Emerson CQC7A Frame Lock Conversion By STR

I just finished this one up. Its a real winner thats all I can say and in my opinion the best Emerson Conversion one could ask for. Its how I wish they came from the factory. This one has a slab of .140" thick 6AL-4V titanium for the new lock side. As usual, the folder can be put back together just as it came from the factory. It did gain a bit of weight with this conversion. I took it from the 4.8 ounces it weighed new to 5.1 ounces as seen here. Not a bad trade off at all for the lock wear, strength and extreme reliability improvment compared to the factory liner lock.

Thanks for looking

STR

This is my medium "BushCraft" Survival Folder

Sometimes when you are working outside a lot in hot weather or even in cool weather you just want a good general purpose beater that is highly resistant to rusting, still keeps a good edge and is light weight with enough size to still do some big jobs and enough strength, toughness and reliability to work bigger than it's footprint would indicate at first glance. It helps if its comfortable in all grip types likely to be needed in the field, fairly balanced and has ample handle for good leverage. This folder fits the bill for me. Its a nice frame lock folder with a great blade I made in 440C hardened to 59 Rockwell with teflon washers in the 3/16" pivot for maintenance free use. I'm late getting this one posted actually because its been around a while.  I have actually cleaned this one off in puddles with no worries. I clean it under the facet now and then too. Its a care free user compared to my hawkbill with the carbon steel blade. Much as I love the nostalgia of the old carbon blades I do like a care free user. This Ouparator is a bit lighter than my Hawkbill and weighs in at 3.3 ounces. It is 4.25 inches closed and has a 2 and 7/8" blade length. It has a textured G10 overscale for some added grip on the non lock side that adds some warmth to the handle as well as a better thumb purchase to extract it from the pocket.

I also put one of my standard titanium pocket clips on this one that is virtually invisible in the hand due to the way it sits low on the handle. Since this one was done for me I cut the lock short on it, and the lock cuts are left pretty thick where I bend the lock to give it the spring tension it needs to secure the blade when opened. As a result the lock is a bit stout for some folks. Its not so stout that it off centers the blade when closed but its a bit harder to move to close the blade than most folders of this size thanks to the beefy spring tension I incorporated into it when I built it. I like it and wanted it extra stout for my extra stout thumb. Most folks think I tighten the pivot too tight for their tastes. I feel most modern liner and frame lock knives are too close to gravity knives personally and I don't want one opening by accident in my pocket or if I fall down while I'm out cutting down fire wood or something like that. I just made myself get used to a little more umph to open the blades on my own knives. Over time I've just gotten used to that feel and tend to like it best now. Anyone else can adjust the tension to their own liking but for me, I like em stout. This folder works bigger than it is and has taken some pretty extreme tests and went right through them. I'm fairly happy with it overall. It had already seen a good bit of use before these pics so there are already some tell tale signs of that in these pictures. Still I wanted to take some and get them up. 

After using this one for about a year I decided to give it to my brother as a gift. Thanks for looking.

By the way, just as a short reminder, you can see and read more about my Ouparator folder in the Sept. posts to the right and above.

STR

Hawkbill He Man"RIL" Wharncliffe Handmade Folder in 1095 blade steel

I really like this one!. I have named this one my RIL model. RIL stands for Reeve Integral Lock and is in honor and respect of Chris Reeve who invented the slab style frame lock folder you see me making a lot of. He took the idea of the frame lock to the next level and as a result the tactical folding knife was never the same again. You can see it here showing the lock up contact, the open build, and the slabs of titanium to get an idea of the thickness. These are .110 thickness which is my favorite all around thickness for a nice beefy yet thin folder in the pocket. This folder has a final completed weight of 3.9 ounces, has a 4 and 3/8" closed length and a 2 and 7/8" blade length. I've always liked curved hawkbill style blades for looks but if they are too aggresively curved they can be problematic for sharpening and versatility. I made this one so its not quite so dramatic but enough to see thats what it is. I have always loved 1095 carbon steel which is basically the steel I grew up with. Its one of the most versatile old time user steels around and anything worthy of being used in cutlery for coming up on 200 years holds a lot of weight with me. I most often gun blue the blades in this steel. I may still do that with this one but for now I am leaning towards letting it grow that patina that comes with age. Nothing like a folder that ages with its owner as they get to know each other. This one is in my pocket to stay. It will be my own show piece for my work when anyone asks me. For added grippiness I added a first to this one. Its got an overscale of .060 thickness black textured G10 on the non lock side to give the thumb just a bit better purchase to pull the folder out to use it. I really like it and feel it will for sure be added to future work in various textured man made materials. I may even do one or more in some checkered wood if I can talk a friend of mine that does gun stocks into doing a knife scale for me.

Thanks for looking.

STR

STR's Large "BushCraft" Survival folder in ATS34 blade steel

Here we see some various shots of all angles showing the traction grooves, titanium slab thickness, blade shape, open build of the folder, my signiture low rider pocket clip, and the lock up as it sits new fresh out of the milling machine after bead blasting the surface of everything including the Bos heat treated ATS34 blade.

This folder is a Sherman tank with lots of handle for leverage and lots of strength in the lock with extra thick .140 thickness ti slabs. I like these folders because the handle is comfortable in all grips, and is straight forward by design with no funky space age gadgets or odd trendy bells and whitles. Just your basic bare bones get after it heavy duty survival folder that epitimizes the keep it simple philosophy. As mentioned I added some location specific traction grooves cut in the handles for a hint of added grip for the thumb and fingers during use combined with a nice blade shape that still offers plenty of straight edge with enough up sweep to make it capable of some food prep or field dressing chores in the outback also. It all came together to really make for a nice tight package in the end and it sure is a lot of knife! Lock cuts to spring the lock at the bend are extra stout at .074" thickness each plus or minus and the final weight of this one with the low rider clip I made for it installed is 5 ounces even up making it the heaviest Ouparator style folder I've made to date. (see past posts in Sept. for more on the Ouparator)  Its also the longest with a 5" closed length for the handle and an 8 and 3/8" overall length open.

I really like this folder. Its one I'd actually buy back myself if the customer ever had to get rid of it for whatever reason. 

Thanks for looking.

STR