multiblade for my swivel knife

[rickmc]

I am looking for a multiblade holder for my swivel knife, I have the hair tool that Tandy makes, but I saw a multiblade knife, than uses #10 scalpel blades, the other day and the owner told me that they are not available any longer. any suggestions.

RickMc

[whinewine]

I am looking for a multiblade holder for my swivel knife, I have the hair tool that Tandy makes, but I saw a multiblade knife, than uses #10 scalpel blades, the other day and the owner told me that they are not available any longer. any suggestions.

RickMc

Rick:

Hidecrafter used to carry what you are talking about (because I tried to get one myself) but does no longer. I believe I had seen a post somewhere here that you can epoxy several xacto blades together. The only problem is that this arrangement won't fit a swivel knife. I don't know of any other easy solution.

russ

[ClayB]

Bob Beard told me that when he and Robb Barr were making a lot of leather feathers, they would drill a hole in a wooden dowel and then epoxy X acto knife blades into the end of the dowel. He said they worked as good as the swivel knife. Jan Schoonover has someone adapt a swivel knife to hold X acto kniife blades and sells them to people that take his classes. I am pretty sure he'd sell them to anyone that wanted one. I dont think he has email and last I checked his website wasn't working anymore, but if you're interested, I could get you his phone number.

[kevinhopkins]

Hi... If you have a machinist friend, I think he could solve your problem.

Kevin

[rickmc]

clayb,

I would love to have his number,

I will also try to use the dowl pen, I appreciate all of your responses,

Many thanks

RickMc

[whinewine]

Bob Beard told me that when he and Robb Barr were making a lot of leather feathers, they would drill a hole in a wooden dowel and then epoxy X acto knife blades into the end of the dowel. He said they worked as good as the swivel knife.

Instead of doing leather last night (like I should have), I made one out of a piece of tack hammer handle that I had lying around. I epoxied 7 #11 Xacto blades together & inset them into the handle. The hardest part was getting the tips lined up & even while the epoxy dried.

[King's X]

Pictures guys, pictures. If anyone has a picture (up close) please post it. ScissorMedic and I were discussing possibilities of how to do it easy. Maybe all of our heads can come up with a way.

Appreciate you.

[whinewine]

Jan Schoonover has someone adapt a swivel knife to hold X acto kniife blades and sells them to people that take his classes.

Actually, after you've epoxied your Xacto blades together, you can easily drill out a cheap swivel knife to fit the width of the blade base. Use an inexpensive drill bit slightly wider than the width of the blade base; remove the screw first, drill & replace the screw (you may first need to use a small nail to punch out any metal that may have clogged the opening after you've drilled). [i've done that to fit a ceramic blade that was too large for a standard opening.]

A second alternative is to take your epoxied blades & grind the epoxied bases down on a grinding wheel to fit the swivel knife, but you're running the risk of destroying any temper if you get it too hot while grinding.

The third alternative is to make your own dowel-type handle. I made one from a piece of tack hammer handle the other night.

... Hopefully my son will post pics of mine later today...

[hiloboy]

Rick, heres one i madeout of a old xacto knife and some #11 blades. i tryed more blades but i find i have more control on smaller stuff with less blades..

Edited May 5, 2009 by hiloboy

[King's X]

Thanks

[MHolzer]

Here is the one my dad (whinewine) made. sorry it took so long for me to post pics.

[King's X]

I see a business starting here..............whinewhine!!

[rickmc]

Instead of doing leather last night (like I should have), I made one out of a piece of tack hammer handle that I had lying around. I epoxied 7 #11 Xacto blades together & inset them into the handle. The hardest part was getting the tips lined up & even while the epoxy dried.

thanks for all your help, whinewine, I really appreciate your suggestions and know that you sacrificed precious time to help, as all of you have.

I tried this and here is my first attempt, I took a piece of black walnut, turned it on my lathe and drilled the hole in the end, unfortunately, I did not have the right bit, so it took 15 blades to fill in the hole that I made, I used exacto #16 blades. I used JB Weld to hold them in, and yes it was difficult to have all of the align perfectly. I actually used a pencil underneath the curve on the blade to align them and held the handle down with a small c-clap until it dried. Please tell me what you think.

