Customer review for the Tigershark by JAMZT53

Joe Topiah

Knife Collector

Instagram <a href=”https://instagram.com/jamzt53/”>@JAMZT53</a>

Rating: 5 out of 5.

I’m so Unbelievably excited, impressed, relieved, as my Tigershark arrived today from Germany.. Andreas from @simplyknives, Perfected another Amazing knife for me.. We were very worried that it took so long to get here, but it was worth the wait.. I can’t say enough about Andreas and his work.. (2) words come to mind, “Simply Perfection”

Definition of Meticulous, Andreas Berhinger….

– full tang

– Serpent Wood Handle

– 9” OAL 4.5” blade

– brass pins and lanyard

– hand polished

– Premium (2) tone leather sheath

Thank you so very much my friend.. Your work is second to none.. 🤝🙏🏻

Joe Topiah @JAMZT53

Folder: Spring Folder

Spring folder knife header image with padouk handle scales

My first folding knife model. The spring arrested folding mechanism works like on Swiss Army Knives. The blade is held in the opened or respectively closed position by a strong steel spring that blends into the spine of the handle. The whole mechanism lives inside a strong steel frame. There are no screws, everything is glued up with epoxy. The liners are laminated grey paper and a layer of pearwood veneer to give it a lighter two-color tone. in the closed position, the edge of the blade does not touch any inner parts of the knife to keep it sharp. The handle scales are made out of a nice red Padouk wood.

My blogpost about making this knife

Continue reading “Folder: Spring Folder”

My first folding knife

Spring folder knife header image with padouk handle scales

I am working on my first folding knife model. And to make the challenge complete I am trying to build a spring folder where a spring holds the blade in the opened or closed position (like the swiss army knives are made).

The most complicated part is, that all pieces have to fit together very precisely. The spring should not be too strong nor so weak, that the blade is able to wiggle around. This would also be a safety issue. Nobody wants to have a super sharp knife that could open while in the pocket. If the spring is too strong the risk is to slip when you try to close the knife and too much force is needed.

The axis and the connection points have to be set up very precisely. I feel like a clockmaker with fine files and sandpaper, tidying the friction parts up and even polishing them, so they do not scratch in the movement.

I had to experiment with the spring part. It is spacer and spring in one piece and I built it in a way, that the edge of the blade does not touch any internal parts of the handle when closed, so it remains sharp and smooth.

I had to experiment with the heat treatment for springs. I did not find good information on how to do this correctly. The first one was still too brittle and I snapped it and had to build a new one from scratch. When the steel is too soft it just bends and stays in that position. The spring loses all strength after opening and closing the knife after three or four times. In the end, I had a good resistance in the spring and it returns back to position every time.

The liner is a mixed material self-made Micarta. It consists of laminated gray paper and a layer of pear veneer. As all layers are drenched in laminating epoxy it is a waterproof and very stable material mix with a nice optical effect.

For the handle, I chose Padouk wood, a very nice and easy to work with material. It has good material properties and a coarse porous texture – The only thing was that it covered my whole workshop with a red layer of dust.

The etching says “spring folder” but the font I chose did not come out as expected, so next time I will choose a better-to-read font.

Another first-time was the use of my new polishing machine. That thing is kind of scary with the high speed and power. But it gets the polishing job done very nicely and it is so much more convenient instead of using a polishing wheel on my drill stand.

I am very happy with the results of my first ever made folding knife. I learned a lot – like always – and I can improve on that experiences for the next models.