It's been a while since I updated my Blog, unfortunately I haven't kept the progress reports coming as well as I should have and now here suddenly I'm more or less finished with the design and build process of the first prototype. My father and I have been working non-stop on these knives to get them ready for the fall/Christmas season, and I'm happy to say the finish line is in sight. We made some pretty significant changes to the design internally, so I wanted to outline those first:
One of the big issues we've been having is getting these knives to really rocket out of the handle. The mark of a good flipper is that the blade comes out fast. A great flipper deploys in the blink of an eye, and that's what we really want. We had spent a lot of time and money milling PB washers and bushings for this project, but after having the first prototype together it became clear that we really needed to include some kind of bearing system. The knife deployed without wrist, but it could have been better so we went back to the drawing board and have come up with a bearing system for the knives. As such these will be the first integral framelocks in the world to utilize a bearing system, and its something we're really excited about.
Another big change comes in the form of an auto centering secondary bearing set into the non-locking side of the frame. This is a nifty way of insuring the blade self centers and stays smooth in opening at the same time.
We've also changed the locking geometry slightly to something a little more conventional which really has improved the overal solid feel of the knife.
The blade shape has been slightly altered to rebalance it and allow for easier closure.
The pocket clips have been refined slightly to allow for easier donning and doffing during day to day use, and to keep the clips from tearing up even delicate pants.
Lastly I've put a huge amount of effort into figuring out how to properly fit the knives. These will be fairly fitting and finishing intensive.
All that said I'm very happy with how the first prototype of the Gen 7 Integral came out. With the Gen 8 improvements (mentioned above) I think we're really going to have a winner on our hands. Not to toot my own horn, but these knives have a design refined over the course of 10 months, we have countless hours of RnD in these and I think that the end product will truly reflect the amount of work we've put in on the front end.
-Will
