kamakiri's Former Lurker / New Member Intro (long read)

[kamakiri]

Great work, Kamakiri!

  Thanks, Rizio! 

Tore these two down at 2:22 since it’s 2/2/22.

No knives were harmed in the process. No drill bits used. 

Did the two in tandem so I had to label the piles so I wouldn’t mix the parts. Forgot to grab paper towels from the house. Padded envelopes don’t really keep rolling parts on them real well. Oops.

‘98 Explorer and c.’01 CT29

[GrouchoM]

Where do you get all of your grey magnifiered Explorers?

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

[kamakiri]

Mostly from the big auction site. Wish I had more practical local options.

Getting the right era or specific year parts is one of the big reasons I can ID the production year of many knives while just looking at smurfy auction pics and reviewing them on a phone.

Gray mags layers alone have at least 3 main variants. More, if the adjacent liner and brass spacer/collar and misc. gray bezel types…way more.

[Ritornello]

Hey Kama,

I hope this works! Here are the pics. It looks like it just needs a new bail fitted on, the contact points are still there. Let me know if this looks doable.

 

20220202_143803.jpg (Filesize: 277.11 KB)

[kamakiri]

Hey Kama,

I hope this works! Here are the pics. It looks like it just needs a new bail fitted on, the contact points are still there. Let me know if this looks doable.

  [ Quoting of attachment images from other messages is not allowed ]

Hey Rit,

Pics are perfect and just what I needed to see. 

It’s absolutely doable. Pin looks good enough to reuse. I was just working on my no-drill rivet removal on an early ‘60s Huntsman LNF in need of some repairs. So getting the broken bail end off won’t be a problem at all, whichever way. That’s the good news.

The not so good news is that I’m planning on making tooling to fabricate shackle ends faster. That project has been on the back burner for a while and I’d like to get that done before I make another. At least that was my plan.

I’ll PM you later about some of the timing details and some other thoughts.

Happy that the no-drill rivet removal worked here with the focus on not removing/cutting the nickel silver material (much) to get it to release.

 

[Ritornello]

Hey Rit,

Pics are perfect and just what I needed to see. 

It’s absolutely doable. Pin looks good enough to reuse. I was just working on my no-drill rivet removal on an early ‘60s Huntsman LNF in need of some repairs. So getting the broken bail end off won’t be a problem at all, whichever way. That’s the good news.

The not so good news is that I’m planning on making tooling to fabricate shackle ends faster. That project has been on the back burner for a while and I’d like to get that done before I make another. At least that was my plan.

I’ll PM you later about some of the timing details and some other thoughts.

Happy that the no-drill rivet removal worked here with the focus on not removing/cutting the nickel silver material (much) to get it to release.

 

Sounds great Kama! Looking forward to hearing from you. Whatever you decide to do, don't feel pressured. I'm very curious about that shackle fabricator, seems like you're a regular MacGyver.

[kamakiri]

Sounds great Kama! Looking forward to hearing from you. Whatever you decide to do, don't feel pressured. I'm very curious about that shackle fabricator, seems like you're a regular MacGyver.

Thanks for that, but any pressure is pre-existing and internally generated!  I’ve been meaning to set things up for a while to do projects like this. I should thank you for giving me one more reason to move things along faster. Shipping/receiving…websites…payments…terms and conditions…so many moving parts! And that’s the stuff that has nothing to do with the actual work! So far, I’ve only tended toward projects that I find or furnish all the parts so the ‘sale’ only occurs after the work is completed and ready to ship.  I've been contacted occasionally about doing service, repair, and mod work, but so far I’ve only been able to respond ‘no’ or ‘not yet’…

Anyway, checked off some items in the to-do list today regarding such logistics. I’ll have to owe you that PM for now.

