First slip joint WIP

[Mark Behnke]

The stone wheel running truer than the fiber is a nice tip, and the nick looks very good.

I vote for the black horn. I'm pulled to the stag but think it would be better on a larger knife.

 

[J S Machine]

The stone wheel running truer than the fiber is a nice tip, and the nick looks very good.

I vote for the black horn. I'm pulled to the stag but think it would be better on a larger knife.

I bought the stag to do a slipjoint for my father in law for Christmas. I wasn't going to use it until then but I said oh well, I can always get some more. Either way, let's see what you guys have to say.

1 vote for black buffalo horn. I kind of like the red myself, it realy looks good in the light.

 

[JC in SC]

What are your plans for the knife? I'm working on my first slip joint as well, which I plan to be a beater in order to test my design and construction. As such, I'm planning to use Micarta rather than something nicer. I'll save the mammoth ivory for # 3 or #4 depending on if/how my skills progress

If you're limited to those choices though, I'd also vote for the black buffalo horn. Keep up the good work. Your progress is pushing me to get mine finished up!

 

[J S Machine]

What are your plans for the knife? I'm working on my first slip joint as well, which I plan to be a beater in order to test my design and construction. As such, I'm planning to use Micarta rather than something nicer. I'll save the mammoth ivory for # 3 or #4 depending on if/how my skills progress

If you're limited to those choices though, I'd also vote for the black buffalo horn. Keep up the good work. Your progress is pushing me to get mine finished up!

Another vote for black buffalo horn!

JC, I'd like t sell the knife, but I think it would be in my best interest to hold on to it and carry it to see how it holds up. I have three more in the works, though they aren't as far along as this one. I plan to make those right after I finish this WIP, and those will surely be for sale. I have got to get some knives sold to help offset the cost of some of the materials and tools I've invested in. I plan to use some really nice damascus and some mammoth bone or ivory for handles on at least one of them. I've yet to use ivory and Bruce Bump's WIP got me wondering about it.

 

[Bruce Bump]

I wouldnt use ivory. I may not for awhile after having trouble with Pre-ban cracking around a pin. You should use good old dyed cow shin bone. You can buy it jigged and dyed very reasonably priced through Culpeppers or any number of places actually. Stag is nice too.

 

[Pieter]

The black buffalo horn would work for me.

 

[J S Machine]

I wouldnt use ivory. I may not for awhile after having trouble with Pre-ban cracking around a pin. You should use good old dyed cow shin bone. You can buy it jigged and dyed very reasonably priced through Culpeppers or any number of places actually. Stag is nice too.

I saw where Chris Crawford says to use cow shin bone in his tutorial. When I see knives for sale that are production made and the handle material is jigged bone, is this what they are using?

I've wondered about it because I know that it isn't fossilized or rare or anything like that, but it is bone after all. I wouldn't mind using it, I just don't want customers or people interested in my stuff to look elsewhere because my knife has cow bone handle scales..

 

[Curtiss Knives]

Do the stag man! 2thumbs

 

[Bruce Bump]

I saw where Chris Crawford says to use cow shin bone in his tutorial. When I see knives for sale that are production made and the handle material is jigged bone, is this what they are using?

I've wondered about it because I know that it isn't fossilized or rare or anything like that, but it is bone after all. I wouldn't mind using it, I just don't want customers or people interested in my stuff to look elsewhere because my knife has cow bone handle scales..

Jigged bone is cow shin bone that has been thinned, jigged and dyed. All the great makers use it and it has been the standard of slip joints since Adam and Eve. Stag is good too but on a small knife its hard to find stag with a miniture pattern. I have jigged stag and had it dyed before.

It takes time and money but I like to jig my own pattern and send it off to Culpeppers for the dye job. They have several colors if you dont like amber.

 

[J S Machine]

Jigged bone is cow shin bone that has been thinned, jigged and dyed. All the great makers use it and it has been the standard of slip joints since Adam and Eve. Stag is good too but on a small knife its hard to find stag with a miniture pattern. I have jigged stag and had it dyed before.

It takes time and money but I like to jig my own pattern and send it off to Culpeppers for the dye job. They have several colors if you dont like amber.

