Ok, so this post got a little out of hand. I'd already had most of the project pictures uploaded for a tutorial I'll probably never finish. I took them as a half assed chronology template that never really made sense, but you asked for it.
awol70 wrote:njce work on the vids... with what/how did you make the tension tool?
feeler stock?
Good knife steel, a dremel, and a grinding wheel. I usually clamp the knife handle close to the middle on the side of a small square board, and slide the board on my work surface with my arm rested to steady the dremel. I pick a line and use a cutoff wheel to sketch it out as best I can, then clean the cut up with the grinding wheel. Addmittedly, not the most efficient way it could be done.
I like to try and use the stamps if I can.
The bottom wrench is ugly, but it works. The top is a more recent attempt to clean up the design.
Not as nice as the pieces of sheffield you've used, but good steel. Here's the top wrench in it's rough cut. The other two pieces are going to become wrenches too, as I find the thickness of the knife a good universal wrench size and the steel springs back well.
I have used feeler guages before, but 2nd hand steak knives are cheaper and I've been lucky recently finding so much good steel to work with to make tensioners.
awol70 wrote:(i have been experimenting with that type,attempting to mimic peterson's)
The shape is not hard to mimic, and if you had the right thickness you could duplicate it pretty close to true, maybe better, but a prybar or flatwrench w/microteeth would be tough. I remember you cut teeth into some tok wrenches. Do you think you could cut decent teeth in a piece of knife steel?
-To'mcgee