Chapter 1

(1) Knife outlines drawn onto metal

(2) Several roughed out blades, Blurs on the left, Companions right
My blades are made by the stock removal method. This means I draw the profile of a blade
directly on a bar of metal(1) and then saw, drill, grind, cuss and cajole until I've removed
everything that falls outside the drawing(2).
Chapter 2

(3) Adjusting hole alignment

(4A) Setting the angle to 10 degrees

 (4B) Grinding the locking ramp

(5) Centerline is drawn

(6) Filing thumb grooves

 (7) Grinding the bevel to the centerline
After the blades are shaped to the correct profile on the belt sander the holes for the pivot and
thumb stud are drilled. The hole for the head of the screw for the thumb stud is usually
countersunk.

Even though I get the basic shape and hole placement of the blade from a pattern it is important to
remember that these blades are handmade. The blade is shaped using an ink line as a guide and the
holes are drilled on inky little dots. The placement of the holes within the shape of the rear of the
blade have to have certain geometric relationships if the folder is to function properly. To help me
be sure I achieve that relationship I use a little wooden jig with a couple of metal rods stuck in it.
These rods approximate the relationship of the pivot and the blade stop as they will be in the
finished knife.

The back and bottom rear of the blade are ground until the blade fits into the jig about right(3).
Final fitting will take place when the handle and blade are matched. After the blade works in the
jig, I set the angle of my grinder's platen 10 degrees off from verticle (4A). Then, I mill the angled
locking ramp in the rear of the blade(4B).

In picture (5) you'll see that a center line has been drawn on the edge of the blade. The object of
the game is to grind the sides of the blade down evenly so that the cutting edge falls on that line.
At this point, I usually file the thumb grooves into the back of the blade (6) because it's a little
easier to get the blade to stay put in a vice while it's still flat. Notice that the file I'm using is about
a half inch wide. It's a special file called a checkering file and cuts about 10 grooves at a time.
This makes it a lot easier to keep the grooves even.

In picture (7) you can see me holding the blade against the grinding belt to grind the bevel to the
centerline. Yeah, I know what your thinking - that nobody could possibly do it that way and keep
the lines straight. That's what I thought too and some days I still think so. But, with practice it can
be done and just about every stock removal knife maker does it that way.
Chapter 3

(8) The heat treated blade

(9) Making the bronze bearing

 (10) Blades cleaned, bearings pressed in

After a blade is heat treated it is discolored (8) and needs to be cleaned up. Each type of steel has
its own color and ATS-34 looks maroon as you see in the picture. Before cleaning the blade I turn
a bearing (9) from oilite bronze and press it into the blade pivot hole with an arbor press. Oilite
bronze contains a high percentage of oil and allows the blade pivot to be largely self lubricating. If
you eventually do put a drop of oil in the knife the bronze will hold the oil next to the pivot where
its needed. Neat, huh?

In picture (10) you see the two blades we are working on with the bearings pressed in and the
discoloration ground off. Notice that the tanto shaped blade is just as shiny looking as the other
blade. The other blade is ATS-34 but the tanto is damascus. At this stage they are hard to tell apart
but after the blade is etched the pattern will be very evident. There is no picture of the etching
process but it is very simple. Basically, you just drop the blade in a container of warm Archer
circuit board etchant for a few minutes and it developes much like a photograph. The exact time
and process varies with the composition of the damascus but the maker can usually provide you
with that information.
Chapter 4

(11) Titanium and micarta sandwiches for the knife handles

(12) Milling away most of a titanium slab to make an integral bolster

 (13) Dovetailing the bolster

In picture (11) we dispel any last ideas that you, dear reader, may have been clinging to that knife
handles for folders are in any way prefabricated for the aspiring knife maker. I call this my
"micarta sandwich". It is two pieces of 1/8th inch thick titanium, a sheet of .050 titanium for the
lock, and a sheet of micarta, all bolted together through the pivot hole. You can see the outline of
the desired handle shape drawn on the metal which means that no two knives will ever be exactly
identical even when made from the same pattern. The sandwich idea is my way of keeping things
lined up and parallel while the handle is being built. Eventually, most of the micarta will be cut
away leaving just enough for the spine of the knife.

On an integral knife handle the bolster is one piece with the liner as opposed to mounting a bolster
onto the liner with screws or solder. The integral design allows for a thinner, lighter knife with
bolsters that absolutely cannot come off. Losing a bolster has never been a problem for any knife
maker I ever heard of but the extra strength and reliability just makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

To get that integral bolster you have to remove a lot of metal so that most of that 1/8th inch bar
becomes a thin liner upon which the handle material of your choice will be mounted. Picture (12)
shows this removal process as the mill cuts away the unwanted material.

After the bolster has been formed I like to undercut(13) it with a dovetail cutter. This gives the
handle material some extra support because it gets wedged under there. And besides, it looks
pretty snazzy.
Chapter 5

(14) Gluing the handle material to the liner

(15) Tapping the liner for the scale screws

 (16) Fully assembled sandwich with back screws in place

Now that the liner/bolster has been prepared it's time to add the scale material to the handle.
Although I love natural handle materials my choice for integral handles is usually a synthetic. The
reason is simply that a handle slab on my integral knives is only .070 inches thick - that's 70
thousanths of an inch folks. It can be done with natural materials but synthetics are much stronger.
In this case, we are using G-10 fiberglass laminate - green on one knife and black on the other.
Picture (14) shows the G-10 scale being glued to the liner with 2-ton epoxy. Clamps hold the scale
while the glue sets over night. Notice that the 1/8th inch thick scale stands up above the bolster by
a good margin (.055 to be exact). This must be sanded down later.

