill press. Compress, turn chuck 1/6 of a turn, lock height adjust down, repeat...
I just start cutting the threads this way because it's perfectly in line, but I finish with the hand tool. Having straight threads to get started really helps
titanium is thirsty metal. Although I don't generally use cutting oil when drilling, for tapping it's a must. It's very slow going with titanium, it tends to gall, so breaking taps is a real issue especially smaller ones. Just gotta develop a feel for it
this is a scale fastener hole. It'll be a 5mm x .8 because I'm going to use bicycle rotor mount bolts, and metric is how we do up here in Canada.
holes drilled and surfaces flattened again. It's so important to remove the bulging caused by drilling, because it can cause subsequent holes to be less than straight
the backspacer fastener holes are going to be a 3mm .5 thread, also using fasteners scavenged from a bike. In this case, stainless fasteners for holding a dereilleur hanger to a mountain bike
a side note; if you are going to drill titanium, make sure at least one of these two things is true-
1. have lots of fresh bits on hand in the size you need
2. you want to learn how to sharpen drill bits
nice, clean holes...
I chuck the tap in the drill press and manually turn the chuck, while...
...I apply compression using the height adjuster on the drill press. Compress, turn chuck 1/6 of a turn, lock height adjust down, repeat...
I just start cutting the threads this way because it's perfectly in line, but I finish with the hand tool. Having straight threads to get started really helps
titanium is thirsty metal. Although I don't generally use cutting oil when drilling, for tapping it's a must. It's very slow going with titanium, it tends to gall, so breaking taps is a real issue especially smaller ones. Just gotta develop a feel for it
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countersinking the backspacer fasteners so that the heads are flush with the handle...went through my box of drill bits, eyeballed one that looked about right and got to it.
like so
now, to work on the backspacer. I went through all the material I have on hand to find something close to the dimension I need. Not much luck with G10 or micarta on hand, but I've had this old brake arch since the 90's and it's the perfect thickness. This thing was from a time when bicycles used the rim of the wheel as the braking surface, if you can believe it! Brake arches were designed to minimize deflection of the seatstays during braking, increasing the power by stiffening the supports for the brakes. This particular one was made right here, on Vancouver Island, by a couple of guys who saw a future in hemp composites. That's right, this thing is made from hemp fiber! Truly a BC product
trace the edge of the blade and cut it out with the bandsaw
trace the edge of the blade onto the liner in the closed position
clamp the spacer to the liner and use the fastener holes to guide the drill bit through the backspacer and...
...screw it together!
this is the most exciting time of building a folder. When it actually becomes something. Until now, it's kind of like flying blind, but once it's all one piece and holds itself together, it feels more real!
like so
now, to work on the backspacer. I went through all the material I have on hand to find something close to the dimension I need. Not much luck with G10 or micarta on hand, but I've had this old brake arch since the 90's and it's the perfect thickness. This thing was from a time when bicycles used the rim of the wheel as the braking surface, if you can believe it! Brake arches were designed to minimize deflection of the seatstays during braking, increasing the power by stiffening the supports for the brakes. This particular one was made right here, on Vancouver Island, by a couple of guys who saw a future in hemp composites. That's right, this thing is made from hemp fiber! Truly a BC product
trace the edge of the blade and cut it out with the bandsaw
trace the edge of the blade onto the liner in the closed position
clamp the spacer to the liner and use the fastener holes to guide the drill bit through the backspacer and...
...screw it together!
this is the most exciting time of building a folder. When it actually becomes something. Until now, it's kind of like flying blind, but once it's all one piece and holds itself together, it feels more real!
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- Dec 5, 2005
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- 26,564
back at the handle scales. Just flattening the outside face of the material for the next steps
flip the scales over, and use the countersink for the bearing to mill out the handle fastener pockets, but...oh wait!
the OD of the countersink is smaller than the fastener heads! How do I make the hole bigger without making a catastrophic mess?
Duh! Make the OD of the fastener head smaller, silly!
success!
tracing the lockbar slot and face onto the handle
prep'd to mill out the lock bar relief. When a knife like this opens and closes, the detente ball pushes the lockbar out when the ball hits the ricasso. If the lockbar can't move outward enough, the knife will bind and won't work properly
ending up with this
using the marks I established earlier, it's time to drill out the pivot fastener reliefs. I take my time- measure, drill, measure, drill...then set the depth gauge for the other side
a cozy fit
flip the scales over, and use the countersink for the bearing to mill out the handle fastener pockets, but...oh wait!
the OD of the countersink is smaller than the fastener heads! How do I make the hole bigger without making a catastrophic mess?