[Ritornello]

Thanks for that, but any pressure is pre-existing and internally generated!  I’ve been meaning to set things up for a while to do projects like this. I should thank you for giving me one more reason to move things along faster. Shipping/receiving…websites…payments…terms and conditions…so many moving parts! And that’s the stuff that has nothing to do with the actual work! So far, I’ve only tended toward projects that I find or furnish all the parts so the ‘sale’ only occurs after the work is completed and ready to ship.  I've been contacted occasionally about doing service, repair, and mod work, but so far I’ve only been able to respond ‘no’ or ‘not yet’…

Anyway, checked off some items in the to-do list today regarding such logistics. I’ll have to owe you that PM for now.

Alrighty Kama, I do hope you can get all that going sometime soon! Looking forward to it!

[kamakiri]

Alrighty Kama, I do hope you can get all that going sometime soon! Looking forward to it!

 

Work on the tooling started today and is progressing quickly!  Testing with other material was promising on the prototype/beta tooling and work has started on the permanent stuff. That’s today's good news.

The not so good…I came up with a better idea for the tooling. So I need to figure out the materials and blanks I gotta order. At least that won’t slow the progress with the existing tool setup.

Proof of concept/process on left, OEM on right.

[Ritornello]

Work on the tooling started today and is progressing quickly!  Testing with other material was promising on the prototype/beta tooling and work has started on the permanent stuff. That’s today's good news.

The not so good…I came up with a better idea for the tooling. So I need to figure out the materials and blanks I gotta order. At least that won’t slow the progress with the existing tool setup.

Proof of concept/process on left, OEM on right.

Really glad to hear that things are moving along nicely! The PoC looks great and if the only bad news is that you have a superior method to fabricate shackles I'd say you're doing just fine.

[kamakiri]

Really glad to hear that things are moving along nicely! The PoC looks great and if the only bad news is that you have a superior method to fabricate shackles I'd say you're doing just fine.

Also had to wait for more nickel silver to show up…and that finally did today! So the tooling was ‘finished’ about as far as I could take it without further testing a week ago.  And I really wanted to get this process tested with the ‘correct’ 2mm diameter, instead of larger diameter rods that would need to be thinned after the ends were both forged. I dislike that extra work step.

About an hour after the wire was here and unpackaged, I had the first nickel silver prototype forged. Taking what I learned I got the second one done in under 24 minutes. Happy about that, but I want to get that to under 10 mins from the time I measure and clip the wire.

Trimmed up the second one after dinner. Not perfect, but just about ready to be installed in a 2-layer 91mm. First one is sized for a 3-layer with a saw…I think I’m going to keep it as is, being the first one that I forged with this tooling.

That’s it for today, but I gotta spend some time thinking about any adjustments I should make to either the process or the tooling.

[mattbod]

Welcome and great work. I hope you have all your inoculations though...the sh*t on some of those knives made me want to hurl.

[kamakiri]

Welcome and great work. I hope you have all your inoculations though...the sh*t on some of those knives made me want to hurl.

 

Lol. I probably should document what comes out of all the really gross ones. The real surprises come from pretty well maintained vintage ones…oiled, not over-sharpened…pretty nice…until the scales get popped off. Then you know what they used the knife for. Ugh. 

[Ritornello]

Also had to wait for more nickel silver to show up…and that finally did today! So the tooling was ‘finished’ about as far as I could take it without further testing a week ago.  And I really wanted to get this process tested with the ‘correct’ 2mm diameter, instead of larger diameter rods that would need to be thinned after the ends were both forged. I dislike that extra work step.

About an hour after the wire was here and unpackaged, I had the first nickel silver prototype forged. Taking what I learned I got the second one done in under 24 minutes. Happy about that, but I want to get that to under 10 mins from the time I measure and clip the wire.

Trimmed up the second one after dinner. Not perfect, but just about ready to be installed in a 2-layer 91mm. First one is sized for a 3-layer with a saw…I think I’m going to keep it as is, being the first one that I forged with this tooling.

That’s it for today, but I gotta spend some time thinking about any adjustments I should make to either the process or the tooling.

Very fascinating stuff! Do keep the updates coming.