In picture (15) we are tapping the liners for the little screws that will support the scales. You can
see the screws sticking out of the completed liner. They will be ground flat later. The epoxy is
super strong and will probably never let go but I use it primarily as a means of ensuring that no
moisture will ever collect under the scales. The screws guarantee the scales won't be tempted to
move in the unlikely event the epoxy does let go. OK, so I tend to over build a little - some people
like that about my knives.

You may ask why I didn't put the scale screws in earlier so they could hold the scale while the glue
dried and that would be a good question. That's how I usually do it - except when I working on a
knife that will be anodized. The presence of any conductive material like a steel screw causes an
unpleasant reaction in the anodizing bath. So, by putting the screws in after the glue sets I am able
to remove them just before anodizing. Although only one of the knives will be anodized I follow
the same steps for both to help me avoid making a mistake.

Now that the scale screws are in place the scale itself can be ground flat with the bolster. After
that, the two remaining structural screws (the two screws in the spine) are put in place. The
sandwich can now be fully assembled into a rigid, coherent package as seen in picture (16).
Chapter 6

(17) The sandich, roughly ground into final shape

(18) Most of the micarta is removed, leaving only the spine

 (19) Punching out the nylotron washers

The handle begins to really take shape as we grind the sandwich according to the outline drawn on
the scale (17). We now have something that feels like a knife handle but it's solid - no room to put
the blade inside. Using the blade as a guide we cut away all the micarta except the part that
contains the screw holes for the back of the handle - the spine (18). At this point the blade can be
mounted inside the handle but it is a very loose fit. That's because the blade is about 1/8th inch
thick and the spine was 3/16ths. In picture (19) you see the very manual process involved in
punching out the nylotron washers that will fill the gap and take up the slop. It is desirable for the
washers to be as thin as possible, and in fact, they are only about .010 thick. This means that even
after the washers are added there remains a bit of slop that is the difference between the thickness
of the blade plus the two washers and the thickness of the spine. After a little arithmetic and
careful measurment the thickness of the spine is reduced to match. The result is that everything
stays parallel and the knife stays thin.
 Chapter 7

(20) The lock being cut free from the liner

(21) The lock, blade stop, and ball detent in place

(22) The pocket clip

With the blade in place we can do the final profile grinding of the handle so the the handle
precisly fits the blade. This gives us a handle with a working blade that won't lock into position.
Picture (20) shows the locking bar being cut free from the liner. The result can be seen in picture
(21). Once the lock is adjusted so the blade is in the correct position we need a stop bar so that the
blade cannot stops exactly at the full open position. This bar and also the ball detent can be seen in
picture (21). The ball detent is at the end of the locking bar (very small). It's a steel ball bearing the
mates with a dimple in the blade to help keep the blade from coming out of the handle when the
knife is closed.

The processes for adjusting the shape of the locking bar where it meets the blade, positioning and
mounting the locking bar, and for matching the ball and detent are all critical and very time
consuming. As such, they are beyond the scope of this discussion - please accept that they get
done and my hair gets grayer.

The final part to be added is the pocket clip (22). I mill a pocket into the handle to seat the base of
the clip flush with the surface of the handle because it's flatter and because it's classy.
Chapter 8

(23) Marking the blade

(24) The finished knife

All the remains is to mark the blade with my logo (23) then lubricate and assemble the knife. I use
a special lubricating wax and a single drop of oil during final assembly. Finally, the blade is
sharpened and we're done (24) with the first knife.
Chapter 9

(25) Anodizing control and bath

(26) The handle changing color

(27) The finished knife

 (28) Close up of damascus blade

To finish the second knife we need to do some anodizing. All the parts are made and the knife can
be assembled into a functioning unit. So, we remove the scale screws and the blade stop and
anything else that is conductive but not made of titanium. The titanium parts are cleaned with a
degreaser and dropped into an etchant. This etchant is different than we used to etch the damascus
blade and much weaker but it prepares the titanium. The cleaned parts are then stored under
distilled water until we are ready for them.

A titanium rod is put through a hole in a handle slab and lowered into the anodizing bath (25). As
the knob on the anodizing control is turned you can actually see the color change(26) in infinitely
small steps across the spectrum. Once you have a color you like the settings are left as they are and
you simply do the remaining pieces. If you go past the color you want you must re-etch to remove
the anodizing and start over. Unfortunately, we cannot anodize titanium to white or black.

After the anodizing is complete finishing the knife is done as before with lubrication and
assembly(27). The anodized surfaces can be cleaned and brightened with an ammonia based
window cleaner. Finally, picture (28) is a close up of the Raindrop pattern damascus used in this
blade.

That's it, that's all there is to it. I hope this has given you some understanding of what goes into
making a handmade folding knife, why they cost more than production models, and why they are
worth it. And, if you have been considering building one yourself, I hope this discussion provided
the little push you needed to get off your duff and do it!