Cronus Build Part 2

With all the spring yard work to get done around my house, shop time has been fairly limited.  But, as luck would have it, the weather turned off bad this last weekend and I was forced indoors.  Oh darn.  I made some very good progress on the Cronus build, in fact, I'm only a few more hours away from a finished knife.  It's turning out pretty great, if I do say so myself, and I guess I just did.  Here are some pics of the progress.

The first accomplishment was to get the blade ground.  Here's my little file guide that I use while grinding to keep the plunges aligned.  I clamp onto it with a pair of needle nose vise grips to give me a handle for better control.  The blade is finished up to 220 grit here.

Here is the blade after the grinding is complete.

I've shown my setup for hand finishing a blade before.  It's just a short piece of angle iron with a tapped hole with a bolt through to hold the blade in position.  I have a piece of liner material on top to give the blade a little cushion.

And here she is finished out to 600 grit.  Nice!

The bolsters also get a hand-rubbed satin finish to 600 grit.

This is the right liner after the lock bar has been cut in.

I think I fit my locks to the blade tangs a little differently than many makers.  I assemble the knife and clamp it into my vise.  I file off the lock face a little at a time until the lock engages the tang properly.  Doing it this way I don't have to take the knife apart and reassemble a bunch of times during fit up.

With the lock fit, I drill the detent ball hole and a corresponding hole in the blade tang where the ball will engage.  Here's the liner with the detent hole shown.

The insides of the liners get treated with a jeweled finish.  I've used a cratex rod to do the jeweling for the last couple of knives.  It gives a fairly good finish, and since this is a very subtle detail, it's good enough for me.

With all the knife mechanics complete, it's time to move onto the custom details.  Here are the liners after receiving a little file work.  I call this pattern "Curtains".  It's pretty simple, comprised of alternating large and small curves.

I went with my Twisted Ribbon pattern on the spacer.  This time I carried the file work around to the inside of the spacer for a couple of inches.  I did this on the last knife I finished and I really like the effect.

Here is the nearly completed knife.  I think it's looking good and the balance is really remarkable.  You have to hold it in your hand to appreciate that aspect.  Just a little more work and she'll be ready for someone's collection.

Here is a spine view of the knife.  Lookin' good!

I've been pretty disappointed with my finished photography as of late, so I ordered a light box off the internet last week.  It's supposed to arrive sometime in the next few days.  When it arrives I will take some (hopefully) good pics of the Pride knife that I finished up recently and maybe get this knife finished and photographed as well.  I'll get them both posted to the "Available Knives" page here on my blog and an email sent out to all my subscribers ASAP.  If your not on my email list, send me an email at theoldstump@live.com with "subscribe" in the subject line, or use the "Contact Brandant" box at the bottom of this page and I'll add you to the list.

Thanks a bunch for your interest in my work and for following along with me on my knife-making adventures.  Have a great week.

-  Brandant Robinson