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The Liner-Lock
Folder - Part 1 of 4
by Jason Howell
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I will show you how I make my "knives of liner lock design". I thank
several people for steering me in the right direction and save my scrap pile
from getting any larger than it already was. Johnny Stout had a great liner
lock class at his hammer in, and Craig Shelton gave me a one day rundown. Everything
else is trial and error. Nothing compares to seeing it in person. There is a
certain sequence of events that need to be adhered to to make things work. i.e...
drill your bolsters before you tap your liners for them, don't drill for clearance
on both liners, just one, etc...
| Make a design in manilla or cardboard. I use Mylar. You can find it at
Hobby Lobby or Michaels... Look for clearances open and closed, stop pin
placement, closed position. Move pivot till it is in the best position for
everything to clear and close. I've heard of 60/40 formulas, calculations,
etc..., but I just put the pivot a little below center. The mylar works
great and you can move the knife open, closed, anywhere in between and allows
you to correct unforseen problems before you invest the time as well as
steel and Ti. |
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| Lay out your pattern on Ti. I use layout fluid/spray and a scribe on .050"
6al4v. I leave a little extra on the front of the liners and on the back
of the blade. I like my blade to just get out of site under the bolster
in the closed position. After heat treat, I can shave a little at a time
till I get a good fit and lockup. You can always take a little more off,
but you can't put it back. |
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Clamp liners together and rough to shape. For those that have
ground Ti, you'll know what I mean. If you haven't, here goes. Don't run
your vacuum, wear a resp and an apron (stuff tends to catch afire, namely
you and your clothes), use fresh belts, sharp bits, etc... Mark &
centerpunch, your holes, then drill the pivot to 3/16", and ream to size.
Any other drilling will be done with both liners clamped AND pivot pin
in place. |
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| Lay out stop pin. I use 1/8 hardened dowels from Rex, MSC, all the big
knife suppliers... I leave the stop pin down from back of knife some to
allow a little room for final shaping. |
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I picked up a tip from Art Washburn about stability and tolerence
in a liner lock. Drill for a dowel between your first 2 spine screws (should
be 1/16"). With just a little slop in your 0-80 screw holes or countersink,
your knife will go together a little different every time. This dowel
keeps things rigid and the knife will not twist on you. I am using a 1/8"
pin on this knife, but have some 1/16 dowels on order for future applications.
Note pivot pin and stop pin in place... |
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I'd like to mention something about the drill press... Don't
assume it drills straight perpendicular holes or that your bits make round
holes. I use cobalt bits and go through them regularly. Gotta have both.
The spine is sandwhiched by the liners. On larger blades I
use 3 screws along the spine, on smaller, 2. With my pivot, stop pin,
and dowel in place and clamped, I can now drill my spine screw holes to
0-80 tap size. I use a #55. |
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| While I'm here, I drill my bolster holes and scale holes. |
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| I lay out and rough out my spine material(Devin's ladder in this case),
drill a 1/8" hole where I want the stop pin, assemble with the stop pin,
and clamp to liners. |
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| I now drill my dowel hole through liners into my spine material. |
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| I Install my dowel and drill my 0-80 tap size along the spine. Notice
that all holes drilled are done with the pivot, stop pin, and dowel in place. |
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With my liners basicall laid out, I layout, scribe, and rough out my blade
(again, Devin's). |
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| I centerpunch my pivot hole in the blade. note: I usually use my mylar
pattern and punch through it with my centerpunch. Whatever works for you. |
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| Drill to 3/16"... |
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| ...then ream |
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| Almost forgot to mention, but I feel it is pretty important. In between
grinding, drilling, tapping sequences, I use a granite block and a sheet
of 220g paper to keep the burrs knocked down. |
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| I've heard of makers using glass, or any flat surface... I use a big chunk
of granite also doubles for my leather working. |
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| Now it's starting to come together. I test fit, checking for clearance
around the stop pin, opened and closed orientation. |
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| Here you see I'll need to trim a little off the bottom and back of the
blade to clear the stop pin. |
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| With that rough ground, you can see the blade opens and almost closes.
After HT, I'll come back and final fit everything. Note the beige pad thing...
That's cabinet/pantry liners, foamy stuff that really grips. I use this
to keep stuff from rolling around my bench and keeps one knife's parts together.
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| Thought I'd pan out for my major equipment. Excuse the mess, I just moved
and I'm just now getting everything set back up. Here's my Bader. |
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| 9" disc and a buffer (sees little use) |
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| Drill presses and HT oven in the background. |
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| Tap the spine holes on one liner to 0-80. I found some stuff at Rex supply
called "Mike-O-Cut". Seemed to work pretty good. I have used 3-in-1 oil,
or Tap Magic. |
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| Drill the other liner and the spine with a #52, 0-80 clearance hole size. |
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Liner Lock Tutorial - Page 1 of 4
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