Yep - Pinah is totally correct, my first attempt was on a very old Queen Trapper - I used the Vice method - it worked but it was scary!
I recently fixed a lovely old Miller Bros Jack that had terrible side play, and this worried me as the knife is spectacular - but play to me is totally unacceptable, I saw our good friend Jack explain how he did his - so let me explain how I fixed my Miller Bros to you in detail so you can gear up and have a go yourself.
I believe just Vicing the bolsters is temporary if you do not Peen the pin after.
Chop up two 2 to 3 inch thin ( 10 mm thick ) nice flat pieces of wood, grab a medium sized "G" clamp, place the wood on the Bolsters and make sure you place the clamp on the pinned area of the bolsters ( with wood in-between the clamp and Bolster of course to save damage ).
Carefully apply pressure with the clamp until the wood wont slide out - now you are ready to gauge just how much pressure you are going to exert on the Bolsters - give the clamp a careful wind - not too loose - but don't go hard into it either take the knife out and feel if the play is getting better - you will be able to gauge how much pressure after your first clamping.
If there is still play repeat process and the knife will become tighter - be careful as Pinnah said not to clamp too tight or you will freeze a blade in a certain spot of its walk and talk!
You will notice the pins as the knife tightens starting to protrude from the bolsters very slightly - this is a good sign, as this is the "play" coming out- and you have tightened the joints again.
Once you are happy with the play, its time to Peen.
I bought two nice antique hammers just for this - but you don't have to be so Traditionally minded, just a medium sized hammer. Its important to make sure the face of the Hammer is chip free - place a bit of 180g sandpaper flat on the bench, and clean the face of the hammer before striking your Bolsters - if you don't use a clean Hammer face - you will introduce scars from dirt - uneven surface to you Bolsters.
Place one side of the Bolster with the pin directly on a Anvil ( or something similar -but flat ) and then using only medium strike - strike directly onto the pin on the Bolster facing you - you should see the pin start to flatten slightly - after a couple of careful strikes, swap sides and repeat - while doing this after each strike - again check you walk and talk of your knife - just in case you are again tightening up the knife too much - Remember this - its always better to peen a knife that is ever so slightly loose than ever so slightly tight.
Once you have peened the pins carefully you will have to use a bit of Wet and Dry sandpaper and a very solid block ( should be a flat steel block ) and "block" back carefully the pins until they are flush with the Bolster.
Use say 240g first, you may need coarser possibly 180g, when you are getting close to the bolster drop down a grade to say 320g, 400g, you wont have to polish your Bolster if you sand carefully, I finished mine and you can even tell, also - it doesn't look super shiny - I used a wee bit of Flitz at the end.
By the way walk and talk means the opening of the blades - the actions of how smooth the actions are during the opening and closing process.
I appreciate the detailed description
