Any number of things in a Saddle Lock Folder, require a very special tool, and technique to pull off. Think of the pivot pin. A lot of choices there. The stag is sort of round - but "not" round. It's also tapered from the thicker tail end to the more narrow front. In order for your blade to rotate open and closed, you must have your pivot pin exactly 90 degrees (in all points of the compass) to the groove the blade rotates in.

You can take a stab at lining up and eyeball a hole through there - chance is Zero.

I use a nice heavy stainless bushing. It has a head on each end. Threaded together. The head of each end has to have a perfectly flat seat in the stag.



In this pic, you can see that the texture of the stag means its thicker on the top edge (near the spine of the knife) and thinner towards the bottom (as the curve of the circle runs out). But! You see that there is a nice clean seat cut in there. Yay.

Cutting stag poses some serious obsticals. Nothing is flat - so; how do you hold it? It's very dense - so it needs very sharp cutters and power to cut cleanly. If a cutter binds up (the shavings get gummy and grab the cutter flutes) if that happens, the machine will rip the stag from the holder and spin it wildly around. Tearing it up, breaking tools, and possibly fingers.

So; you know I'm not going to answer the questions - I'm just showing that these are the things you pay for. The techniques go mostly unrewarded. All the special handmade mill cutters and jigs exist in silence. Who knows what's difficult unless you are a machinist. But the "Soul Senses" something in these knives. It somehow knows that this precise man made mechanism was built inside an asymmetrical natural object. And that is intriguing.

BTW - I've been building another knife along in the shadows. Not all of my time is accounted for each day. . So; this is an opportunity to check the couch cushions - truck ashtray, behind the dresser .... Haha.

Going well. This one is a bit more simple in mechanism - so far.

Gary

Holly Cow Leg Bone Gary! That must be why these are interesting ....

I really like talking about them til you post the "sold" sign ... Then my
Mom makes me turn off the computer for several days.

Bummer you coughed up your ankle. Bet you'd have enjoyed some coffee break chatter between gagging fits. Well - Rock On Dude!

The Other GaRy

HELLO OTHER LURKER'S,

I think we had better start posting and commenting more it seems Gary has created another Gary to post when no one comments on a very cool post like the one above..

I am guilty as a lurker here and I will try to post more. We all enjoy this site but many of us (me too) fail to comment and join in the fun.

Gary I am sorry for the lack of support I feel bad, I check this site everyday and enjoy your work and humor, and never get around to posting. I am more guilty I sent links to this site to 3 friends who have also become lurkers. My bad.

Larry

Ohwwwwwh......... now ya did it. You've insulted the last Higgs Boson of every Lurker. . Why ... George Washington and the Dudes spent a Winter at Valley Forge to protect the rights of Lurkers everywhere. Besides - for what the real Gary makes .... Dude .... He can afford to spend hours putting up pics and entertaining data for crickets. Lurkers Rule!!! Lurk On!! Chirp, chirp, chirp.

The other GaRy

crickets of the world unite?

Hey Rotorhead I think I created vacuum or really insulted every other lurker here.

Maybe Gary needs to creat a button that us lurker's can click on that will generate Gary a random comment like, Wow that is great, How do you do that?, Love your work Gary, Why do you make your own tools?, Holy Cow that is hand made., and so on.

Make it easy at the end of a post just click automated reply and it will send one of those so it looks like a comment..

Just trying to help.

Larry

Better yet, change the code for the blog so that you can't just lurk anonymously. Every page you'd visit would automatically open up a "reply" window, and if you didn't enter anything it would just post a one-line entry with the equivalent of "Bob123 was here checking this out, but apparently didn't have anything to say". Or if we got tired of scrolling past all those auto-generated one-liners, we could just invent a "smiley" that would auto-post with the appropriate user name anytime someone reads an entry, sort of a "Kilroy was here" type thing. Would drive the posts way up, maybe people would even toss in a comment or two.

On the other hand, it might creep Gary out, all those little noses peeking silently over the fence all the time.

Hi Larry,

I think I'll create my own version. Big freezer box with a button it. It generates random posts. All this coming here for a coffee break from reality is for the birds. Conversing with friends .... really? . Lets see ... I can preprogram it with interesting topics:

1). Election Hype
2). Ebola news
3). TSA inspections
4). Middle East
5). Shootings

Should be great fun. (Wink).

Nah ... You didn't insult anyone. It's just that the more you ask for participation the tighter the resolve becomes to resist. Never made any sence to me. 7,800 posts later, I still don't have a clue. The rule seems to be that I entertain and readers just read. Then I entertain again. Etc. Everybody smiles and tells me "that's the internet". If I don't post - people want a personal recall of the last six months. If I take time to post, I get a few friends and lots of crickets.

Thanks Larry!
Hey ... You posted!!! See - it didn't hurt a bit ....

rotorhead was here checking things out, but apparently didn't have anything to say

Prince of a guy. It's all our loss that he couldn't share at this time. Clearly Gary failed to provide adequate fresh input.

