G'Day everyone,
I have been doing a build off on the Aussie knife forum and thought I might post it here too. One of the members there rslt designed the knife and put it on the forum to get some opinions on the design and we all loved it enough that we ended up get a few knifemakers to take part in a build off for it.
Time I got my arse into gear and start my sidewalker build off knife since I was one of the instagators of it in the first place. First up is the design. I thought I would modify it a little since I am not a huge fan of thumb studs so I added a flipper instead
Hopefully you guys like that change.
Still not 100 % sure on the tab shape yet or how far it sticks out. There are a few other things to makes sure of yet as well. Making sure a bearing set will fit in there with a 1/4" pivot, that the detent will be covered and not roll off the tang at any point and that the back spacer has enough room for the screws to go through there. Depending on the construction method I do I might alter the handle a bit to mess with the lockbar a touch.
Now for the materials I was planning on using. I was initially thinking Chad Nichols Stainless Damascus blade and a full mokuti handle on both sides. The material cost for that build is pretty damned high though. I prefer a linerlock over a framelock though so I was thinking of milling out a pocket in the handle for a lockbar over doing a framelock but I might need to alter the handle shape a touch to make that work.
Alternatively I could do the pattern as a linerlock but if I wanted to keep the bearings I would have to have some rather thick liners on it (~2mm). The Chad Nichols Damascus I have isn't real thick 3.2mm so having a thin blade with really thick handles once there is a bolster, scales and liners etc on there isn't going to be the best as well. So I am a bit stuck on what to do at the moment. No matter what I will use the damascus on the blade + the bearings but can't decide on the handle yet. I could use plan Ti for the bolsters or the mokuti as well. The handle scales material I have in the pic is lightning strike carbon fibre. I do have some thunderstrike kevlar on the way as well that might be good to use as well.
I'll be getting started once I have reviewed the design changes making it a flipper and figured out the final material choices.
Alistair
I have been doing a build off on the Aussie knife forum and thought I might post it here too. One of the members there rslt designed the knife and put it on the forum to get some opinions on the design and we all loved it enough that we ended up get a few knifemakers to take part in a build off for it.
Time I got my arse into gear and start my sidewalker build off knife since I was one of the instagators of it in the first place. First up is the design. I thought I would modify it a little since I am not a huge fan of thumb studs so I added a flipper instead

Still not 100 % sure on the tab shape yet or how far it sticks out. There are a few other things to makes sure of yet as well. Making sure a bearing set will fit in there with a 1/4" pivot, that the detent will be covered and not roll off the tang at any point and that the back spacer has enough room for the screws to go through there. Depending on the construction method I do I might alter the handle a bit to mess with the lockbar a touch.
Now for the materials I was planning on using. I was initially thinking Chad Nichols Stainless Damascus blade and a full mokuti handle on both sides. The material cost for that build is pretty damned high though. I prefer a linerlock over a framelock though so I was thinking of milling out a pocket in the handle for a lockbar over doing a framelock but I might need to alter the handle shape a touch to make that work.

Alternatively I could do the pattern as a linerlock but if I wanted to keep the bearings I would have to have some rather thick liners on it (~2mm). The Chad Nichols Damascus I have isn't real thick 3.2mm so having a thin blade with really thick handles once there is a bolster, scales and liners etc on there isn't going to be the best as well. So I am a bit stuck on what to do at the moment. No matter what I will use the damascus on the blade + the bearings but can't decide on the handle yet. I could use plan Ti for the bolsters or the mokuti as well. The handle scales material I have in the pic is lightning strike carbon fibre. I do have some thunderstrike kevlar on the way as well that might be good to use as well.
I'll be getting started once I have reviewed the design changes making it a flipper and figured out the final material choices.
Alistair
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