Beautiful Knife . . . . . . . .BUT!!

[waynorth]

Jack sent me this great-looking Lockwood!! Wonderful bolsters, and the blade stamp has my initials, and resembles my "guild stamp" from the Ancient Barlows! Cool as heck . . . . . .BUT, I kept tossing it into the un-categorized box! Why you might ask??

It was a thoughtful gift from a good friend. I will have to check his thumbs when I see him - see if he has steel implants!! So I kept ignoring the knife. I wouldn't let it into my consciousness!! Sigh . . . . .
Now, I have lucky thumbnails! I can open old Remington 1123s, and early GEC #23s, with pulls of 8,9 and even 10. And I love them!!
But this knife had pull I'd rate a 13 or more!!! None of my Macho club members nor I, could open it without seriously straining a steel blade lifter!!
So the time had come for a solution.
This Forum has provided many solutions to pocket knife problems. Someone actually did a pictorial on this problem! (Cambertree? Cambertree )Was it you??
Anyway, the problem is a poorly shaped/finished leading edge on the Tang. And (here's the best part!), it's accessible when the knife is open!!

I rustled up a square needle file, and 15 - 20 minutes later, the knife has a delightful 8 opening pull!!
The closing force was already a nice 8 - 9.
I wish I could take better detail pics, but basically you gently file the leading edge, and clean out the knife well, and lubricate it!!
I love this knife!!

 

[Ramrodmb]

Beautiful knife! Those bolsters should be used again!

 

[Jack Black]

Nice to see that one again Charlie I didn't think the pull was that bad, that is strange Yep, it was Chin who did that pictorial, in the Guardians thread I've just had to do the same thing with a Lambsfoot Jack from Wright's, which had some stubborn blades I'm glad you got it to your liking my friend

I don't know if you've seen my (very poor) pic of this die before. It's not just similar to the one which made the bolsters on your knife, it is THE ONE!

 

[waynorth]

I remember you suggesting the connection, Jack! I was going to address it, but my fear of breaking my thumbnail again wouldn't let me remember!
That is so cool to see THE die!!
Mark is right - the die should be used again!!

You say the pull wasn't that bad????? I wonder what changed?? I tried every lubricant I could get my hands on!!
Maybe someone slipped a little Teflon in there, and it fell out!!
The edge of the tang had a very crooked transition, and my filing straightened it out - might have something to do with it??
Anyway, it's all good, and the knife is great!
And I have always wanted to mess with the pull on a knife, to get a feel for the process!
Thanks again, Jack!!

 

[Cambertree]

Jack sent me this great-looking Lockwood!! Wonderful bolsters, and the blade stamp has my initials, and resembles my "guild stamp" from the Ancient Barlows! Cool as heck . . . . . .BUT, I kept tossing it into the un-categorized box! Why you might ask??

It was a thoughtful gift from a good friend. I will have to check his thumbs when I see him - see if he has steel implants!! So I kept ignoring the knife. I wouldn't let it into my consciousness!! Sigh . . . . .
Now, I have lucky thumbnails! I can open old Remington 1123s, and early GEC #23s, with pulls of 8,9 and even 10. And I love them!!
But this knife had pull I'd rate a 13 or more!!! None of my Macho club members nor I, could open it without seriously straining a steel blade lifter!!
So the time had come for a solution.
This Forum has provided many solutions to pocket knife problems. Someone actually did a pictorial on this problem! (Cambertree? Cambertree )Was it you??
Anyway, the problem is a poorly shaped/finished leading edge on the Tang. And (here's the best part!), it's accessible when the knife is open!!
View attachment 899992 View attachment 899993
I rustled up a square needle file, and 15 - 20 minutes later, the knife has a delightful 8 opening pull!!
The closing force was already a nice 8 - 9.
I wish I could take better detail pics, but basically you gently file the leading edge, and clean out the knife well, and lubricate it!!
I love this knife!!

Nice work Charlie, and a fine and thoughtful gift, Jack.

That’s quite a handsome single blader, Charlie - it’s nice to see it come to stay with you. Are those steel liner scales? Very cool. I’m glad my tips could be of use to you, my friend.

Here’s the original post.

I carefully checked this breaking in method before posting it, as I didn’t want anyone to suffer an irreversible lazy pull, or a sloppily opening knife after tinkering with it.

It works quite well. Although I originally counselled taking care, and removing very little material, after making that post, I decided to bring out a few knives with savagely resistant pulls, which had relegated them to never being carried, and working them over a bit more heavily. It worked very effectively on the ridiculously heavy, nail-tearing spey blade of a two blade Wostenholm, and also rendered the pen blade on an early GEC 25 WLST Barlow easily useable.