Lurk On Dude,
GaRy

Hey, why are you working in the shadows?

Expand on this logic?

GaRy. I have GAry working on pocket knives and Cases.

Now look whatcha did Larry , you poked at the beehive and woke up Gary's alter ego . gaRY does saddle lock handles and GAry does all the metal work . I knew it couldn't be Mr. Barnes doing it all with little Miss Kelly .

Sorry Kurt,

I had no idea Gary was on the edge of a split personality but I can see how frustrated he is from posting and posting only to hear the crickets on the forum. I know he enjoys and even needs feedback on the wonderful things he makes 100% with his own hands. I believe all artists need that and the forum is where Gary, GaRy, and GAry all post to get that positive feed back. I feel bad about being the one who pushed him over the edge.

Hey Rotohead, I love your idea about the buttons and auto generated reply page but the guilt of posting a blank page every time someone looked at a page might drive the crickets out in full force.

I guess the only solution is for us guys that do post to post more. We can hint and try to motivate the other members to post but they have to take 5 minutes or so and write a post.

I just hope all the Gary's know and understand how much people do enjoy his work, his art, his skills, and his humor on this site, even if they don't take the time to write Gary and tell him.

Larry

Hi Larry, Kurt,

GAry is up on the Studio roof and won't come down. But it's dark, and I set out a fresh cup of coffee at the bottom of the ladder. He'll smell that and come down. He's at the other end of the roof - I can see his cell phone screen glow - so he's probably reading the forum.

He did say, earlier ... That often it's like ya went to Thanksgiving Dinner - sat down with everyone - started telling funny hunting stories. And nobody said anything. Just chewed and got a big spoon of dressing. So; you eat some. Start another story. A few people look at you, but no smiles, nothing. Kind of unnerving. Sort of like somebody, in full Clown make-up; but they don't smile, don't make balloon animals, nothing. They just stare at you. Well, one by one people push back from the table, and they just quietly leave. Never a word. Eventually, you are just sitting there with the turkey carcass ... and the clown's rubber nose ....

Now ... I don't know ... That's just what he told me. Then he went and carved this dynamite thingie.

So ... Don't feel bad ... WAIT ... noise ... ..... feet on the ladder!!! ..... gotta go ......

GaRy

I think he's getting lonely without the elves of the "hollow tree shop" to keep him company out in that vast, new steel hanger he works in.

True a new place takes time to get used to but he has lots of cool spiders, lizards, snakes, and the other denizens of North West Florida he can train since the elves are in the tree up North.

Gary has to see the positives in living there. sigh ...

Larry

And alligators, don't forget alligators. Wouldn't be Florida without them.

You guys are cruel. Scaring frail old people is just mean.

Thanks, I forgot the gators, but don't forget the fire ants, boa's big enough to eat a man, 6 types of venomous snakes, sharks, stinging jellyfish, cougars, wild boar, ticks, poison toads, black bear's, and baracuda's.

Hey Gary at least you don't have Cobra's like I do here in the Philippines..

See I bet that made him feel better..

Larry

Yup, I totally forgot about the giant anacondas and humongous boa constrictors. Thank for keeping me straight.

Seems like a lot of scary vermin down Florida way, but it's still better than the situation Gary had up north in Maryland.

Up there, he had to deal with... I shudder to even think about it...

liberal yuppies

Stop that.... I got chills..... Glad he moved..

Man you guys forgot the worst of all .(Noseeums )I'm sure you've got them in Alaska and Philippines . We have them for about a month in Michigan. But I sure wouldn't trade all of them for cobra's or those yuppsters .

Hey Kurt,

I have not found the bugs you cannot see here in the Philippines or should I say they have not found me.. But we have skeeters that have numbers painted on their sides and some so tiny you never know they got you till it starts to burn and itch.

Its seems here most bugs are super sized guess it is the 12 month summer.

I live in a farm area and I killed a 4 foot cobra just 100 yards from my house 7 months ago I heard kids yelling in a non fun way and checked it out. They had it pinned in a corner and 50% of the Cobra's here can spit. I took it out with a long bamboo pole from a safe distance. As a note there is NO antivenom for snake bite here at all. They say there is no budget for it.

Fun place.

Larry

Gonna ban BOTH of you if you don't stop talking about snakes! Last night - honest to God .... I went to leave the shop during a break around 8pm. There are two doors I can leave from. I decided to use the kitchen door onto the patio. I open the door ... There is a snake crawling across the door mat!!!! Haven't seen a snake in some time. I blame you two!

I smashed its head with the flat knob of a walking stick blank sitting by the door. Don't know the kind yet. Dead seemed a good start.

Stop it!



GaRy

Was fishing with my uncle. Moccasin's are curious creature's.

Well Gary, It seems like you got things stirred up here. I had a very busy week at work. Today I find over 100 posts when I logged in.
It's a good thing I'M not afraid of snakes!

Scott