Dremel question

[Bustard]

Probably I will be banned for this question, but:

Can I work Titanium and ATS-34 steel with a dremel tool? could that work? I want to construct a sanwich balisong...

[Jamey Saunders]

Banned??? Naw. Not here.

I'm sure that you can work most anything with a Dremel, but the question is how much is your labor worth? It will take you much longer to shape your handles with a Dremel than it would using a larger grinder, but you've gotta work with what you've got. Maybe you could use files for initial shaping and the Dremel for cleanup and polishing?

[Ray Rogers]

If you plan to try to hollow out the handles you'll probably spend enough money on the Dremel bits that you could buy some machinery of your own.

I think using a hacksaw and files would be more reasonable for shaping the handle and blade. Then, maybe the Dremel to clean up the shape and work on the finish. With the money you save you could pay a machine shop to mill the groove you need in the handles to make room for the blade to fit....

[Osprey Guy]

I now have a pretty decent shop beginning to come together...

In spite of all the nifty new "toys" I still rely on my Dremel a very great deal. I think I just plain enjoy getting up close and personal in a way that I can't with my drill press, band saws, or the 72" KMG grinder.

That's not to say that I don't use all that other stuff, but you can do a heck of a lot with the Dremel.

For a few months there, I was making every one of my backspines from a bar of ATS-34...it was the right size, it was already here...so that's what I used...

Cutting out the basic profile of the spines, and all the subsequent filework, was all done with the Dremel. I use a fiber cut-off wheel to profile (this was before I got my metal-cutting bandsaw), and various bits for the filework,...even the screw holes were drilled with the Dremel (now I've got my drill press)...

I can't speak for the Titanium...have almost no experience with that yet...I think I'd be concerned about the rpm's of the Dremel...could be a problem trying to work the Ti at those speeds...

There are certainly easier and much more efficient tools for many of the jobs required for knifemaking...but if you have to be limited to one tool, I can't imagine a better choice than the Dremel...

Dennis

Yeah Baby!

[Bustard]

I am a bit discouraged because I wanted to make this sandwich constuction bali, and I have all the project in mind, but I am unable to buy and to use all the machinery needed... And even if i find the money, still have the problem of learnin to use them, and where to put them...

[AlphalphaPB]

Hi Bustard. I'm not sure what kind of embellishment you're planning on, but I would believe that DDR's sandwich construction balisongs would be very easy to construct without any tools besides a few torx #######.

If you want to do handle insets, a dremel would probably cut a little too fast and inaccurately. The dremel would definitely help the initial cutting away of the handle, but when you get to the precise parts, you're going to want to use a set of files or sandpaper.

Oh, I'm starting out on DDR knife kits too. Handle shaping is harder than I thought, takes a lot of time. When is the Typhoon going to be shipping? I wanted to preorder but then I figured I'd rather learn to make folders which I can carry around.

edited to add:
Whoops, sorry. I brought a thread back from the dead.