Been laid up for a bit, so I got to playin'...

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7X57chilmau

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Well, last Thursday brought the dreaded day.... An appt. for the dread *snip* and the accompanying time spent waddling gingerly about the house. I needed a project to maintain sanity...

I remembered a post here some time ago about "Favorite WWII Knives" and one member had graciously posted photos of his OSS/CIA WWII covert weapons.... I'd made a thumb dagger a couple weeks ago from Desert Ironwood on a lark, but was intrigued by the coin knives shown in his collection.

I hobbled out to the forge and found one of the pieces I'd hardied off the point of my latest dagger.... About 3/4" by 3" acute triangle of crudely forged 5160 spring steel....

I put a stool by my bench grinder, and began worrying away at the excess metal. I shaped a little (very little, 1/2" edge) drop point blade from the piece of scrap.... Thinned it to a little over 1/2mm thick for the blade, and gave it a chisel grind....

Tried to drill a 1/16" hole for the pivot but the drill wouldn't cut the spring steel. Musta been left a bit hard from forging.... So I used a little diamond ball mill on my dremel and ground the hole in. No biggy. Used the dremel again with a diamond wheel to cut the nail nick.... Got a bit carried away and cut right thru, but it turned out OK, so I stuck with it.

Finished filing and shaping the blade, I lit a small camp stove for heat treating. Suspended the blade from a piece of tag wire, and heated it to transition temp, quenched in motor oil.... Then tempered it to straw in the heat above the stove's flame....

Drilled 2 1/16" holes in a 2008 Canadian quarter, one to be the pivot, and the other for a blade stop.... The OSS knives seem not to have a blade stop, but I wanted one.

I used a copper upholstery tack to make the pivot rivet... Drove it thru the hole (interference fit), cut the point off, and riveted it with some gentle hammer blows.

The blade stop is the head of a finish nail. I used a tapered diamond burr to make the blade stop hole large enough to take the nail tightly, used the nail head to form the blade stop, and cut and riveted the other end.... Used a punch to upset the rivet end.

A little more diamond burr time shaped the blade stop pleasingly.... Some file work on the rim of the quarter smoothed the blade action....

Polished the blade quickly and roughly using a muslin wheel and white compound...

Damned if this hasn't been a handy little knife these last few days. Razor sharp, but hard to find in a pocket.

I see folks charging ridiculous prices for things like this online.... I could actually make these profitably! (no, I won't make one for you!). Hobby rules and all... No, I won't be trying to get this on my next airplane ride....

Waddya'all think?

4598_001.jpg 4598_002.jpg

J
 
SpydieCoin!

Nice detail on the work.

As to the "dreaded" part of your description, I have my own story. My wife is a PT/Nurse Practioner and when my "snip" occurred I told her that she could watch (not like she hadn't seen "everything" before). The MD was amused and they chatted professionally but with some humor during the procedure. Immediately upon snipping the right side the handed the instruments to her and asked if she wanted to do the left. She looked at him quizzically and he replied, "See one, do one, teach one". I raised my head and said, "Whoa, wait just a minute!" He responded with, "What, you guys have a fight this morning? Afraid of what she'll do?" to which I opined that if she did half the work I wanted a 50% discount on the job. Suffice it to say a discount wasn't in order so he completed the other side. She did do the stitching since she wanted the practice.
 
I think after getting the snip I wouldn't want to look at a small, razor sharp knife for awhile at least.....

Looks good though.
 
I like very few things better than making razor sharp knives... One thing I do like better was the reason behind being laid up, no?

A fellow's gotta have his hobbies, and the TV here is analog off-air... 3 channels, and trust me. There's nothin' on. :)

Oh, and the 2 year old isn't allowed in the basement. A win on so many levels.

J
 
I feel your pain, or should I say, your discomfort.

It took about a month for mine to go completely away but its gone for good.

I am intrigued by this knife.

Do you have a picture of the thumb dagger?
 
Desert Ironwood thumbdagger....

ironwoodthumb.jpg

I'll be making one in steel (well, one or 2....) when I'm up to the forge again...

It'll be a week tomorrow morning, and I'd say "discomfort" is about right. No biggy, but the walk to the washroom seems rather longer than it once did....

J
 
Yes 2 year olds are an inconvienent height after the snip. I remember THAT well.
 
I like very few things better than making razor sharp knives... One thing I do like better was the reason behind being laid up, no?

A fellow's gotta have his hobbies, and the TV here is analog off-air... 3 channels, and trust me. There's nothin' on.

Oh, and the 2 year old isn't allowed in the basement. A win on so many levels.

J
Click to expand...
It's just a joke, of course, you should be doing whatever it is you feel like doing right now.

What is that coin, or rather, how big is it? I assume since it's Canadian currency you are Canadian, are you familiar with American currency, how big is it compared to, say, a quarter?
 
