SAR 1911 TDT ( Take Down Tool ) fast work in progress! Pic and video 18JUL10

I had a order for a 1911 TDT frame lock folder, it arrived on my plate at the last minute, which means the person needed it yesterday..lol. So after getting to a happy place with the 1095 S/E's, I cleaned up the shop for a early morning start on these 2 folders...yep when you have a order with a short deadline I always will build 2 so just in case "Mr Murphy" shows up I have a better chance at success. This is my first frame lock design I ever did. It all started when a good friend and customer Keith K called me in the shop. He said "hey I was just at the range and needed my 1911 bushing wrench but as usual I forgot it at home". So he asked me to build a knife with a wrench in the handle charge him a large amount of money to ensure he never forgot it or misplaced it....true story....lol.

So I got busy designing my initial thought was to make a BAT knife ( Bird and Tactical ) which is a fixed blade with a krambit style ring hole and change it to a bushing cutout. Thinking about the dangers of working with a exposed edge fixed blade while trying to remove the bushing pushed me towards a folder design. I had lots of help from Marianne and Les from Halpern Titanium Inc. http://www.halperntitanium.com/ which ultimately and with expert knowledge made all my parts at their awesome facility in Three rivers, Ma. Check out there link above as they are the go to folks for many knife makers seeking precision machining on the highest level. They also carry a full line of clean 6LA4V titanium, all sorts of G10, carbon fiber and super nice hardware for all your knife making needs.

My help in graphics and design came from my good friends Brian M. and Curt W. these guys know there stuff. This would have never happen with out the help of these two.

I also received some help from a really great Knife maker initials MS, he not only gave me permission to use a design aspect of his but allowed me into his shop to advise and helped me construct the first one.

Here are the down and dirty with some steps missing on the SAR 1911 TDT numbers 34 and 35 to leave my shop. One of the knives you will be seeing again I hope.

If you have any question feel free to post.

Thanks
SAR

Finished TDT's

This one shipped out and the second one will go to Vegas for the show.

Back up build

Here is a quick video of the bushing wrench being used on my Kimber 1911 Desert Warrior .45 cal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KurScg-15Y