Progress on the Jaguar Build

It was a busy weekend, full of setting up Christmas decorations around the house and hanging up the lights.  I was still able to make a little progress on the Jaguar build this last weekend.  Here are the fruits of this week's labors.

To start things off, I was able to finish out the bolsters and the scales.  The Micarta scales get polished up to a nice, glossy finish.  The bolsters get a hand-rubbed satin finish.

Here is the knife once the closed position has been dialed in.  This is done by grinding away the tang where it makes contact with the stop pin.  I also had to grind away the inside of the spacer slightly so that the edge doesn't contact the spacer.

With the open and closed positions of the blade set, it's time to create the lock.  I color in the lock area with black marker and use a razor blade to scratch lines where the edges of the lock will be cut.  I also use a center punch to locate the position of a hole at the front and rear ends of the lock.

Here is my set up for cutting in the lock.  I clamp the liner in my drill press vise and use a thin cutoff disk mounted in the drill press.  I hand feed the liner through the cutoff disk until the lock is complete.  It usually takes 1.5 to 2 of these disks to finish a lock.

This is what the lock looks like after cutting it in with the disk.  It makes a nice, crisp line.  I uses some cloth-backed sandpaper to clean up the cut edges and finish things out.

Here is how I dial in the lock face surface to match the tang.  I assemble the knife except for the bolsters and scales.  I wrap some masking tape around the liners so that I don't accidentally scratch up the liners as I file the lock face and mount the knife in my vise.  Then, using a flat file, I grind away the lock face until it mates up with the tang and engages at just the right position.  Fitting the lock this way eliminates the need to disassemble and reassemble the knife a dozen or more times before getting the lock right.

The last thing that I worked on over the weekend was to begin the hand sanding on the blade.  I wasn't able to complete the satin finish, but I did get it done up through 400 grit.  This week I'll finish the blade up through a final 600 grit.  I also hope to get a lot of the detail work done on this knife.

Well, thanks for following along with me on this knife making adventure on the Robinson Edge.  I hope everyone has a fun and enjoyable Christmas season.  Stay tuned next week for another update on this build.

-  Brandant Robinson