BULLDOG FRAME LOCK WIP Mark Behnke

Received my kit this week, this dog is BIG, good it's going to be my EDC.

Here's some of the tools used.



First thing, measure everything and record for reference.
Drill and ream frame for pivot pin, but first I need to square the drill press table to the spindle.
Flat, square and parallel, very important in knife making.
I used a 123 block shimmed with a feeler gage bolted to the table.



The parts are so precision cut that I just aligned edges clamped and ready to drill



Drilled the pivot pin hole in the frame with a "D" letter drill and reamed with 1/4" reamer, The stand off holes were drilled to a #35 drill for a tight clearance for the 4-40 screws and the stop pin to a #44 for the 2-56 screws, the inside of the frame at the stop pin was drilled with a 1/8" drill for the recess

I said it was big, but how big? I weighed it, liners first then blade. Frame 98grams


Blade and frame before grind 216 1/2 grams


I plan to do a deep hollow grind that will reduce weight a lot but haven't decided on that yet.

I went out and reamed the blade pivot hole so I could assemble the knife and discovered that my #45 clearance hole for the stop pin was too tight. I had drilled the hole in a strip off mild steel and checked it but in Ti frame it was too small. I edited the text in previous post.

Working towards blade grind today so hopefully will have more progress pics later to day.

Thanks for looking in.

I did a rough grind (36) and that reduced the blade weight to 67 grams




I'll heat treat the blade before finish, heat treating this steel will be a first, cross my fingers, the edge is about .030 now.

I filed the stop pin shoulder for a tight fit and shortened the screw on the 1/3 hp bench grinder equipped with a fine and coarse cratex wheel



That's all for today.
This is my second folder and my eighth knife so I'm a beginner and I know there are better ways of doing things but you gotta start somewhere.
Feel free to add comments, corrections and advice.

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow.

I like that you weighed it. The bugger is stout isn't it?
You should have received the correct screws to replace the security pin screws I sent in the first batch by now.

Good WIP.. you are right on track.

I got the screws friday, thanks for sending those out.
This knife fills your hand, nice and simple, a work horse, can't wait to put it to use.

I like the WIP so far. What size wheel did you use for your grind?

Hi Eric
Glad you're watching, I used a 10" wheel , but I watched S R Johnsons video and he grinds the loveless style, goes from a 8" or 10" then deepens the grind with a 3". Others working in that style use a 4" or 5"

Being the type that can't leave well enough alone I'm going to try it with a 2" because that's all I have, may be a big mistake, if it is I'll make a new blade. Wish me luck.

The lock reduction slot is cut, with a die grinder and 1/4" carbide bit.

I took the 2" wheel and ground the blade flatter in the middle with a steep ramp to the spine.



I cleaned up the frame sides on the disc sander and drilled and counter bored for the thumb stud. Next will be heat treat Thursday.

Did a little finish work today, polished the edges of the frame and cleaned up the lock relief, I'm sure this has been done before, I think they sell a split mandrel to do the same thing, anyway it's just a roll pin and you wrap sand paper around it, those rolls are from the auto paint store and are adhesive backed.



400 grit on the edges then buffed

Tool wrap should arrive tomorrow so I'll work on the blade then final assembly.

I have the tool wrap but got side tracked making a pot rack,haven't done anything like that for about 20 yrs.

Hopefully will finish the knife this week end.

I keep finding areas to polish and I cleaned up the blade edges near the pivot, but forgot to stay away from the spot that the stop pin contacts so I had to take a little off the blade edge to keep it off the stand offs in the closed position. Just little things like that. I'm a little nervous about Ht, being first time with SS. but its ready to go.
http://knifedogs.
The detent ball hole was drilled with a #53 drill and I used the .016 washer to gage depth[ATTACH]20309.vB[/ATTACH][IMG]http://knifedogs.com/newreply.php?do=postreply&t=15824

I also filed the blade and lock, went a little to far but it's Ok, more on that at final assembly.

I'm excited about finishing this knife, It's been assembled and functioning and it's a nice big knife really snaps open and closed well, not heavy but fills the hand.

Looking great Mark , good job on the WIP.

Thanks Dwane,
The blade went in and I knew it would take a while to get to 1900 degrees, it has never been above 1500 with me and that took 1 hour and the higher the temp the slower. About 1600 I noticed my little 120v. converted wax burn-out kiln says don't exceed 1700 degrees, oh well we're going to 1900 if it will. It did reach 1900 at 11:30 soaked for 30 min. and came out clean and straight.
I clamped between the plates and shot it with compressed air.
Came out nice and clean. I struggled with Turco previously on my 1084 blades, and it pitted deeply no matter what I did.




It's on its second 2 hr. temper at 400 degrees. Today I tapped the holes for the pocket clip.
A 2-56 tap drill is #50, #49 for Ti, I did one at #49 and it was slow going with the tap, so did one w/#48 and was much easier and the screw threaded in fine.

Tomorrow I hope to finish up and review.

I spent a lot of time on the blade, with my idea to use a 2" wheel for a deep grind, turned out like a straight razor grind. It would have been easier to use a 10" wheel then a 4" or "3" before a 2". It was hard to maintain a flat area on the blade with the 2", but it turned out well but not without flaws, it satisfied my curiosity. The spine is rounded.




One thing I didn't cover was the fit of the lock bar. This pic shows the blade grind angle, this is 7 degrees and works well.


That's about it, razor sharp and weighed in at 5.55 oz. Next is to cut up some rope to see how the HT holds up, carry and enjoy.
This build has really boosted my confidence so I'll try one from scratch next.
Thanks for looking and don't be afraid to try one out.

First class work right there. Great job Mark!

Nice build and looks like the guys did a good job on the design too.

Nice build. It looks like it went together reasonably easy for you. That is a good sign. Now you have a heck of a good folder..