Bare-head serpentine?

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I have this big old Colonial serpentine jack that I want to re-handle with real bolsters. I would rather not have to deal with head bolsters, but I fear it would look horrible as a bare-head. What say you all?
426jgphu
 
I have a shadow stockman that I think looks cool IMO. I'm not so sure about a barehead though
 
My only thing is I think that jigging on the covers is absolutely beautiful. Also in the picture the patina to my eye looks almost like a forest scene. I just really like that knife If you don't really care for it you can send it to me and I'll dispose of it properly. :D
 
I like it but I assume the scales are delrin? Looks like they are shrinking so I certainly understand you wanting to rehandle. I echo the sentiment of a shadow jack. Especially with some nice highly polished amber jigged bone.
 
Tilley Knife said:
I like it but I assume the scales are delrin? Looks like they are shrinking so I certainly understand you wanting to rehandle. I echo the sentiment of a shadow jack. Especially with some nice highly polished amber jigged bone.
Click to expand...

If they are shrinking, they can't be Delrin. Delrin does not shrink. It's primary usage as an engineering plastic is for items which must retain dimensional stability.
 
Tilley Knife said:
I like it but I assume the scales are delrin?
Click to expand...

I'm fairly certain that it has the one piece molded shell covers, since the OP is wanting to re-handle with real bolsters. These were common on Colonial and Imperial knives.

Being a two bladed Jack, I think it would look good in barehead configuration. It would be weird if it were a Stockman, though.:D
 
Ha ha. :p. I just realized the OPs knife is a jack, not a stockman. I must have been multi-tasking (ie. unsuccessfully listening to my wife while trying to read BF) when I responded. But I do think a shadow would still look better than a barehead.
 
knarfeng said:
If they are shrinking, they can't be Delrin. Delrin does not shrink. It's primary usage as an engineering plastic is for items which must retain dimensional stability.
Click to expand...

My error Frank, thank you for the correction. They definitely appear to be shrinking. I was thinking one thing and typing another. No surprise, I do the same thing verbally which sometimes gets me in trouble. :)
 
Sorry to be unclear. It does have the Hammer/Imperial/Colonial-type hollow sheet covers.

I think I might take r redden's advice and leave it alone. That's even easier than fitting bolsters to only one end.
If the covers fall off I'll go shadow.
Thanks for the advice.
 
Not to be parinoid or anything, but if the covers are shrinking, they may be celluloid, in which case they may be starting to gas.
Might be better to rehandle.
 
It would look good as a shadow pattern as well and would definitely be easier than bolsters.

For those of you unfamiliar with what these type of bolster and covers look like disassembled, this thread from the MT&E sub-forum has some good pictures.
 
The colored bits that go over the shell handle covers were originally celluloid. I assume the makers of these lasted long enough to eschew celluloid, but I don't know how old this one is. I may have bought it at West Michigan's original big-box store in the mid 70s, or it may be a flea market acquisition.

Maybe I'll have to bugger with it. Probably with real bolsters and all. I'll color the head "bolster" to get a little better idea of whether I can get away with making it a barehead. It's a cheap old knife, but a good one, and the biggest jack I've got. I think I'll sand off that failed chrome too.
 
It was serpentine, but the one that comes to my mind was a double-end shadow with bird's-eye rivets. I'll check, though.

Yup. So it's symmetrical, unlike what I'm contemplating.
 
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