Thanks for the info on cow shin bone. I have been wondering about that stuff since I read about it :unsure:

The large pattern on stag is the problem or situation that I have been thinking about how to get around. The only reason I didn't want to use the stag I have is because of the larger texture of the pattern. But as you said, people just jig it themselves in a miniature pattern too make it work. I saw how you had some of yours dyed before in one of your WIP threads. I think the amber is cool. I had never seen the Culpepper site until today. More handle options for sure

 

[Greg Obach]

jigged bone or stag... ... myself, i like the look of the jigged bone aslong as it ain't that weirdo yellows, or brite blue dye jobs... ... more like the darker colors that stag has....is nice to see and you won't be embarrassed to pull that knife out of your pocket...


by the way... i don't think they ever call it " cow bone ".... i think that may put people off... i think they just use a name like " honey amber jigged " etc..

i heard of people buying old dog bones in the pet store... and using that for scales.. ( after treatments )


Greg

 

[McClellan Made Blades]

Ok I took a quick pic. I made this tool box in the picture and on top you can see the knurled handle. It is aluminum. The box is 300 series stainless. I bought the latches and the lock from McMaster Carr and made the rest. Also, in front I laid out a little hammer set I made. All these have very fine knurling on the handles. The smallest one looks rough because I use it pretty often in the EDMs. The handles are made from tool steel round stock - A2 or D2 probably, and they they tend to rust. Wish I would have used stainless there. I do have some with aluminum handles, but they are pretty beat up from use. The heads are brass.

Wow John, That's a sweet box!!!! Too bad it's defective, with that red crap on it!!! Aint' that the school in Tuscalooser? I've heard of it ......somewhere.....oh, the police blogs!!!!!

 

[J S Machine]

Yeah that's the logo of the school who felt bad and started to let yall win, but then we realized we needed a perfect season to win the championship so we had to go through with the kill

 

[tu tone tommy]

I'm interested in seeing the finished knife. Looks good so far.
Craig

 

[J S Machine]

I've let this thread sit for a couple days in hopes of seeing some more replies for handle material. It looks like it is down to black buffalo horn and stag. I'm leaning towards using the black buffalo horn myself, but I'm still open for suggestions.

I've got three more of these knives in progress in addition to this one, and I have just been working on them to bring them up to speed.

Anybody else who wishes to provide any input please do so.

 

[Ernie Swanson]

WOW, I just read through this thread.
You my friend are very talented both in your knife making and your machining.

Now hurry up and put the stag on that knife..........The buffalo horn will just look black. I think the stag would look way better:biggrin:

 

[McClellan Made Blades]

Yeah that's the logo of the school who felt bad and started to let yall win, but then we realized we needed a perfect season to win the championship so we had to go through with the kill

I guess if you got the money to PAY the best coach in college football AND the best players...why not? BTW, the last time y'all got caught cheating, the price was expensive, you don't think it's a coinky dink that as soon as their off probation, they win a National Championship.....duh..hello??
Where's Phillip Fulmer??? He'll set y'all straight....again!!! John, you know I'm kidding, my colors ARE Red and White, but thats because I'm a HAWK!! A Huntingdon HAWK!!!

 

[Josh Dabney]

JS

I wouldn't go with buffalo horn. Stag or amber or green jigged bone would be cool.

-Josh

 

[J S Machine]

Ok. Stag it is. I've never used the stuff, so I guess I'll learn as I go. I'll have to get it out tonight. I still need to heat treat the blade and spring and be sure that everything else is in line.

I am also working oin three other knives as I mentioned before, and believe it or not they are not going as well as this one. I got so frustrated last night with one of them that I had to walk away from the table. That's really the first time I have been that upset with myself. One of my intentions with this thread was to make people aware of the things that you may come across and how to deal with them.

I am having a lot of difficulty with zeroing my spring and blade in all three positions. The first one in this WIP was simple, and I guess I just got lucky. The other three have been an absolute nightmare. Let's just say that there is a possiblity that you will grind too much material away and have to start over with new pieces. It's hard for me to accept failure, but I usually learn a good lesson from it, so it's good for me.

The area between the spring and the notch in the blade where it fits is critical. There is no other way to say it. It can't be "good enough". This has to be right, or there will be play and that is not acceptable. If you need some good hints on how to work on making this area fit, check out Ryan Minchew's WIP thread on his slippie. He has some very good points and techniques to keep this from being such a headache.

 

[Josh Dabney]

JS,

I made 1 slippie so take this for what it is (limited experience) But I traced my tang on paper then set a compass to the shortest distance from the center of the pin to the flat of the tang then drew a complete circle around the pin.

After doing that I set my caliper to the correct distance and scribed on the tang and ground the top and rear flats down to the scribed line. Remember that in the closed position the blade will be contacting the spring on the bottom back corner of the tang and the kick so a straight line between these two points will be what falls on the circle. Once you establish the top and back of the tang shorten the kick until that sraight line is on the circle and you should be flush in all 3 positions.

Without having a dial indicator set-up to check the fit this method got me so close to flush in all three that I couldn't tell the difference.

Hope this isn't too confusing.

-Josh