How I make a $3000 folding knife!

welcome to the Eno Knife Show I'm Yan enu today I'm taking you through the last episode of building the zero [Music] folder the first episode was taken 6 months ago we thought we could shoot an entire knife process in one go we couldn't so today I'm taking you through all the hand finishing of the blade and iing of a handle and at last the final assembly I hope you enjoyed the [Music] episode we will start off today by finishing the edges of the blades as you can see here the edge of the blade still have the scale from heat treat it's shown in this dark brown color it also have tool marks from the from the Mill from when we milled out the blades next step is to take these to my horizontal grinder and and do a finished grinding on the edges so what we are going to do on the horizontal grinder is to remove all previous Trace from the previous operation which in this case was the milling machine and the [Music] hardening so next step will be to do a chamfer on the edges I'm already started that process a little on this plate but here I'm I'm making sure that the only sharp edge on the knife is The Edge itself I'm rounding off or chering each sharp corner on the blade for some processes I will use a completely fresh belt for other processes I will use a belt that has been used for certain operation in this case with the 320 git I've used this to put on edges on on finished knives so it's still sharp but it's not super sharp belt for this next process I'm actually using a slightly worn down belt because it gives me more control in how much material I'm removing what I'm interested in here is actually this area here where there's not a whole lot of grd left but there's still plenty of life left in the belt I consider belts to be free obviously they're not but if a specific little detail requires a completely fresh belt I'm using a fresh belt because trying to be cheap on belts always will result in a a bad uh product this is not the case here here I'm actually specifically deciding that I'm using a a one belt for this [Music] operation so for this next operation I need a a small wheel to get into this small radius here while this fantastic machine is capable of doing that I can change the wheels on this to be um of any diameter that I need this one which was one of the machines that I built very very early in my career just handles this job to Excellence it's fast and it's quick changing and it's also somewhat of sentimental value that I keep using this machine so last step in the grinding room is is to do a very slight polish on a scotchbrite wheel a hard scotchbrite wheel I don't mirror polish anything I don't like that kind of finish but what I do like is a brushed finish and the Scot Sprite wheel will emphasize the work we just did on the [Music] grinder [Music] next step on on the blades is to polish the opening hole the Spyderco trademarked opening hole one of the more area to do a hand set and finish is in the shoulder of the grind so I have developed a process where I I do a little sanding with a rotary tool in here but um let's start with the Spyderco opening hole [Music] here so now I've polished all the uh the tool marks from the mill away next step is to remove this super sharp edge of the hole while I won't call this process a chamfer I'm I'm basically polishing off the sharp edge right now it's it's so sharp that it will almost cut paper so this is a process that I Do by hand by using the same tool it's a very much one of those Easy Does It [Music] so in this process of of doing various steps of finishing on the blade for me it's crucial to have a multi-os vice in this case it's a panice I have one of these as well that I use for other processes but for this process specifically I use a panise and it's it's um it's very utilitarian uh it can turn in any direction that you want in order to work on the piece uh at a specific angle or so you can work on a specific detail as easy as [Music] possible so the next process for for me is to go in and polish in the shoulders just a little bit a hand satin finish is a process that I've been working on to perfecting for the past 20 some years and I'm still finding small ways to improve the what I'm doing and I'm always allowing myself to improve on the process because I always find small all things that annoys me with working on on this type of finish but also a different blade shape will give you different challenges for this specific finish but back to what we're doing here I'm grinding with the same tool here into the shoulders to remove some stubborn grind lines from the belt grinder at this point um I'm pretty much known for making a hand siin finish on my blades and for a model like this one it's the Isola it's a pretty straightforward finish it still have some challenges when you make it but I've reached a point where for me this is a fairly easy finish to achieve what you should notice on this blade is you have have basically one surface for the the blade itself and then one flat for where all the mechanics go on inside the folder so you have two surfaces that meet each other but in this case it's a pretty easy transition from the flat grind onto the flats of the the blade however the zero here here you have the flat that goes out and meets the two grind lines here and that just creates a bunch of troubles the Mojo here has some of the same grinds as as the zero you have a main bevel you have a switch grind and then you have the flats and where these three meat is always challenging spot to make sure that you don't have scratches from one surface that goes into the other surface so it's a lot about which order I finish each bevel here each surface and it's very much a matter of what grid size I use as well so for a