I was busy with other things this weekend and didn't get to spend as much time out in my shop as I would have liked to. But, I was still able to make some progress on this Glaucus knife. It's shaping up to be a nice little EDC.
Here's where we ended last week with the two sides of the handle assembled and profiled.
I drill a little recessed pocket on the back sides of the front bolsters that will allow for the pivot screw heads to be concealed from view.
Now it's time to focus on the pivot. I use this great little pivot lap to get precision lengths on both my pivot barrels and pivot bushings.
After placing the pivot or the bushing into the lap, I use my horizontal disk grinder to slowly bring the part to the correct dimensions.
For the next step, which is to grind the lock ramp at the back of the blade tang, I set my adjustable table at the grinder to 10 degrees. I have this little wooden gauge block to make the process quick.
Grinding the lock ramp into the tang.
To get a nice, smooth action, I put the pivot bushing onto a 1/8" drill bit and give it a quick spin on the buffer.
Next, it's time to set the open position for the blade. This is accomplished by attaching the spacer to the right liner and putting the blade in place on the pivot system. I use a sharpie to blacken in the tip of the spacer and, while holding the blade in the desired position, I use a razor blade to mark the spacer.
I grind the tip of the spacer off down to my mark.
This pic shows the blade in it's open position up against the spacer. I now use a razor blade to scratch in the outline of the lock bar on the liner.
Here's the liner with the scratched outline for the lock bar. I drill a small hole at each end of the lock for ease in cutting.
I cut the lock bar at my mill with a small, thin cutting disk.
I cut the lock face in the same manner. I leave the face slightly longer than the marked line so I can fit it up in a few minutes.
I use some cloth-backed sandpaper to clean up the lock bar cut.
This is my little tool for bending the lock bar into position. It's simply square wooden dowel with a slot cut in it. It works great for this job.
I like to add a little bling to the insides of my liners by adding some jeweling or engine turning. I use a Cratex rod mounted in my mill to make consecutive circles on the liners.
Here are the liners after they have been jeweled. Looks pretty good. I know that most won't even notice this detail, but I know it's there.
Now it's time to set the closed blade position. I assemble the right liner, the spacer and the blade. After clamping the blade in the desired position, I drill a stop pin hole right up tight against the concave are at the bottom of the ricasso. I will then transfer this hole over to the other liner so the pin will line up.
And here's a pic with the stop pin installed. I use a 1/16" pin and leave it floating. The bolsters will hold it in place and keep it from shifting.
This is my method for fitting up the lock bar to the tang. I assemble the knife, wedge open the lock bar, and file the face down to fit. I use a piece of folded 3x5 card behind the lock to keep from scratching the liner as I file. This method takes only a couple of minutes to get a perfect fit up without have to disassemble and reassemble the knife a dozen times.
Here's a pic showing the engaged lock. Nice, early lockup.
With the knife still assembled, I mark the location for the dentent ball with a center punch. This hole will then get drilled with a small carbide bit through the lock bar and into the hardened blade.
Here's the blade with the dentent hole located. I like to relieve the edge of the hole with a slightly larger carbide drill bit for a smooth action and stronger detent.
The ceramic detent ball gets pressed in at the arbor press. I use a couple of small spacers to help get the ball set at the correct depth.
Here's the knife after the first full assembly. I'll now move over to the grinder and true up the whole profile, bringing it down to final dimensions.
Here's the bottom of the knife after truing up the profile.
And here's a view of the spine of the knife with everything ground even. This is a good view of the dovetail bolster detail too.
That about does it for this week. I hope to get the handle shaped next week and maybe even the blade ground. I hope you'll check back soon as I continue on with this build.
- Brandant Robinson