Making a Folding/Pocket Knife #2: Working the bolster, improving the locking bar, and adding a spring

My design calls for two thin (.010”) washers around the blade for easy movement. Unfortunately, this spaces things weirdly on the rest of the parts. To get the width more uniform, I tried to epoxy some brass shims to the bolster but the bond didn’t hold up to grinding:

So I tried using some superglue and fixative / fast cure spray (recommended by my father). This worked great:

The parts held up when grinding everything flush. Next I did the superglue trick for shimming my too-loose-fitting lock bar:

After a few tries, I got a good bond and was able to grind the piece flush. I re-filed the bar to fit the blade and it came out really tight:

I then cut a spring and matching slot in the bolster to keep the locking bar tensioned. This serves both to keep the blade open and closed. It took some trial and error to get the tension correct, but it works great now:

-- Allen, Colorado (Instagram @bobasaurus_woodworking)