Question on folders

C Craft

Well-Known Member
I have made a couple of friction folders and while I have a couple of slippes in the design stage, I have yet to make my first slip joint pocket knife.

So in the past, I have make patterns of the blade and body of the knife one thing that I always seem to struggle with is locating the pivot point on a folder!

I usually make a pattern for the blade and the body of the knife, and then I will mark the center or pivot as I see it. However I usually end up moving the pivot point in/out, or up/down, till I get it to where the pattern works and allows for the blade to in the proper position open or closed!! Sometimes I will have moved that pivot point till my pattern looks like it was shot with a shotgun.

So is there a formula or a procedure that makes locating the pivot point without so much trial and error??

Locating the stop on the designs for slip joint pocket knifes is my next delima. A little adjustment can make big changes in that area as well!

Any advice on these two questions about pivot point and stops, would be greatly appreciated!!
 
There are several ways but maybe try this.

The pivot hole distance from the front of the bolster varies by style of knife. Start at 3 times the diameter of you pivot. In other words, if your pivot is .125", mark your pivot hole back from the front of the bolster edge .375". I tend to use 2 times the diameter but again this depends on style of knife. A liner lock is different than a slippy.

Measure the distance between the top and bottom of the scale. Go up from the bottom 45%. That is your pivot location. (distance x .45 = distance to pivot hole)
Do the same with your blade. This is assuming your blade width is close to your scale width or locate your pivot location to the blade, clamp them together and drill through your scale through the blade to match pivot holes.
 
Thanks everyone! I appreciate the advice.

It certainly is better than it ought to be right here, No, maybe hear, No maybe hear, and by that time my cuss jar is begining to fill up and my hair is getting thinner! :34::12::sad: and the pattern is begining to look like it was used to pattern a shotgun!!:biggrin:

Ken, that looks like the "Slipjoint for Dummies" version, thanks!!
 
At the risk of sounding like a broken record...

Give CAD a shot. I was very hesitant of it at first or should I say afraid of it.

There is definitely a learning curve but it's not that hard. Once you get the hang of it, it's quite easy...and fun.

You can easily move things around until they work the way you want them to. And being able to get all the pieces of a folder to work on the computer screen is a game changer for when it comes to the actual building of the knife.

Here's a LINK to a free 2D CAD program. There are other free programs out there but this one worked for me.

And here's an excellent tutorial on how to design a folding knife in Draftsight

[video=youtube;fo4qzpqwU38]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo4qzpqwU38[/video]
 
Thanks for the links, maybe Santa will bring me a new PC but, I am not holding my breath! LOL Cause I have a feeling Santa is a little short this year! :biggrin:

The PC I have now is all but, toast and I barely can make it work to play around on the different forums I frequent. Can't complain too much as it is a loaner from my son in law!! Its biggest problem is the windows program he borrowed and, I get told about that 10 times a day!! You can't get fixes or updates when every 10 minutes you get, "you may be a victim of software counterfeiting" !!!!
 
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