Although this method doesn’t change the strength of the backspring pressure in any way, I would say it can probably relieve the apparent pull strength by a good couple of points on the 1-10 scale.

It’s interesting to actually examine those tang corners with a loupe too, as they are sometimes burred or uneven. One of my knives (which actually didn’t have too bad a pull) had a piece of folded over burr covering that corner. If the contact surfaces are uneven, then the pull will of course be adversely affected. Now I tend to check that area, and sometimes polish it a bit, and square it up, even if the pull is ok, as part if my initial tuning up, sharpening, and breaking in process on my new knives. The most consistently smoothly finished knives in that tang corner area, I have seen are SAKs, which is one of the reasons why they’re the benchmark for clean, consistent pulls, I guess.

 

[waynorth]

Chin, you have done a very thorough treatise on the situation, and for that I thank you!
There is no reason to put up with a too-hard opening pull, as the fix is very straight forward!
I looked back for your post, but obviously not far enough.
I'd just like to point out that a square cross-section needle file is the perfect tool for this particular job. The "squareness" helps you keep the tool true, and can even be wrapped in polishing-grit paper for the final touch!
Ain't we got fun!!??!!

P.S, yes, steel liners, with nickel bolsters.

 

[supratentorial]

Nice knife!

 

[waynorth]

Thanks, Jake!

 

[mrknife]

quite neat!

 

[BITEME]

Jack sent me this great-looking Lockwood!! Wonderful bolsters, and the blade stamp has my initials, and resembles my "guild stamp" from the Ancient Barlows! Cool as heck . . . . . .BUT, I kept tossing it into the un-categorized box! Why you might ask??

It was a thoughtful gift from a good friend. I will have to check his thumbs when I see him - see if he has steel implants!! So I kept ignoring the knife. I wouldn't let it into my consciousness!! Sigh . . . . .
Now, I have lucky thumbnails! I can open old Remington 1123s, and early GEC #23s, with pulls of 8,9 and even 10. And I love them!!
But this knife had pull I'd rate a 13 or more!!! None of my Macho club members nor I, could open it without seriously straining a steel blade lifter!!
So the time had come for a solution.
This Forum has provided many solutions to pocket knife problems. Someone actually did a pictorial on this problem! (Cambertree? Cambertree )Was it you??
Anyway, the problem is a poorly shaped/finished leading edge on the Tang. And (here's the best part!), it's accessible when the knife is open!!
View attachment 899992 View attachment 899993
I rustled up a square needle file, and 15 - 20 minutes later, the knife has a delightful 8 opening pull!!
The closing force was already a nice 8 - 9.
I wish I could take better detail pics, but basically you gently file the leading edge, and clean out the knife well, and lubricate it!!
I love this knife!!

What a beauty, them scales look great

 

[BearBug]

I'll check chin's tutorial. I'm unsure if you mean you filed the faces of the tang( sides) where the tang stamp is but more toward the edge side only.

Also would that die have been used to hammer a bolster into that shape or casted into shape with molten metal?

very cool!

 

[Rusty1]

Lovely looking knife and an amazing gift. The knife looks newer than new.

Russell

 

[Augie]

Charlie, glad you got the pull to where it is acceptable, that knife deserves some pocket time with that great blade stamp, very thoughtful of Jack.

I have 2 H.M. Slater Sheffield made knives with the same bolsters and look to be about the same size knives, it is an attractive bolster.

 

[waynorth]

Very nice, Augie!! They look like contemporaries, all three. Must have all been made across the same benches!!

 

[Campbellclanman]

Thats one Honey of a Knife! What beautiful condition ! Well done Jack for looking after Charlie- and Charlie- well done on the fix- Im sure with my nails I still would not be able to open that knife at your rating of a 8

 

[neal70]

Very cool gift Jack! And Charlie excellent tuning, what’s next pianos? Augie -that Clip-point is a tremendous looking knife, especially against the two Spears(which are great too!, don’t get me wrong). I would guess maybe a little more uncommon?
Thanks, Neal

 

[Jack Black]

I remember you suggesting the connection, Jack! I was going to address it, but my fear of breaking my thumbnail again wouldn't let me remember!
That is so cool to see THE die!!
Mark is right - the die should be used again!!

You say the pull wasn't that bad????? I wonder what changed?? I tried every lubricant I could get my hands on!!
Maybe someone slipped a little Teflon in there, and it fell out!!
The edge of the tang had a very crooked transition, and my filing straightened it out - might have something to do with it??
Anyway, it's all good, and the knife is great!
And I have always wanted to mess with the pull on a knife, to get a feel for the process!
Thanks again, Jack!!