Duh! Make the OD of the fastener head smaller, silly!
success!
tracing the lockbar slot and face onto the handle
prep'd to mill out the lock bar relief. When a knife like this opens and closes, the detente ball pushes the lockbar out when the ball hits the ricasso. If the lockbar can't move outward enough, the knife will bind and won't work properly
ending up with this
using the marks I established earlier, it's time to drill out the pivot fastener reliefs. I take my time- measure, drill, measure, drill...then set the depth gauge for the other side
a cozy fit
Last edited:
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this is a fairly exciting part of the process- cutting all the fasteners down. The knife really starts to feel like a real thing once all the protuberances are removed
using a fine tipped marker to cut close to final dimension
this is probably the most hilarious hack of this build, came to me in a moment of 'brilliance', lol
I recently bought this tool, along with the carbide countersink, from USA Knifemaker. Man, this is a purchase I do not regret! What a great little tool. It's slower than a fixture built to use with the grinder, but you can't beat it if looking for close tolerances. I have a couple other folders on the bench, which I'll get to once Blade is over, that ride on bushings and this tool is gonna be great for that
and this is what I used to shave down the handle fastener bolts. Very simple, rudimentary even, but it does the job well enough. Just a little piece of bronze that's tapped and threaded, and a washer to shim it to width so the fastener ends up the right length
using a fine tipped marker to cut close to final dimension
this is probably the most hilarious hack of this build, came to me in a moment of 'brilliance', lol
I recently bought this tool, along with the carbide countersink, from USA Knifemaker. Man, this is a purchase I do not regret! What a great little tool. It's slower than a fixture built to use with the grinder, but you can't beat it if looking for close tolerances. I have a couple other folders on the bench, which I'll get to once Blade is over, that ride on bushings and this tool is gonna be great for that
and this is what I used to shave down the handle fastener bolts. Very simple, rudimentary even, but it does the job well enough. Just a little piece of bronze that's tapped and threaded, and a washer to shim it to width so the fastener ends up the right length
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time to work on the blade I guess
I've applied layout dye to the where the edge will be
the front of the handle's been traced with a marker, and I'm preparing to mark the edge on the granite block. I don't take measurements here, I just eyeball it, scribe the line and then flip it over and scribe again. The truth lies somewhere between the lines, which is good enough for me
like so
putting it all back together, you can get a good read on the tolerances which in this case are very close. The blade seems perfectly centered to me which is good news. Otherwise, I'd had to pull some grinder voodoo to make things look centred. Not my #1 option
layout dye about where the swedge will be. I deviated from this, but I think it's always good to start with symmetry and move toward chaos, as opposed to the other way round
I bought myself a radial platen recently, which I think approximates a 28" wheel. This is my first attempt at a hollow ground knife. The learning curve was STEEP!
here it is after my first pass with a 60 grit ceramic belt
working my way up to grits
I topped out at 150 grit, so now I'm on to die maker stones. I'm honestly not happy with how the grinding went, I mean it's serviceable and it was my first try at something new so I'm not busted up about it. What I learned, though, is that I need to figure out a solution to the hard face of the platen, as it leaves marks that are hard to find until later. Maybe a leather backing or a non woven belt. That would save me a lot of tedious hand work. S35VN is a pretty wear resistant steel, and with the cryo and slightly lowish tempering temperature, it's super hard. Should make for a nice, crispy edge
I've applied layout dye to the where the edge will be
the front of the handle's been traced with a marker, and I'm preparing to mark the edge on the granite block. I don't take measurements here, I just eyeball it, scribe the line and then flip it over and scribe again. The truth lies somewhere between the lines, which is good enough for me
like so
putting it all back together, you can get a good read on the tolerances which in this case are very close. The blade seems perfectly centered to me which is good news. Otherwise, I'd had to pull some grinder voodoo to make things look centred. Not my #1 option
layout dye about where the swedge will be. I deviated from this, but I think it's always good to start with symmetry and move toward chaos, as opposed to the other way round
I bought myself a radial platen recently, which I think approximates a 28" wheel. This is my first attempt at a hollow ground knife. The learning curve was STEEP!
