Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Tormach LLC Owner Showcase

Hey All,

  I wanted to put a link on my Blog to an article recently written about Will Moon Custom Knives by Tormach LLC.  Tormach produces the PCNC 1100, the mill that I'm currently using to build the Mark XII Integral Framelocks.  Our PCNC is one of the first ever produced and it's been in our shop making robotics parts for about seven years now, and I like it quite a bit.  This is the same mill that John Grismo uses for his knife making as well.  Here's the link to the story:

http://www.tormach.com/Will-Moon-Knife-Making.html


-Will

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

From the Ashes

Hey All,

  I wanted to share a couple photos of a Spyderco Phoenix I was sent by a customer.  This knife was pretty badly beat up, you can see in the before photograph that the frame was completely scratched, likewise the blade had a lot of marring, and the scales were pretty beat up.


I did a complete refinish, surfaced the handle scales and then satin'ed the frame with blue ano.  Then I added new scales made of silver twill G10, a material that's sometimes called platinum carbon fiber but it's really aluminum coated fiberglass.  Lastly I polished and reshaped the blade spine with a crown at the owner's request.  It's hard to tell this is the same knife, it looks brand new.  I'm pretty happy with it.


-Will


Tuesday, October 16, 2012

What does Integral Mean Anyway?!

Hey All,

  I wanted to take a quick moment and answer a question I get very frequently via PM and email, and it goes something along the lines of "What do you mean when you say your framelocks are Integral?"

  The origins of the term integral are somewhat muddy.  The original R.I.L., or Reeve Integral Lock, was invented by famous knife maker Chris Reeve in the early 90's.  Based on the Walker Liner Lock, Reeve's Integral Lock featured a beefed up liner which served as the frame for the knife and featured no scale cover.  This allows the users hand to contact the lock bar and in effect keep the knife securely locked while the knife is open and in hand, and help prevent unwanted closure.

  As time has gone on, there have been countless renditions of this mechanism, but the term "Integral Frame Lock" is now somewhat archaic.  In fixed blades, the term "Integral" refers to the knife, and perhaps bolsters, being forged or milled out of one solid piece of steel.  With the introduction of similarly designed folding knives like Scott Cook's Lochsa or the Lionsteel SR-1, the word "Integral" took on a new meaning with framelock knives.  "Integral" now refers to the construction of the handle rather than the construction of the lock, and it means that the handle is machined out of one solid piece of material, lock and all.

  An Integral folding knife has very few parts.  One would think that due to the simplicity of construction, Integrals would be easy to make, but in fact they are astonishingly tricky to perfect.  My own Integral design has taken around 10 months to come to fruition, and I don't think that I'm an outlier.  However, a polished Integral design is remarkably easy to maintain, extremely strong and offers the end user eternal bragging rights with its off the charts cool factor.  The solid one-piece construction is generally considered to be the strongest way to build a framelock, and there's something inherently special about a one piece handle, especially from the design and engineering standpoint.  For those of you who enjoy mechanical design, I think you'll agree with me that Integrals are very cool in that respect.

  Hopefully this clears up exactly what people mean by Integral, it can be somewhat confusing but I think this will help to shed some light on the differences between the R.I.L. and the modern term "Integral", as well as some of the advantages of Integral knives.

  -Will

Sunday, October 14, 2012

October Service Changes

Hey All,

  I wanted to post an update regarding service changes for the remainder of the month of October.  Mid-late October is my busiest time of the year, with prep for the Holiday Season and midterms, things get pretty hectic.  As such I will be suspending customization orders until the beginning of November while I catch up with my existing work load.  Current orders will still be processed along with retail orders for custom and production knives currently in stock.  Please be aware that while I will try my best to keep communications fast and timely, I'm extremely busy between now and the end of the year and my time is very limited.  I may be unable to answer phone calls and emails straight away, but I will get back to you ASAP.  Have a great October!

-Will

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Moon Integral October Update

Hey All,

   I wanted to post a quick update to the Integral Framelocks.  Unfortunatly scheduling conflicts and some tooling issues have arisin that have caused some delays and setbacks in the production schedule, but we're still moving toward having a finished product by the beginning of the holiday season.  One thing I want to reiterate is that these knives will not leave the shop unless they are absolutly perfect in every respect; I had some issues with the initial offering of the Orion balisongs, which by now are squared away, but I want these to be as good as they can be straight from the gate.  Likewise I've been getting daily inquiries as to the price of the knives.  The Integrals will be priced somewhere around a grand owing to the extreme amount of labor, machining, fitting and materials involved in each knife.  At the end of the day I have to keep the lights, so there's not much I can do on that front.
   However I will be introducing a more affordable liner lock alternative for the folks who don't want to shell out such a large amount of money, which will be about half the cost of the Integrals.  It will still be handmade, however it will not require the use of a billet of titanium and weekend's worth of milling time.  Please check the Blog for more updates on the liner locks in the coming months.
   Lastly but certainly not least I wanted to thank all of my customers, friends and supporters all around the work, without you I can't make these kinds of projects happen.  Thank you!

  -Will

Customized Emersons: Super Roadhouse and CQC7V

Hey All,

  I'd like to take a quick moment to show off a couple customized Emerson knives that I just finished.  Emerson knives provided a great starting point for customization, not only are they fairly simple to work on they also usually give the customizer a great blank canvas with which to design.  The first is a CQC7V, one of my favorite Emerson designs, which I've given a set of orange G10 grips.  These grips have a stripe of silver twill inlaid into the handles as well as traction flutes for grip located where the majority of the hand meets the scale.  This keeps the knife smooth in the pocket as not to damage your clothes, but tactile enough to prevent slipping during use.  






The second knife in the series is a Emerson Super Roadhouse.  This massive knife is an awesome tactical blade, so I didn't want to use a lot of bright color as per my usual style.  However, I still wanted to keep it a little "space-punk", so I chose natural canvas micarta for the scales with copper and black micarta inlays.  Again I used a fluting design for the handle scales to give the knife some traction.





Both knives have refinished liners.  Emerson knives typically come with relatively rough liners, which have water jet marks on them from their construction.  By mating the scales to the liners, I refinish the edges and eliminate these machining marks, creating a consistant satin finish around the edge of the knife.  Likewise I hand sand each scale's edges to fit the knife, there's nothing I hate more than ragged edges on knives, and it's the little things that really make a piece scream quality.

More customized Emerson goodness to come!

-Will

Saturday, October 6, 2012

A quick Thank You

Hey All,

 I wanted to take a quick moment and post a quick "thank you" on my Blog.  Over the past three months I've endured an extraordinary amount of hatred from a certain group of malcontents in my industry. I wanted to thank all those who have been friends to me in these tough times, your support means the world to me.  I want to personally thank each and every one of my customers who has spent their hard earned money with me.  Thank you for allowing me to earn your business, and for allowing me to continue to do what I love.  Because of your generosity and support, the past three months have been my most successful months in my knife making career.  Thank you for all of your support and friendships.  Have a wonderful October!

  -Will