I’ve put this tutorial together to demonstrate
how one can make stainless steel washers out of razor
blades to be used in folding knives. I’ve developed
this method based on ideas and suggestions which have
come from talking to and visiting with other local area
knife makers.
(1) The first picture shows the
jig and parts needed when making the washers. I’ll
explain what the parts are as we get to them.
(2) The second picture shows
a close up of the jig. The jig consists of two plates
of metal with three small holes and one large hole drilled
through both plates. I have the bottom plate glued to
a piece of wood but this wouldn’t be as necessary
if you used a thicker piece of metal. Start by placing
the two plates together and putting pins in the two
outside holes. The pins help to keep everything lined
up. The small center hole is the hole we will use to
punch out the center hole of the washer. I use 3/32
inch pivot pins, so this center hole is a 3/32 inch
hole. The larger hole is used to punch out the rest
of the washer. I’m using a 1/4 inch hole here.
Use a pair of needle-nose pliers to break the razor
in half.
(3) Slide the razor between the
two plates. I usually mark the razor off with a dot where
I want the center hole to be.
(4) Take the flat end of an old
drill bit and grind a slight angle to it. This angle helps
give the bit a cutting action when punching through the
razor. Put the end of the drill bit in the hole, and give
the other end a whack with your hammer. If all goes well,
you should have a perfectly round hole punched out of
the razor. Keep in mind that the drill bit needs to be
the exact size of the punch holes in the jig.
(5) This picture shows the razor with the four small holes
punched in it. I kind of got ahead of myself when I took
this picture, so ignore the other blade and washers in
the picture.
(6) Now slide the razor back
into the jig, but this time line up the small hole with
the center of the larger hole.
(7) Take the larger bit and punch
it through the razor just like we did with the smaller
holes.
(8) Now we have eight washers made
from one razor. Notice that the holes on some of the razors
are not directly in the center. We are going to fix this
in the next few steps.
If you would like to continue this tutorial
click here.
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