[kamakiri]

Very fascinating stuff! Do keep the updates coming.

  Thanks, Rit. More equipment inbound in the next few days…so hopefully more to report and higher QC output soon.

[kamakiri]

Show content

Progress on the bail/shackle fabrication. Slight improvement on the initial forging. Waiting for some different material from a different supplier…unfortunately gonna be a bit of a wait.

[Ritornello]

Show content

Progress on the bail/shackle fabrication. Slight improvement on the initial forging. Waiting for some different material from a different supplier…unfortunately gonna be a bit of a wait.




Looking good Kama! I'm really appreciating the regular updates. What's the material? Some kind of nickel silver?

[kamakiri]

Yes, it is. I’m just hoping to I have any progress on this front sooner than later as I’ve bumped some other projects ahead of the bail and shackle work.

[Ritornello]

Yes, it is. I’m just hoping to I have any progress on this front sooner than later as I’ve bumped some other projects ahead of the bail and shackle work.

You and me both Kama lol. I'm pretty thrilled with what I've seen thus far.

[kamakiri]

You and me both Kama lol. I'm pretty thrilled with what I've seen thus far.

 

So am I, but if I can’t get to the point where the final products are both better and faster than my older process using mostly files, I’d have to abandon this work or at least set it aside somewhat and move forward with perhaps casting. …Which I’m familiar with and could use the existing tooling to help with things like the wax positives or maybe touch-ups or specific reforming for certain era reproductions. But I really don’t want to go that way.

…

Unrelated, but I finally got some titanium scales to use for test fitting. I’ve been liking using alox and screws for similar 84mm test fitting…I figured these would make sense for 91mm mods.

Also got some titanium sheet for liners.  Gonna find out the hard way how to cut these by hand.

Checking a nickel silver spacer mod for fit in the titanium test scales:

[GrouchoM]

So am I, but if I can’t get to the point where the final products are both better and faster than my older process using mostly files, I’d have to abandon this work or at least set it aside somewhat and move forward with perhaps casting. …Which I’m familiar with and could use the existing tooling to help with things like the wax positives or maybe touch-ups or specific reforming for certain era reproductions. But I really don’t want to go that way.

…

Unrelated, but I finally got some titanium scales to use for test fitting. I’ve been liking using alox and screws for similar 84mm test fitting…I figured these would make sense for 91mm mods.

Also got some titanium sheet for liners.  Gonna find out the hard way how to cut these by hand.

Checking a nickel silver spacer mod for fit in the titanium test scales:

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

[Ritornello]

So am I, but if I can’t get to the point where the final products are both better and faster than my older process using mostly files, I’d have to abandon this work or at least set it aside somewhat and move forward with perhaps casting. …Which I’m familiar with and could use the existing tooling to help with things like the wax positives or maybe touch-ups or specific reforming for certain era reproductions. But I really don’t want to go that way.

…

Unrelated, but I finally got some titanium scales to use for test fitting. I’ve been liking using alox and screws for similar 84mm test fitting…I figured these would make sense for 91mm mods.

Also got some titanium sheet for liners.  Gonna find out the hard way how to cut these by hand.

Checking a nickel silver spacer mod for fit in the titanium test scales:

Well I do hope the method you're experimenting with ends up working out. I wish I was that handy and could give you some input but unfortunately I'm simply not. Are the liners for your own builds, repairs, or both?

[kamakiri]

Well I do hope the method you're experimenting with ends up working out. I wish I was that handy and could give you some input but unfortunately I'm simply not. Are the liners for your own builds, repairs, or both?

I didn’t have a specific use in mind. I think the uses would depend on how well and how fast I can do it…consistently. I suppose I’m more interested in the process and making a project of it first.

[Ritornello]

I didn’t have a specific use in mind. I think the uses would depend on how well and how fast I can do it…consistently. I suppose I’m more interested in the process and making a project of it first.

Hey Kama,

Been a little while. I hope you and yours are okay. Just checking in on the bail project. Any updates?

Rit