Blade swapping on two MOP whittlers.

[Sword and Shield]

Wandering through an antique mall, I found an old Bostwick Braun-marked MOP whittler. Etch still present, main and nail blades snap clean, but the pen blade is a problem. It was heat-treated improperly, and years of opening has worn a lip into the blade, and the lip is forcing the joint apart.

However, in the collection, I have a 4-line Camillus with a broken master blade and cracked MOP scale. Paid 50 cents for it five years ago, so no sentimental value. It's a dead match for the Bostwick.

Any ideas on how to switch the blades around, or how much to have it done? They're both tip-bolster MOP whittlers, dating from 1920-1946.

 

[Sword and Shield]

Anybody? It looks as simple as shearing the pivot with a thin blade, then tapping a new one in, but I don't know how to pein on pearl handles without breaking them.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

If you try to shear the pin, it will pull inward, breaking the pearl.
You will have to file the rivet flush on both sides and gently tap it with a punch. File the newly exposed are on the opposite side that you punched. Then punch the other side back through-exposing more of that rivet head. Keep alternating sides until all the taper is gone. Punch the pin out.
By now you will have lots of little pieces of pearl!
If you don't, the next problem you will have is how to align the blade and pin hole with pressure on the backspring. Most knives have the backspring pin installed last. It's much easier to compress the spring than to compress the blade into the blade well.

 

[Sword and Shield]

These pins are already flush, and there is no central divot as I've seen with other knives with flush pins. On the Camillus, enough of the pearl has cracked on one side to expose a pin fully- no noticeable peining. Might it be able to just be driven through?