Edited May 10, 2009 by rickmc

[rickmc]

Rick, heres one i madeout of a old xacto knife and some #11 blades. i tryed more blades but i find i have more control on smaller stuff with less blades..

Hiloboy,

did you have to modify the handle or could it hold the 4 blades?

Rickmc

[hiloboy]

Hiloboy,

did you have to modify the handle or could it hold the 4 blades?

Rickmc

Rick, i had to cut the ring that tightens the blades in half.. then i filed the part that holds the blades. i have one handle that will hold 6 to 8 blades ..i don't use it that much i work on a lot more smaller stuff.the thing you would have to do is cut the ring smaller the more blades you use.. the good thing is when you need to change blades its like changing one blade.. put in how many you want and tighten the handle down... no gluing blades together.. this is just what i do.. i like some of the other ideas i see here to..and they look a lot more pretty than what i use.. but what ever work for you..

[whinewine]

thanks for all your help, whinewine, I really appreciate your suggestions and know that you sacrificed precious time to help, as all of you have.

I tried this and here is my first attempt, I took a piece of black walnut, turned it on my lathe and drilled the hole in the end, unfortunately, I did not have the right bit, so it took 15 blades to fill in the hole that I made, I used exacto #16 blades. I used JB Weld to hold them in, and yes it was difficult to have all of the align perfectly. I actually used a pencil underneath the curve on the blade to align them and held the handle down with a small c-clap until it dried. Please tell me what you think.

Rick:

It looks very nice. Good job! I like it. (At some point, I'd like to get a small lathe for myself, but I just can't justify one at this time.)

[Rawhide]

Russ/Rickmc

How do you sharpen/strop the blades or even replace them? I would think you'd want to do that at some point.

Edited May 10, 2009 by Rawhide

[whinewine]

Russ/Rickmc

How do you sharpen/strop the blades or even replace them? I would think you'd want to do that at some point.

Marlon:

I don't think they would be sharpened, just like the basic standard hairblades that fit into a swivel knife can't be sharpened or stropped easily. They are applied with a very light touch, just enough to make hair or feather impressions/cuts in the leather & as a result would last for a very long time, unlike a regular swivel knife blade or xacto blade, which is meant to cut deeply into the leather. Also because the area covered by a group of blades together is much greater than a single blade, any force is spread out over that area rather than concentrated into a single point. You are essentially using the tips, rather than the whole blade, to scribe, rather than deeply cut lines in the leather. The only one of the Hidecrafter ones I had ever seen mounted in a swivel knife came in a protective case, so I guess the answer is to make a sheath of sorts to protect the tips (makes sense, also- you don't want this thing rolling around loose somewhere where it could hurt you more than you can hurt it.).

russ

If you need to replace it, I guess you make another, or you force-fit into the handle rather than use epoxy to mount the blade pack. Or, you could follow Hiloboy's model & use a spare exacto handle.

Actually, I did use an extra xacto handle (medium) to mount 2 swivel knife hairblades (1 coarse, 1 fine lined) in imitation of tandy's double hairblade tool- I simply drilled out the solid end to the right depth & used a thin piece of leather as a force-fit collar around each blade shaft.

[rickmc]

so I guess the answer is to make a sheath of sorts to protect the tips (makes sense, also- you don't want this thing rolling around loose somewhere where it could hurt you more than you can hurt it.).

russ

If you need to replace it, I guess you make another, or you force-fit into the handle rather than use epoxy to mount the blade pack.

Here is the sheath that I am using, and oh by the way, FORCE FIT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA LOOK AT THE SECOND PICTURE

[Suze]

http://www.quiltingstencils.com/index.asp?...amp;ProdID=6351

I have one of these here "somewhere" all it is is an exacto knife (sort of) with the slot already spaced for two blades and a spacer

If you don't put the spacer in and put a couple more blades in instead.....

