Guardian Build Continues

I got quite a bit done on my son's knife today and took some progress pics along the way.  Like I said before, I have a tight schedule on getting the knife done, so I'm working as fast as I can.  Luckily I have a couple extra days off from work this week, so I should be able to squeeze in quite a bit of shop time over the next couple of days.

 

I tried a new technique with fitting the scales to the inside curves of the bolsters.  I usually make the front bolsters first, followed by the scales, and finish off with the rear bolsters.  This way, I only have to fit one joint at a time.  But, in my exuberance to get this knife made, I accidentally skipped a step and made the rear bolsters before the scales.  In order get the correct contour, I used some Sculpey clay and formed it into the scale slots on the handle.  I put the Sculpey clay and knife into the oven at 275 degrees for 15 minutes to harden the clay.



Here is one of the Sculpey clay templates after it has been hardened.  It worked pretty well.  I was worried that the clay would shrink, but it didn't.



 

I decided to use some of my dyed and stabilized maple burl for the scales for this knife.  I sliced them thin on my band saw and super glued the Sculpey clay templates onto the burls.

 

I used the Sculpey clay templates to grind off the excess wood from the burl scales.  I forgot to take progress pictures while making the scales, but this is what they looked like after being shaped and drilled to accept screws.

Here is the tang of the blade after grinding in the lock ramp.  I use my disk sander set at 8 degrees to set the angle of the lock ramp.

I use a black sharpie to color in the inside of the right liner along the bottom where the lock bar will be cut out.  I also screw the spacer to the liner so I can get the right open location for the blade.  Once the pivot assembly is installed and the blade in place, I use an exacto blade to scratch along where the tang meets the liner.

You can see in the above pic the scratch mark where the lock face will be and the additional scratch that runs the length of the liner where the lock will be cut out.

I use a small Dremel cutoff wheel mounted in my drill press to cut the lock bar free in the liner.  The liner is held in a drill press vise and I manually move the vise into the cutoff wheel to make the cut.  I leave a little extra material at the lock face so I can fit the lock to the tang down the road.

Here is a picture of the lock after it has been cut.  I use small strips of sandpaper to polish up the surfaces of the cuts.

After assembling the handle completely, I round off the edges of the bolsters and scales and get everything fitting tightly.  I also polish the entire handle and put a satin finish on the bolsters, liner edges, and back spacer.  I think it is turning out quite nicely.

I'll be adding some file work on the spacer, liners and the spine of the blade.  But for now, this is where I had to stop.  I should have time over the next couple of days to make a lot of headway, if not finish the knife completely.

Thanks for following along with this build and for stopping by the Robinson Edge.

-  Brandant Robinson