Erin Burke
Well-Known Member
I'm pleased to share a few photos of my first liner-lock folders. I've had this design sketched up in AutoCAD for several years, but it took me a while to gather up the courage to dive in.
The design originates from one of my early fixed-blade projects, but was scaled down substantially. I also made a balisong with a similar profile back in 2010.
I'm calling these "prototypes", as I'll likely produce more of these in the future... but will definitely be incorporating tweaks and revisions based on experience gained through this build.
Some Specs:
Length Closed: 3-3/4"
Length Open: 6-5/16"
Blade: 2-1/2" tip to choil
Steel: 1080 (will likely be stainless or Cerakoted in future builds)
Handle: 6Al4V Titanium liners w/ textured G10 scales
Pocket Clip: 6Al4V Titanium
EDIT: This photo added to show the Cerakoting that I had done to the blades. This is my first experience with Cerakote, but the team at Brand X Custom Coatings (bxccoatings.com) was great to work with, and located just a couple of miles from my office.
The discoloration on the knife at left was the result of one day in my knife drawer. Both knives had been cleaned and wiped-down with Breakfree CLP, but (for some reason) this blade ended up discolored.
I like working with plain carbon steels (W2, 1095, 1080) on my fixed blades… but I'm finding it to be too difficult to keep corrosion out of the pivots on a folder. I may end up checking into Cerakote or something similar to protect these two blades.
This photo shows the lock-up on both knives. The knife at the right has near perfect lockup with the lock bar engaging near the first third of the lock face. On the other knife, the lock bar comes a bit past halfway across the lock face. What this means is that the spring needs slightly more bend to engage solidly… which puts more pressure against the side of the blade when in the closed or transitional positions. Both blades flick open smoothly and lock securely, but now that I more fully understand the implications of lock engagement, I will need to be more diligent when grinding lock faces in the future.
Just a couple of things to note in this photo. The first is the spot of discoloration on the ricasso of the lower blade. Again, future knives will either be stainless or utilize some sort of protective coating. You can also see in this image, how I experimented with the scale relief for the thumb stud. I’m having trouble deciding which one I like better.
Finally, here’s a photo of the backside in the “closed” position. This is mainly just to show off the home-grown pocket clips. I had originally planned to mill pockets into the G10 scales to recess the attachment points for this clips… but I ended up liking the look of this better. I figure that – on a knife this small – a person might choose to remove the clip entirely… and I’d like to leave the scales unmarred should this be the case.
Feel free to make comments, give advice or ask questions.
Erin
The design originates from one of my early fixed-blade projects, but was scaled down substantially. I also made a balisong with a similar profile back in 2010.
I'm calling these "prototypes", as I'll likely produce more of these in the future... but will definitely be incorporating tweaks and revisions based on experience gained through this build.
Some Specs:
Length Closed: 3-3/4"
Length Open: 6-5/16"
Blade: 2-1/2" tip to choil
Steel: 1080 (will likely be stainless or Cerakoted in future builds)
Handle: 6Al4V Titanium liners w/ textured G10 scales
Pocket Clip: 6Al4V Titanium
EDIT: This photo added to show the Cerakoting that I had done to the blades. This is my first experience with Cerakote, but the team at Brand X Custom Coatings (bxccoatings.com) was great to work with, and located just a couple of miles from my office.
The discoloration on the knife at left was the result of one day in my knife drawer. Both knives had been cleaned and wiped-down with Breakfree CLP, but (for some reason) this blade ended up discolored.
I like working with plain carbon steels (W2, 1095, 1080) on my fixed blades… but I'm finding it to be too difficult to keep corrosion out of the pivots on a folder. I may end up checking into Cerakote or something similar to protect these two blades.
This photo shows the lock-up on both knives. The knife at the right has near perfect lockup with the lock bar engaging near the first third of the lock face. On the other knife, the lock bar comes a bit past halfway across the lock face. What this means is that the spring needs slightly more bend to engage solidly… which puts more pressure against the side of the blade when in the closed or transitional positions. Both blades flick open smoothly and lock securely, but now that I more fully understand the implications of lock engagement, I will need to be more diligent when grinding lock faces in the future.
Just a couple of things to note in this photo. The first is the spot of discoloration on the ricasso of the lower blade. Again, future knives will either be stainless or utilize some sort of protective coating. You can also see in this image, how I experimented with the scale relief for the thumb stud. I’m having trouble deciding which one I like better.
Finally, here’s a photo of the backside in the “closed” position. This is mainly just to show off the home-grown pocket clips. I had originally planned to mill pockets into the G10 scales to recess the attachment points for this clips… but I ended up liking the look of this better. I figure that – on a knife this small – a person might choose to remove the clip entirely… and I’d like to leave the scales unmarred should this be the case.
Feel free to make comments, give advice or ask questions.
Erin
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