LOL! I really don't remember the pull being excessively stiff Charlie, maybe I was pinching it open? Sheffield knives almost always tend towards a stiff pull though, as you know my friend I picked up the knife in a Sheffield antique shop, but as soon as I saw the blade mark, I knew you had to have it Of course the mark belongs to Joseph Elliott, who ended up owning the Lockwood Brothers marks. Mick Elliott, the Head Cutler at A.Wright & Son did his cutler's apprenticeship, under his dad, at Elliott's (them having the same surname as the firm is coincidental), and produced a lot of those bolsters as an apprentice. He may have made yours Charlie He uses the die as a paper-weight now

Nice work Charlie, and a fine and thoughtful gift, Jack.

That’s quite a handsome single blader, Charlie - it’s nice to see it come to stay with you. Are those steel liner scales? Very cool. I’m glad my tips could be of use to you, my friend.

Here’s the original post.

I carefully checked this breaking in method before posting it, as I didn’t want anyone to suffer an irreversible lazy pull, or a sloppily opening knife after tinkering with it.

It works quite well. Although I originally counselled taking care, and removing very little material, after making that post, I decided to bring out a few knives with savagely resistant pulls, which had relegated them to never being carried, and working them over a bit more heavily. It worked very effectively on the ridiculously heavy, nail-tearing spey blade of a two blade Wostenholm, and also rendered the pen blade on an early GEC 25 WLST Barlow easily useable.

Although this method doesn’t change the strength of the backspring pressure in any way, I would say it can probably relieve the apparent pull strength by a good couple of points on the 1-10 scale.

It’s interesting to actually examine those tang corners with a loupe too, as they are sometimes burred or uneven. One of my knives (which actually didn’t have too bad a pull) had a piece of folded over burr covering that corner. If the contact surfaces are uneven, then the pull will of course be adversely affected. Now I tend to check that area, and sometimes polish it a bit, and square it up, even if the pull is ok, as part if my initial tuning up, sharpening, and breaking in process on my new knives. The most consistently smoothly finished knives in that tang corner area, I have seen are SAKs, which is one of the reasons why they’re the benchmark for clean, consistent pulls, I guess.

Chin, you have done a very thorough treatise on the situation, and for that I thank you!
There is no reason to put up with a too-hard opening pull, as the fix is very straight forward!
I looked back for your post, but obviously not far enough.
I'd just like to point out that a square cross-section needle file is the perfect tool for this particular job. The "squareness" helps you keep the tool true, and can even be wrapped in polishing-grit paper for the final touch!
Ain't we got fun!!??!!

P.S, yes, steel liners, with nickel bolsters.

Thanks pal, another excellent post

Also would that die have been used to hammer a bolster into that shape or casted into shape with molten metal?

very cool!

I think it would have been used in conjunction with a heavy press, like this one, nickel silver is mainly brass, and pretty soft

Charlie, glad you got the pull to where it is acceptable, that knife deserves some pocket time with that great blade stamp, very thoughtful of Jack.

I have 2 H.M. Slater Sheffield made knives with the same bolsters and look to be about the same size knives, it is an attractive bolster.


View attachment 900583 View attachment 900585

Thanks my friend, those are superb

Very nice, Augie!! They look like contemporaries, all three. Must have all been made across the same benches!!

Thats one Honey of a Knife! What beautiful condition ! Well done Jack for looking after Charlie- and Charlie- well done on the fix- Im sure with my nails I still would not be able to open that knife at your rating of a 8

Very cool gift Jack! And Charlie excellent tuning, what’s next pianos? Augie -that Clip-point is a tremendous looking knife, especially against the two Spears(which are great too!, don’t get me wrong). I would guess maybe a little more uncommon?
Thanks, Neal

Thanks a lot guys

 

[BearBug]

Thanks for the pic. That press makes sense Jack.

 

[ea42]

Charlie, glad you were abler to perform the fix on that fantastic knife! You need to get into the shop more often, you've got it in you!

Jack, what a cool die! Here's a little sequence of bolster formation for those of you who've been wondering:

The die is formed to the exact size and shape of the finished bolsters, then hardened. It's then put in a press, likely hydraulic as they move slower, and pressed into soft steel. This leaves an imprint of the bolster, which after polishing and hardening becomes the bolster block, and is what is now used to form the bolsters (block on the left);



The block is then mounted in a hefty hydraulic press. Nickel silver nuggets are used to form the bolster. Here's a shot of some nuggets, cut roughly to the shape of a bolster:



And a mounted block. the nuggets are placed right on the block and pressed to form the bolster:



The upper block has two holes in it that form the tommy-on pins at the back of the bolster. here's a shot of some freshly pressed bolsters with pins:





After this operation the excess slag is then trimmed off the bolsters and they're ready to be installed on the scales.



Eric

 

[Jack Black]

What a fantastic post Eric