here it is after my first pass with a 60 grit ceramic belt
working my way up to grits
I topped out at 150 grit, so now I'm on to die maker stones. I'm honestly not happy with how the grinding went, I mean it's serviceable and it was my first try at something new so I'm not busted up about it. What I learned, though, is that I need to figure out a solution to the hard face of the platen, as it leaves marks that are hard to find until later. Maybe a leather backing or a non woven belt. That would save me a lot of tedious hand work. S35VN is a pretty wear resistant steel, and with the cryo and slightly lowish tempering temperature, it's super hard. Should make for a nice, crispy edge
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on to the pocket clip;
I had some leftover titanium from another project, in just about the right size for a clip. Just drawing out a rough idea with a marker here
cut it down closer to size with the portaband
I wanted to use this aluminum dereilleur pulley bolt, but my tap is the wrong thread pitch for it. Here's a picture anyway
drilling a small pilot hole through all the things
holes been enlarged and the liner is tapped for 5mm- and I found an even better, titanium, dereilleur pulley bolt
one bolt is not enough for a pocket clip, you don't want the clip rotating out of position, so I drilled a second 2mm hole which will house a hidden pin
everything mounted up, it's looking good so far
mostly profiled out at this point, both sides flattened
starting to round things off, I want a nice smooth clip which feels good in the hand and won't wreck the pocket
the back side of the clip has been relieved, and thinned out enough so that it has some springiness to it
I had some leftover titanium from another project, in just about the right size for a clip. Just drawing out a rough idea with a marker here
cut it down closer to size with the portaband
I wanted to use this aluminum dereilleur pulley bolt, but my tap is the wrong thread pitch for it. Here's a picture anyway
drilling a small pilot hole through all the things
holes been enlarged and the liner is tapped for 5mm- and I found an even better, titanium, dereilleur pulley bolt
one bolt is not enough for a pocket clip, you don't want the clip rotating out of position, so I drilled a second 2mm hole which will house a hidden pin
everything mounted up, it's looking good so far
mostly profiled out at this point, both sides flattened
starting to round things off, I want a nice smooth clip which feels good in the hand and won't wreck the pocket
the back side of the clip has been relieved, and thinned out enough so that it has some springiness to it
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working on the locking stuff;
I like the detente pilot hole to go all the way through, that way I can push the ball bearing out and adjust the depth of the hole it fits into. I'll drill a tiny bit, press the bearing in with pliers, eyeball it, push it back out, drill a little deeper, repeat...until the ball is sticking out enough to do its job. Most people would take measurements, and that's the smart way to do it, but this is all still so experimental for me that I find I work better when I just have at it. When I can afford to invest more in my tooling, there are all sorts of measuring devices I'd like to have but until then it's caveman engineering for me
the ball is just about deep enough in its pocket
using the same process I used to cut these slots, I've removed the last bit of material between the face face slot on the lock bar slot
with the knife assembled and snugged down, the lock bar face is scribed onto the tang
resulting in this very important little line
I approach the line gradually, holding the knife at a couple degrees from perpendicular. Again with the eyeballing- I want the ramp face to more or less match the arc that the lock bar. I leave extra material but not much. I have to remove the bulk of the material here, so that when I assemble the knife it more or less functions as it shouldj, (apart from locking up of course).
while applying pressure against the outside of the lock bar, it's pushed in while the lock bar relief is heated up. I use a shitty butane torch because it's what I have. Again, there's another tool that needs upgrading! It does work, though
here you can see the lock is beyond where it should be. But now that it's in position, I can apply heat and correct it. I'm aiming for it to swing to about halfway into the handle
I like the detente pilot hole to go all the way through, that way I can push the ball bearing out and adjust the depth of the hole it fits into. I'll drill a tiny bit, press the bearing in with pliers, eyeball it, push it back out, drill a little deeper, repeat...until the ball is sticking out enough to do its job. Most people would take measurements, and that's the smart way to do it, but this is all still so experimental for me that I find I work better when I just have at it. When I can afford to invest more in my tooling, there are all sorts of measuring devices I'd like to have but until then it's caveman engineering for me
the ball is just about deep enough in its pocket
using the same process I used to cut these slots, I've removed the last bit of material between the face face slot on the lock bar slot
with the knife assembled and snugged down, the lock bar face is scribed onto the tang
resulting in this very important little line
I approach the line gradually, holding the knife at a couple degrees from perpendicular. Again with the eyeballing- I want the ramp face to more or less match the arc that the lock bar. I leave extra material but not much. I have to remove the bulk of the material here, so that when I assemble the knife it more or less functions as it shouldj, (apart from locking up of course).