No worries, ChaoSS, I knew you were joking!

It's a Canadian quarter. A couple thou smaller in diameter and thickness than a US quarter, made of plated (copper/nickel) mild steel. (I had to look up their relative sizes, I thought they were identical.... But I know some vending machines know the difference....)

You'd be hard pressed to tell it from a US quarter in the dark.

J
 
Ok, it kind of looked like a quarter, but sometimes sizes can be deceptive when you don't have a point of reference.

I'd have trouble with something like that. If I didn't lose it, I'd forget about it and try to walk into the courthouse or something with it in my pocket.

I almost walked into an airport once with a couple of knives.:eek:

I was sitting there before going through security (I got there almost 3 hours early, only to discover there were about 3 people in line at security and I wanted to wait out where there was more to do than just wait) when I remembered that I had a razor blade in my luggage, decided to go through it all again and found 3 razor blades.:p

That'd be a pain to explain away, I don't even want to think about a coin knife or a plastic knife or something else that might be easy to get through security, since those would look like you were trying to sneak them through.
 
Yeah.... The coin knife is but a tool, obviously of little use as a weapon per se.... So in Canada, I might be OK with it 99% of the time.... The thumb dagger screams "I wanna defeat security" (OK, so does the coin knife).....

I'm pretty good at keeping track of my pocket trinkets.... But this spring's Florida trip will require a careful double-check....

I've been carrying the coin knife for a few days now, and have learned to keep it outta my coin pocket, and in my left "tool" pocket.... It's proven to be a decent little package opener and label trimmer.... Though I have to consciously choose it over the Leek and the fixed blade I'm also carrying....

J
 
It seems like here in California the law says something about knives disguised as other things, like cane swords, belt buckle knives, etc, but I might be wrong, it might just list things like that individually, it's been awhile since I looked. I don't know how a coin knife would fit into that sort of thing.

I actually like the knife laws here, they should be looser but compared to some states I have it pretty easy. I just can't forget about my knife when I'm heading into a restricted area like a court house.
 
Canada's knife laws are pretty relaxed.... I can't carry a switchblade or butterfly knife, and concealed weapons are a no-no... Other than that... I can't carry one intending to injure or kill anyone. And using a knife in a crime ups the ante...

The following weapons are prohibited from entering Canada:
automatic knives such as switchblades;
centrifugal knives such as flick knives or butterfly knives;
gravity knives;
mace or pepper spray designed for use on humans;
nunchaku sticks;
shuriken (throwing stars);
manrikigusari or kusari (fighting chains);
finger rings with blades or other sharp objects projecting from the surface;
Taser and stun guns shorter than 480 mm;
crossbows designed for one-handed use;
crossbows 500 mm or shorter;
Constant Companion (belt-buckle knife);
push daggers;
devices shorter than 30 cm concealing a knife blade (e.g. knife-comb);
spiked wristbands;
blowguns;
Kiyoga or Steel Cobra batons (spring batons);
spring-loaded rigid batons (triggered by a button or lever);
morning stars; and
brass knuckles.

The way I read this, I can make a sword cane, despite it's practical uselessness..... Hmmmm :)

Besides, it's clearly not got much weapon potential... Just a little box cutter.

I suppose I did deface currency, though....
 
Ah HAH. Busted!!

What's that big about Tasers and stun guns shorter than 480 mm? You can't use regular ones, but longer baton ones, kind of like cattle prods, are ok?
 
That's how I read it.... I can have a cattle prod, but not a Taser....

That list was from the Canadian Border Services Agency addressing what I may not import....

And while the morningstar is outlawed, I don't see mace or spiked club on there.... LOL

Strange times.... Indeed!

J
 
Well, I'd make fun of Canada, but I live in California, so I think it'd be like the pot calling the kettle black :cool:.
 
Well, it was I get snipped, she get snipped (much more invasive and difficult) or I wear a rubber for the rest of eternity.

This made it an easy choice.

One week later, I'm 90% Big frickin' deal. Man up.

J
 
I made a second one this weekend, spent a bunch more time to do this one more cleanly.... Honed the blade facets before polishing, turned the rivet head prior to installing it (dremel and a file), counterbored the rivets on the back side, avoided any unnecessary filing on the coin (as it's copper and nickel plated steel, filing stands out!), and made it open the "other way".... And open further.

Hell, I didn't even screw up the nail nick this time!

4691_001.jpg 4691_002.jpg 4691_003.jpg


This one's blade is 1095, with 1/2" of edge. A much smoother operator. I think one of these will live in my pocket flint'n'steel kit..... It's about the only knife small enuf for the task...

This one took about 2 hours. Fun little buggers (and less useless than you might believe...)

J :)
 
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