Folder Lesson
Starting pieces
Drilling pivot
Mounting jig
Side view of jig
Setting up the cut
Milling notch
Finished notch
Lock bar
Cutting the lock bar
Setting up the grinder
Polishing the face of the lock bar
Lock bar fit up
Mounting the bar and blade in jig
Scribing the back of the blade
Scribing the kick
Scribing the liners
Filing the kick
Zeroing the blade assembly
Zeroing the kick
Zeroing the kick
Grinding the radius
Measuring the hump
Making shims
Punch
Punching the shim
Finished shim
On Alex's Bench
From left to right: Jim Batson, Alex Daniels and Ken Durham. We have gathered at Alex's shop for a lesson in making lock back folders. Alex is a great teacher.
Rough shaped and precision ground to same thickness
The pivot hole is set 60% from the top and in from the back of the blade the same distance using a #32 drill and then reamed to .125"
The blade is mounted on a jig for milling the notch.
There is a relieved area on the jig for the cutter to pass
Using a 3/16ths woodruff cutter the notch is cut to a depth of 3/16ths. A micrometer was set up to get accurate measurements for the cut. The back of the notch is set just forward of the center of the pivot hole.
The mill is running at slow speed for the cut
The lock bar is set in the jig and the end is faced off
Carefully measuring the distance from the face of the lock bar to the back of the shoe the cut is made slightly larger than the notch +1/16th
The platen on the grinder and the table are set to 90 degrees
The locking bar face is polished on the grinder and the angles are set
The locking bar touches at the top front of the notch and at the bottom rear.
The blade with the lock bar are mounted and clamped in a jig for drilling of the lock bar.
A modified caliber is used to scribe the back of the blade. One line is drawn from the bottom of the notch and then another line is scribed 1/16 wider.
The blade and lock bar are mounted in the jig and the kick area is marked for the blade in the closed position.
The back of the liner is scribed at this time roughly
The kick is then filed in roughly.
The blade assembly is set up and zeroed with a micrometer.
To insure that the lock bar is in the same position both in the open and closed position, a micrometer is used to measure the amount of material left to be removed.
The kick is filed until it zeroes out.
The back of the blade is ground to the scribe line.
Not sure what it is called, but the micrometer is used to measure the hump to the kick. This can be adjusted to taste.
Alex uses .002 or .003 shim stock to make his shims. He built a cutter to make them.
The punch has a .125 pilot pin on a 3/16ths punch. It is made for a rotor broach I believe.
Hammering down the punch cuts the shim.
Alex Daniels
PO Box 831
Town Creek, AL 35672
1-256-685-0943
We are grateful to Alex for sharing his knowledge and time with us.
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Folder Lesson
From left to right: Jim Batson, Alex Daniels and Ken Durham. We have gathered at Alex's shop for a lesson in making lock back folders. Alex is a great teacher.