Folder buildalong (Finished)

[Relin]

Have been working on this tonight, it was going so well I suppose it had to end in tears........

[renton]

Hope it's nothing too bad mate, I'm about a step behind you in progress.

[Relin]

Had an absolute sod of a job getting the blade in, it really is rather tricky.

BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN RIVITING.

I'm now desperately trying to patch some cracks that have appeared in the scales, I have no idea how, the holes were all cut to size and although the pins were friction fit they were not massively tight. guess I didn't cut the pins close enough to the scales and when they expanded they spit out, I'm gutted to be honest

[renton]

I'm riveting the blade into brass bolsters so not too worried about damaging that but I am a little hesitant about riveting on the scales.

Did you taper the holes?

[Relin]

I'm riveting the blade into brass bolsters so not too worried about damaging that but I am a little hesitant about riveting on the scales.

Did you taper the holes?

Bugger, no, they should have been countersunk shouldn't they? obs:

[Stew]

Bugger, no, they should have been countersunk shouldn't they? obs:

Yes they should. You'll remember next time now.

[Relin]

Yes they should. You'll remember next time now.

Good news = I bought 2 kits, bad news = Dads birthday the weekend after next and I'm away for the weekend let's see if I can patch it so it's not noticeable, sooooo pissed off with myself

[Relin]

A few crappy iPad photos of where I'm up to, will see if I got away with it tomorrow, will spend a while on the drum sander cleaning up tomorrow before I go through the grits. God bless gorilla glue





I





It was looking good up to the point of the cracks, I MIGHT just about get away with it.

Agree with a previous poster, it feels like a stiff friction folder at the moment, hoping after I clean and oil her up it will have more of a snap

[Relin]

Well, the good news is i think ive got away with it!

Gorilla glued up the cracks and cleaned up on on the drum sander.

Cleaned up the tooling marks on the blade, now needs a thorough going over by hand through the grits

Sanded the pins flush (and yes, i know they will not be as strong due to the lack of countersink but the friction fit should be enough fingers crossed)

Cleaned up the curves on the drum sander

Sanded the backspring flush at the butt end and cleaned up.

Oiled the joint to see if the action improved and WALLA, its a nice solid snap

Now the whole lot needs the hand sanding treatment through the grits and some decent photos, hopefully should be finished by next week

Some lousy phone pics to update progress:

Closed:




Blade looks pretty centred:



Opened:




From the top opened:

[paulm]

Looks good mate

How did you clean the blade up in the end, just lots of rubbing with W&D ?

Cheers, Paul

[Essexman]

Relin - Well done, that looks great.

[Relin]

Looks good mate

How did you clean the blade up in the end, just lots of rubbing with W&D ?

Cheers, Paul

180 grit on a small drum on the pillar drill to get most of the tooling marks out and to point the blade, i will now have to use a shed load of elbow grease and go through the W&D grits to mirror it, ive always been crap at getting scratches out of blades (prefering not to scratch them in the first place ) but am going to give it my best shot, failing that that is the one part that might be slightly out of my zone and it will have to go off to one of the BB massive to get a final polish

[Relin]

Relin - Well done, that looks great.

Thanks mate, its getting there, getting the blade in was a real sod and the stupid mistake on not countersinking the pins was a bugger but other than that ive learnt a lot

[GeoffWood]

Have a look further - http://www.britishblades.com/forums/...ighlight=epoxy
I would prefer epoxy when the joint really matters.

Just my 2c
I prefer to not use nickelsilver rod for pivot, it is quit some soft IMO, but I know it's a matter of preferences maybe.
And after some experiments I never feel good with epoxy and scales, even if they are clamped. Now I'm going vs gel superglue. Any experience?

Cheers

[Relin]

Well the scales are done, polished from 180 thought to 16000, oiled and waxed.

SPent 30 mins on the blade on 180 through to 320 w&d but I really am crap at hand polishing steel and the grinder is out of action for a couple of weeks, if anyone fancies doing me a quick favour that would be great!

Bit of lateral blade play but nothing major, blade now has a lovely snap to it

Profiled, sharpened and stropped till it shaves paper, it bit me too!!

Not perfect but for my first attempt I'm fairly happy with it and I learned a lot!








Thanks for the opportunity Russ, hopefully my second one will be better (I might take a break for a while first)