Information. Drawings

[Gears_QQQ]

Please tell me the exact dimensions of the delica blade. Is this a big secret? I want to try my hand at custom

[yablanowitz]

Not really a big secret, but like all things Spyderco it is subject to change without notice. Are you looking for blade tip to handle length, blade tip to pivot center, or blade tip to tang end? Or are you wanting full engineering drawings? That is probably considered proprietary information (and may be annotated in Japanese as well).

[jdw]

I am guessing that you are walking a very fine proprietary legal line if you try to pull that off.
I will be curious to see how some of the legal types on the board respond.

[Mushroom]

Do your own homework.

Spyderco is not going to provide you with the blueprints to steal their hardwork.

[8th_Note]

Please tell me the exact dimensions of the delica blade. Is this a big secret? I want to try my hand at custom

The image in your post is of counterfeit Delicas

[RustyIron]

Is this a big secret? I want to try my hand at custom

If you're going to make things, your first step is to learn to use measuring tools. If you can't measure a blade that's sitting right in front of you, you're going to have a hard time creating whatever it is you have in mind.

PARENTS:
Let your kids play with your precision measuring tools: micrometers, voltmeters, thermometers, pressure gauges, scales... it doesn't matter. Whatever they like, get them the tools and let them figure it out.

[RustyIron]

I am guessing that you are walking a very fine proprietary legal line if you try to pull that off.
I will be curious to see how some of the legal types on the board respond.

I ain't one of them slick-talking' uptown silk-tie law book thumpers. I'm more the philosophical type, so I'll tell you what I think. Perhaps you or some others would care to give your own opinions, as well.

If I was sitting here thinking that it would be fun to make a folding knife, and not being the clever sort who can just imagine such a thing, I'd want to copy something that already exists. The Delica is a straight forward design in a reasonable size, so I might want to copy that. I'd learn to cut and grind steel, I'd learn about grinding, and I'd probably discover some of the difficulties that seasoned knife makers know all-too-well. The result would be a knife that is somewhat crude, but I'd have fun and end up smarter in the end.

That all seems perfectly honest and ethical to me. Has my moral compass gone cattywampus?

[Danke]

Heard someone in the back yelling for knife drawings

[Gears_QQQ]

Not really a big secret, but like all things Spyderco it is subject to change without notice. Are you looking for blade tip to handle length, blade tip to pivot center, or blade tip to tang end? Or are you wanting full engineering drawings? That is probably considered proprietary information (and may be annotated in Japanese as well).

I am interested in the reliable Length, width and thickness of the butt. I have found information on various websites, but I am not sure of their reliability.
Of particular interest are the dimensions of the axial node. The size of the lock slot

[Gears_QQQ]

Is this a big secret? I want to try my hand at custom

If you're going to make things, your first step is to learn to use measuring tools. If you can't measure a blade that's sitting right in front of you, you're going to have a hard time creating whatever it is you have in mind.

PARENTS:
Let your kids play with your precision measuring tools: micrometers, voltmeters, thermometers, pressure gauges, scales... it doesn't matter. Whatever they like, get them the tools and let them figure it out.

I admit I'm not very good with a caliper and a micrometer. And I don't have delica to make accurate measurements. So far, I'm trying to plan a reblade.

[Jeb]

I don't understand, your going to re-blade a knife you don't have? I am missing something here lol...

Why don't you just back up and make a stab at chewing your own knife design out instead of trying to copy one.

Be a lot easier to do your own and just make it all on your access to what you can source. Just say'n...

[ChrisinHove]

I admit I'm not very good with a caliper and a micrometer. And I don't have delica to make accurate measurements. So far, I'm trying to plan a reblade.

You’re going to need those measurement skills very quickly.

Drawn plans and dimensions are no good to you if you can’t transpose those accurately onto your materials (unless you’re going straight to a cnc machine, I guess).

[Gears_QQQ]

I don't understand, your going to re-blade a knife you don't have? I am missing something here lol...

Why don't you just back up and make a stab at chewing your own knife design out instead of trying to copy one.

Be a lot easier to do your own and just make it all on your access to what you can source. Just say'n...

Yes, it sounds pretty crazy) The knife is on its way to me. I want to ask a friend to help with the replacement of the blade.

[yablanowitz]

I suggest you wait patiently (or more likely, impatiently) until your new knife arrives so you have the specific blade you wish to counterfeit to get the measurements you need. Manufacturing tolerances allow some variation in dimensions.

[Mushroom]

Please tell me the exact dimensions of the delica blade. Is this a big secret? I want to try my hand at custom

The image in your post is of counterfeit Delicas

The irony of this is too funny to ignore!

[zhyla]

I admit I'm not very good with a caliper and a micrometer. And I don't have delica to make accurate measurements. So far, I'm trying to plan a reblade.

Sounds like you've taken the reach for the stars mantra too seriously. If you can't measure stuff you can't make stuff.

[Naperville]

If I were going to make a knife I would not start with a folder due to the complexity. I'd start with fixed blades and make those for a few years to hone my skills. There is a ton to learn, why make failure an option.

[zhyla]

If I were going to make a knife I would not start with a folder due to the complexity. I'd start with fixed blades and make those for a few years to hone my skills. There is a ton to learn, why make failure an option.

That’s sounds like reasonable advice and it’s certainly harmless advice. But having made lots of fixed blades and attempted to design a couple folders, they’re really not similar problems. Folders are way harder to design and don’t lend themselves as easily to crude fabrication techniques.

[Fastidiotus]

That all seems perfectly honest and ethical to me. Has my moral compass gone cattywampus?

As long as it's for personal use and he doesn't profit from it in anyway then nothing has happened. Your moral compass still points true.


On a side note though as someone whose has made a fixed blade knife out of 1095 under the guidance of a very generous and patient knifemaker, I wish OP the best of luck. You don't have to be a watchmaker to build a custom folder from scratch but you need to be pretty close. A lot closer than not being able to take a knife apart and trace out the parts you want to make.

[Enactive]

That all seems perfectly honest and ethical to me. Has my moral compass gone cattywampus?

As long as it's for personal use and he doesn't profit from it in anyway then nothing has happened. Your moral compass still points true.


On a side note though as someone whose has made a fixed blade knife out of 1095 under the guidance of a very generous and patient knifemaker, I wish OP the best of luck. You don't have to be a watchmaker to build a custom folder from scratch but you need to be pretty close. A lot closer than not being able to take a knife apart and trace out the parts you want to make.

I agree completely. The second paragraph is key.

I've been making things by hand, mostly from wood and metal and lots of other media for the better part of five decades and when I see 'project proposals' like this I don't know where to start...

To the OP,

Patience Grasshopper. Try smaller projects first. Indeed measuring and surveying objects and spaces well takes lots of practice.

Making them also does, reproducing an existing one, even moreso.