while applying pressure against the outside of the lock bar, it's pushed in while the lock bar relief is heated up. I use a shitty butane torch because it's what I have. Again, there's another tool that needs upgrading! It does work, though
here you can see the lock is beyond where it should be. But now that it's in position, I can apply heat and correct it. I'm aiming for it to swing to about halfway into the handle
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the last part of the mechanism- the stop pin.
one of the other folding knives I made had a rotating stop pin as well. With that one, I did a cold fit; the stop pin was left in liquid nitrogen for a time to shrink it slightly and the idea was that it would stay put in the hole I drilled for it through friction alone. I learned that it didn't work out as planned, lol. So this time...straight to the epoxy
the inside of the hole was roughed up a little bit with a burr in my Dremel too, and the stop pin was also roughed up a bit with a cut off wheel. I used epoxy with toughener, and while I think it will hold up, only time will tell. This is one of the reasons that this knife is a prototype and will remain with me for testing
mapping out where I want my mark to be. I have a friend with a laser, and that's the way to go- for now
using a little double sided tape, the handle scales are attached to each other for sculpting
here the handle is rough shaped
then on to finishing out the blade. I'm not super happy with my grinding, that's a skill I'm still working hard to develop, so it is what it is.
the scales are mounted onto the liners for final sculpting. If you look close, you can see that I left material around the perimeter of the scales. I've made the mistake of not doing that in the past, which leads to the scale/liner transition being too abrupt, which created a situation where I have to modify the profile of the handle in order to fix a mistake. Design is supreme, in my book, and having to change any line in order to fix a mistake is something I try really really hard to avoid
one of the other folding knives I made had a rotating stop pin as well. With that one, I did a cold fit; the stop pin was left in liquid nitrogen for a time to shrink it slightly and the idea was that it would stay put in the hole I drilled for it through friction alone. I learned that it didn't work out as planned, lol. So this time...straight to the epoxy
the inside of the hole was roughed up a little bit with a burr in my Dremel too, and the stop pin was also roughed up a bit with a cut off wheel. I used epoxy with toughener, and while I think it will hold up, only time will tell. This is one of the reasons that this knife is a prototype and will remain with me for testing
mapping out where I want my mark to be. I have a friend with a laser, and that's the way to go- for now
using a little double sided tape, the handle scales are attached to each other for sculpting
here the handle is rough shaped
then on to finishing out the blade. I'm not super happy with my grinding, that's a skill I'm still working hard to develop, so it is what it is.
the scales are mounted onto the liners for final sculpting. If you look close, you can see that I left material around the perimeter of the scales. I've made the mistake of not doing that in the past, which leads to the scale/liner transition being too abrupt, which created a situation where I have to modify the profile of the handle in order to fix a mistake. Design is supreme, in my book, and having to change any line in order to fix a mistake is something I try really really hard to avoid
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This post concludes this WiP!
Thank you so much for following along, I hope you enjoyed this.
The knife turned out ok. It's not fantastic, there are a lot of areas which could be improved on and finishep up better, but for my third attempt at a folder and my first attempt using bearings, making a pocket clip etc. it's good enough for my pocket. In my mind, I can see Bing checking this out, calling me up and giving me advice on how I can improve my work. But I'm flying solo, and hope that somewhere in the universe, the essence of Bing approves. This thread is dedicated to his memory.
Thank you so much for following along, I hope you enjoyed this.
The knife turned out ok. It's not fantastic, there are a lot of areas which could be improved on and finishep up better, but for my third attempt at a folder and my first attempt using bearings, making a pocket clip etc. it's good enough for my pocket. In my mind, I can see Bing checking this out, calling me up and giving me advice on how I can improve my work. But I'm flying solo, and hope that somewhere in the universe, the essence of Bing approves. This thread is dedicated to his memory.