blade that is multi beveled like the like this I generally choose a higher grd than I would on a knife like the Isola I generally stop my hand szin finish at 400 grit where out of need I go to a higher level of of finish on a multi bevel grind [Music] blade so a process that I've actually adopted quite recently in achieving the satin finish is working with these mold maker Stones it's a process that I've been familiar with for a while but I haven't used it I believe I was originally introduced to using stones on especially multi bevel uh Blades by a friend in the industry Todd Beck who is a genius when it comes to achieving a super high finish on his knives it keeps the grind lines very crisp and that's something that to me is super important in a beautiful finished knife everything should be crisp and when where traditionally I would finish all my blades solely with the wet and dry sand paper that actually has a tendency to blur out the grind lines when I use the stones I'm actually emphasizing the grind lines instead it's a process that it took me a while to actually fully understand why this is the case um Todd be had a excellent explanation for it that I can't repeat but it has to do with with the stones are a more precise surface that you work against the steel but also you're actually removing material right at the corner rather than on the corner if that makes any sense it it does when I hear myself speak but maybe it maybe it doesn't make sense to you what I always do is I finish my grind on my belt grinder at 600 grit and then I move a step backwards so I will start with a 400 grit Stone move up to 600 grit then I will start with a 400 grit sandpaper and then move up to 600 grit in this case I'm using kerosene for for helping with the the grind process with the handstones and while I don't think I have any allergic reaction to kerosene I just like to make sure that I won't have that in 5 years time when I've been soaking my hands in kerosene for hours at a at a time these Stones here uh comes in several different GDs sizes and hardnesses this is G Vine mold maker 400 git I'm using here to start removing 600 grit belt uh marks from the belt grinder or grind marks from the belt grinder specifically which stone that gives the best result is still something that I'm playing with but for now I found really good result with the mold maker version here [Music] so this process removing the grind lines from the Bell grinder with a stone is a super tedious method and what I do is I will go back check the surface with my optimises every now and again to make sure that every single scratch from the belt grinder has been removed so I will work the entire surface then go back and then rework certain areas of the blade where I know that there's still some scratches [Music] left so now I reach a point where every last step of the belt grinder has been removed with the 400 grid Stone and I'm moving up to a 600 grid Stone looks basically the same but um the and the work is basically the same so now the objective is to remove every last scratch from the 400 git stone with the 600 git Stone so now we finished the process of using the the sanding stones and I've moved up and started using wet or dry 3M sandpaper I removed all the steps from the stone with a 400 grit paper using this very very specialized sanding block here and now I'm moving up to 600 git not necessarily for the final finish if you notice the flats here are still not finished at this point I'm going to work on the finish of the Flats on my disc grinder and that is one of the reasons why I'm not finishing the bevels just yet all the three surfaces need to be finished at the same time but I know that if I've finished the flats too early I need to go back and work on that again so um again this is a super important process for me to learn in which order I need to do each step in order not to work against myself so I'm going to finish the grind here with 600 git paper to a certain level where I feel confident that I removed every last trace of the 400 git paper but the last final finish is still to be [Music] done so now I got the very strongest optimises here to make sure that there's not like a tiny little scratch hiding in here because if there is it's it's it's just there's no short cut here it's just to start the process over and it's it's one of those things you learn by experience you need to to change your angle you need to change the light source and recheck and recheck and recheck because certain scratches will only show in a certain light or with a certain reflection of the ceiling or uh the wall so now I'm going to work on the on the flats here this is the surface finished as it came off the surface grinder I'm going to take it through several steps of grinding on my disc grinder now and I will start out with a 220 grit and move my way up to 600 [Music] grit so now I've polished or sanded the blade up to 600 grit on the disc grinder which in theory gives us a final finish at least to the point where every single surface has been treated to 600 grit it's still not a totally uniform finish and that's the objective of the next process I'm going to Sand by using sandpaper but very very carefully making sure that each step that I where I use the Sandpaper is done very very carefully so each surface doesn't interfere with the other [Music] surface so now I'm establishing the final finish on the flats of the blade that will later be hidden by the handle but in order to have a even finish from under the handle out onto the blade it's super important that even the hidden uh side of the blade are finished to the same level as the rest of the knife that is also very much in tune with basically everything that I do even though something is hidden I spend