Knurling Question

[IrbaileyParticipant @irbailey]

Well…after a lot of reading and thinking, I decided it was time to have a go. I've got plenty more brass in stock.

I basically ran the chuck as slow as possible, and moved the knurling tool along by hand whilst trying to keep an even pressure on it by constantly adjusting the tool post.

Not an easy task.

Anyway, here's the end result. It's not great, in fact it's far from great, but it is at least nice and 'grippy' in the hand.

I think I'll keep it until my Birchwood Casey brass black turns up, and see how it looks once it's blackened. If I'm not happy, I'll probably take it off and make a ribbed version, or perhaps try separate knurls interrupted by grooves. Until I get everything loctited up and peen the tang thread, I can experiment a bit, which is all part of the fun.

Funnily enough, I did toy with the spring idea, my thoughts being making some sort of spring loaded tool holder with an old airgun spring.

Certainly an interesting project. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.

Cheers,

Ian.

[davebParticipant @daveb17630]

Ian, since the knurling on the originals is fairly uneven anyway, it looks perfectly OK to me. Nice job! Do you black the blades too?

Daveb

[IrbaileyParticipant @irbailey]

Cheers.

Not sure about the blade yet. I think I'll blacken the handle and guard first and see what it looks like.

The original first pattern knives were polished, as William E Fairbairn believed that a shiny blade gave a man a psychological advantage over an opponent. The later patterns were blackened.

To be fair, the most action this knife will see once it's done will be sitting in my desk drawer and possibly opening the odd envelope!

I have toyed with the idea of blackening it and giving it an 'antiqued' look.

Like many of my projects, it's very much a bit of a 'make it up as you go' kind of affair!

Ian.

[Author]

Posts