Another messed up bolster

[CDH]

I have been having heck getting bolsters to work on blades. This time I thought it was great until I was about done, and somehow I had missed this misalignment. Apparently it got cocked, I'm guessing as I was peening the pins. The closeup pics make it look worse than it is, but it is bad enough that now that I've noticed it, it jumps out at me every time I look at it.

I'm so frustrated I am about to swear off bolsters forever. As much as I like the look, this will be the third time I have to tear down this knife and start over if I can't figure out a way to fix this...

And suggestions for fixing this in place, or (as I suspect) am I looking at another do-over!?!?!?:grumpy::grumpy::grumpy::grumpy:

 

[J. Scott]

I too had this problem when I started. My problem was caused from using a hand held drill motor and not drilling 90 deg. to the centerline of the knife. A drill press cured this problem for me.

If you drill the bolsters first, make sure that you are drilling perpendicular to the plane of the joint. Because when you separate them by the thickness of the knife blade they separate along the axis of the pin hole. If it is not perpendicular they will move in opposite directions.

J.Scott
Oxford, AL

 

[Bufford]

First drill out the hole(s) for the pins on the knife. Then clamp one side of the brass to the knife handle and drill a starting hole. Remove knife and finish drilling the holes. Mark the bolster so that the face meeting the knife will be in the same position when you pin it all together.
Now take the one bolster drilled out and clamp it together with the other making sure things are lined up, again stacking it order so that it will be positioned exactly the same way when it is finally pinned to the blade.

With both bolster pieces clamped together, drill through into the second bolster, that way the hole will be lined up correctly. Don't drill all the way through, but enough to get a starter hole going. This will prevent the drill from widening the first hole too much.

Test fit everything, and pin together. Done right everything should line up perfectly.

 

[CDH]

My drill press is one of the heavy Harbor Freight models...not great but it should be square enough for this...or I'm going to just throw it away with the rest of my knifemaking tools. Ok, not really...I may garage sale them.

My problem (I think) is the pins being slightly loose. In this one they are actually cocked...one end high on the left bolster and the opposite end high on the right. The holes in the blade are a size over already...but that leaves them prone to slippage up and down the blade. That slippage was the source of the problem and the first do-over on this blade. If I don't watch it closely when and after I peen the pins, it's crooked.

I'm thinking that I may wax up my filie guide to keep it from sticking and use it to rest/clamp the bolsters in place when I set them...

For now I need suggestions. Scrap it or can it be fixed reasonably?

 

[fujita yuji]

I made similar mistake when I was fitting stainless bolsters, for as many as two times
Too bad for you and for me too, as it reminds me those hard times; I can say I know how you feel.

If I was you, I'll remove the bolsters and make fittings again which is what I did some two months ago.