basically the same amount of time making sure that everything looks nice mainly for my own sake but also if you take a product apart it needs to look nice underneath as well [Music] I finished one side and I never really know if it will take a few minutes to put the finishing touches or it will take 30 minutes in this case it took only a few minutes and of course it has to do with me having done this a lot of times so but every now and again this one little scratch will just chase you for a long time but here I'm actually super satisfied with the result I have three different surfaces that each meet in this corner and it meets at a very precise level and I've managed to keep the grind lines crisp which is the general objective as well as a nice finish so now I'm going to tape this side up to protect it and then work on the other side and very soon the blade is ready to have the logo [Music] engraved so now I've finished the the sanding operation now I'm doing a final check I'm cleaning with WD40 and clean paper and I actually washed my hands so I don't contaminate the finish with um some grit left over on my [Music] fingers this process I don't I didn't time it that's probably about an hour's worth of hand sanding in in this blade and when people ask so how long does it take to do a set and finish blade like this I like to say about an hour and 25 years because I've done this for so long I can do it in an hour and have a result that at least I'm super happy about and uh I know that standards are different and some makers would consider this a rough finish um I do make working tools though so one of the things that I really like about the hands sets and finish like this is in my opinion it it becomes more beautiful with use it will scratch up sure but those scratches will tell the story and it's still finished to a point where it will it will hide some of the finer scratches that you will put on your knife just with regular use where if as if I have taken this to a much higher finish say a 2,000 grid finish you would see every little scratch even just from your fingers my objective is to make a finish as good as I am physical able to do it so when the customer will receive the knife is it is as perfect as I can make it and then they can start scratching it I don't mind scratches put in by use I do mind scratches left from a previous um process that's no good so this blade is now ready for logo engraving but before we will do that it's time for [Music] lunch so for the next process um I'm doing an Diamond engraved logo uh Diamond dragged engraved logo on uh my tm1 hor machine here it's a process that I've been developing over the past I don't know eight nine years and uh I've developed it to a point where it's just a super straightforward process it's um kind of low Tech if you will I'm using a CNC machine but in theory or very practically this could have been done on a panograph instead I just like the Precision of the CNC so um in the machine here here we set it up for the cero the blades will be held down with with these uh quick release clamps here it's the Isola so loosen two screws I put this in and the program is preset to have the exact position of the logo this speeds up the the process tremendously when you like me work with several different models on a week to we basis I like to change things up so even though that I might have to engrave three different models or four different models in the same run it's a really fast process by now [Music] so we're back in the shop I engraved my logo with the diamond drag um method on the blade we just finished and also a stone blade that I finished previously so I've prepared two sets of scales for the two knives that we are ready to assemble if you take a look here on us um here you can see the handle part that has all the edges ground all the edges have been champer and then tumbled this part here if you can see the difference this has been bead blasted afterwards and then tumbled again to give this kind of satin grayish finish on the titanium I really really love how the shine of of the surface is now kind of matte or a satin finish and it's super smooth if you will to the touch so this one I'll leave this as is with the the gray finish this will have a ston washed blade which is also a grayish color this however this um is part of the process of the anodizing has already taken place here I'm making one of my custom colors that I that I call which is a two state anodizing process it's already been anodized the base color and now we're going to finish them by doing the final [Music] anodizing anodizing yeah what why and I mean well well the um the very fast explanation which is probably the the only one that I can give you anyway is that titanium will react when you put it into a liquid and run electricity through it and it will change color by the electricity itself in this case U I'm after a almost pated copper look which is again a process that I've been developing over quite a bit of time just EXP experimenting with the process over and over and um it's one of those perks of using titanium I use titanium mainly or knife makers in general use titanium mainly because of the the lightweight nature of the material it's very strong and it for this it's a frame lock and you have a spring memory in the material and then I see this as a bonus you're able to actually color the material [Music] itself so if you look at these two parts here this one picking up from the last episode has all the edges here ground to the the side finish all the corners have been chamfered and then it's tumbled so this part here is straight out of the tumbler this part however has been beat blasted afterwards and then tumbled again this could have been titanium you wouldn't have been able