[Rawhide]

Marlon:

I don't think they would be sharpened, just like the basic standard hairblades that fit into a swivel knife can't be sharpened or stropped easily. They are applied with a very light touch, just enough to make hair or feather impressions/cuts in the leather & as a result would last for a very long time, unlike a regular swivel knife blade or xacto blade, which is meant to cut deeply into the leather. Also because the area covered by a group of blades together is much greater than a single blade, any force is spread out over that area rather than concentrated into a single point. You are essentially using the tips, rather than the whole blade, to scribe, rather than deeply cut lines in the leather. The only one of the Hidecrafter ones I had ever seen mounted in a swivel knife came in a protective case, so I guess the answer is to make a sheath of sorts to protect the tips (makes sense, also- you don't want this thing rolling around loose somewhere where it could hurt you more than you can hurt it.).

russ

If you need to replace it, I guess you make another, or you force-fit into the handle rather than use epoxy to mount the blade pack. Or, you could follow Hiloboy's model & use a spare exacto handle.

Actually, I did use an extra xacto handle (medium) to mount 2 swivel knife hairblades (1 coarse, 1 fine lined) in imitation of tandy's double hairblade tool- I simply drilled out the solid end to the right depth & used a thin piece of leather as a force-fit collar around each blade shaft.

Russ...

You know I thought the same thing about the hairblades, until I took a class with Peter. He told us to strop the blades on a strip of leather with the flesh side loaded with rouge... We all said..."are you kidding?" Well he was right, stropped it and cleaned out the residue and it glided like it was on ice.

Even if you can't strop them, I would still prefer the ability to replace them, without replacing the whole handle... I may 'borrow' Hilo's idea, but I'd like to turn a real nice one on my lathe.

[Suze]

maybe you could "marry" an exato blade holder top into a turned handle?

[whinewine]

Russ...

You know I thought the same thing about the hairblades, until I took a class with Peter. He told us to strop the blades on a strip of leather with the flesh side loaded with rouge... We all said..."are you kidding?" Well he was right, stropped it and cleaned out the residue and it glided like it was on ice.

Even if you can't strop them, I would still prefer the ability to replace them, without replacing the whole handle... I may 'borrow' Hilo's idea, but I'd like to turn a real nice one on my lathe.

Marlon:

I took a drill bit & drilled out the hammer handle & then inset the blade pack & filled the space with epoxy, but you could simply drill out with a larger bit & use a piece of very thin vegtan (+or- 2 oz or so) as a collar to hold the pack in place. I have done the same to hold 3 linotype letters in place to initial some of the small things I make (stuff that's too small for a makers stamp). They are set in the other end of the same tack hammer handle, and they are removable when the letters do wear down after a long period of stamping. I was just trying something quick & dirty... so go ahead & turn one on your lathe- but just use leather to hold in place rather than epoxy.

And thanks for the tip about stropping the hairblades. I'll try that on my homemade double ended hairblade tool: (but what color rouge did you use? I have red, white & ZAM available)

russ

[Rawhide]

Marlon:

I took a drill bit & drilled out the hammer handle & then inset the blade pack & filled the space with epoxy, but you could simply drill out with a larger bit & use a piece of very thin vegtan (+or- 2 oz or so) as a collar to hold the pack in place. I have done the same to hold 3 linotype letters in place to initial some of the small things I make (stuff that's too small for a makers stamp). They are set in the other end of the same tack hammer handle, and they are removable when the letters do wear down after a long period of stamping. I was just trying something quick & dirty... so go ahead & turn one on your lathe- but just use leather to hold in place rather than epoxy.

And thanks for the tip about stropping the hairblades. I'll try that on my homemade double ended hairblade tool: (but what color rouge did you use? I have red, white & ZAM available)

russ

At the time we were using the red rouge... I have since switched to a green rouge, that I think I like a little better, but either should work.

Thanks for the tip on the leather insert...that may work perfectly.

[hiloboy]

At the time we were using the red rouge... I have since switched to a green rouge, that I think I like a little better, but either should work.

Thanks for the tip on the leather insert...that may work perfectly.

i never thought to strop my blades.. thats why i did the exacto knife thing the way i did.. to keep new sharp blades in at all times.. because they do get dull pretty fast..

when i was looking into how to change my exacto knife holder to hold more blades...i was trying to think now time is money and thats why i did it that way. but i'm sure there may be better ways . but this seems to work pretty good for me.. thanks for the strop idea..

Rawhide,how is the best way to clean the residue that get between the blades when you strop them?

Edited May 11, 2009 by hiloboy