to see the difference in this case it's actually syconium and you'll see why I chose that material in a minute um syconium is very similar to Titanium it doesn't have all the same properties as titanium so for instance I can't use syconium to make the lock side in the folder because it doesn't have the spring memory as titanium does however it does have one very cool feature while you can anodize it as titanium it reacts a little different but you can anodize it just like you can with titanium you can also heat color it and when you do that you get a almost jet black finish depending of course on the Finish on your part in this case it's a matte finish so the result should be a matte black if it had been super polished it would have been almost a mirror likee surface when it's when you heat color it black but um that's the next step for for this part is to to heat it and in preparation of that I'm just going to clean it down with some uh window cleaner to make sure that there's no fingerprints or anything else that will show up show up after the Heat [Music] coloring now the syconium scale has cooled down and it's left with this dark gray not so attractive Ive finish really but um when it when you oil the surface ever so slightly the magic comes out so check this [Music] out so what was this dark gray has now become the jet black that I really really love from the syconium remain [Music] seated now we moving into the very last steps of preparing Parts before the assembly next step is to polish the pivot screw and the clip screws I do that using Scot Sprite and a little hand [Music] Grill this is one of the processes that goes to show that every last bit gets attention so this is a special made screw um by one of the great guys in the industry step Kelly who makes awesome titanium screws what I've done now is I've fitted it to the length that I need and now I'm going to round and polish the end because the end on two of the screws in this assembly will be visible so just to add a little more custom feel to it I'm going to adjust the end ever so [Music] slightly so yes what are you caring right now about knife I'm so happy that you ask me exactly that question because today I'm carrying the prototype for the ARs the ARs will be out very very soon after this episode airs don't have the exact date yet maybe we do actually have the exact date when this episode is out right now we don't have the exact date this is still the Prototype but we are in full production on the [Music] hours we've reached a point in the build where it was actually time to do some ning of parts of course I can't help doing it and who am I kidding it looks good on camera too reaching this far in the process the only thing missing is assembling the knives putting the edge on so we are so close to being done and this is by far my favorite part of the process I love building I love removing material I love every single process along the way this is my favorite part putting everything together making sure everything walks and talks as they say and without much talk I'm just going to start working towards um final assembly what I do while working here is I will clean out last bits of dirt on the blade I will bend the lock bar I will set the detent ball stuff like that everything has its own little sequence and um and I'll take you through [Music] it if you want to support this Channel please visit my website there's a link below on my website you can find the Eno knife tool here in the PVD version and in the brass [Music] version so here I just set the exact tension I wanted on the lock bar here which by the way have a hardened steel lock insert so you have steel against steel which is a good thing inside the titanium lock bar now I'm assembling the the pivot area here the pivot ring or pivot color along with the pivot screw this particular model runs on phosphor bronze washers that I've have sanded to a very very high polish it's a 12200 grit polish I installed a stop pin here I add a little pivot Loop and give the detent ball just a little dab if you ever had a folder that squeaks when you open it it's usually because the the detent needs a little lubrication I add a little locktite to the to the pivot Barrel make sure everything is put together nice and [Music] tight so here I'm I'm just fine-tuning the the action I want the blade to move freely I want to make sure that the detent catches the blade just right and I want to make sure that the lock engages probably probably prop proper properly properly the English language is a very difficult one so far it feels super good so the last step here in the assembly phase is to add the pocket [Music] clip and there you have it we reached a point in the process where the only thing missing is the final sharpening I do that freehand on a Bel grinder and frankly that's something I need to be 100% focused usually it needs to be early in the morning and definitely not with honest breathing down my neck with the camera so I won't show that but um this is the result of these two episodes and I'm really really happy thank you so much for watching if you watch this far into the episode I know that you enjoy knives and knife making pretty much as much as I do if you did enjoy this episode remember to hit like tell your friends I'd love to see this channel grow and until next time see you later if you enjoyed this episode please visit my website at anof denmark. comom help support this Channel and keep the light on on my website you can find cool products like the Eno sheeps food

Channel: Jens Anso

Views: 4,307

Keywords: Folding knife, Anso of denmark, Ansø of denmark, Jens, Jens Ansø, Astra, Haddock

Id: XvGMRj3G_XY

Length: 39min 43sec (2383 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 30 2023