Bolster fell off! How do I fix it?

D

deltonacoins

Joined
Dec 16, 2016
Messages
21
Got this knife a while back. Was wiping it down and one of the bolsters fell off! How can I fix this?

Also, should I be concerned about the other bolster and scales? Never had this happen before.....



 
Seems like a Pakistan special.

Bolsters of mystery damascus. Glued on....

If you had the equipment, you could drill and pin and peen.

You could clean the rust off the mating surfaces and use quality epoxy.

Or silver solder.


Bummer.
 
I didn't show the name of the maker on the blade, but it is not pakistanni. It is a known knifemaker. I didn't want to make it public.
 
Like Bigfattyt said, the bolsters should have been pinned on. If you have a drill press, you can try to drill some pin holes through the tang, and into the bolsters, but if the blade is heat treated correctly, it might be nearly impossible to drill through.

A high strength epoxy is probably your easiest fix, but the bolster is likely to come off again, if you use the knife hard. I recommend using System Three T-88, but you could get by with Devcon 2-ton. Scuff both surfaces with a coarse sand paper, to maximize adhesion surface. Make sure that you clean both surfaces with rubbing alcohol or solvent to make sure you get rid of all the oil and residue.

You won't be able to silver solder it without burning/melting the handle.
 
I would use a brass brush as an abrasive on the rusty red oxide surface, epoxy and clamp. Then~ drill press a 1/8 or 3/16 hole through the whole enchilada. Cut a pivot pin to size and peen. You can use a phosphoric acid (naval jelly application only on the blemish itself until the oxides turn black in the carbon layers ~ Becareful not to forget and leave this on, because Damascus can delaminate) in moderation to fix what finish has been blemished during the fix. :thumbup::thumbup:

You are welcome. If you have any other questions, feel free to message me. I will help you through the process.
To fix this you will need a drill press.
 
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. It is handmade and the maker is deceased. I guess that leaves it up to me to fix. I can do it. I just didn't know if epoxy would work for this. I have a drill press, clamps, grinder, etc. so it shouldn't be a huge task to handle. Thanks again. I appreciate your help.
 
No one has noticed the bolsters were soldered on the tang. Very bad solder job.
The correct way to repair the knife is to remove the handle pin, swivel the scales around, and re solder the bolsters.
The contact areas have to be cleaned to bright metal before applying flux and soldering.
There is also considerable rust under the scales. WD 40 is your friend, as it can penetrate these areas and prevent rust.
 
Bill has it. The lanyard sleeve is used as a pin. Just drill or tap the front pin down to clear. Then solder the bolster back. You'll probably have to get a new, longer
metal stock to work for the front pin. I wouldn't pound much on it. Mostly sand it. DM
 
If you plan to drill at all, I highly recommend single/ straight fluted carbide bits. Expensive (12 bucks or so), but in a drill press you will likely have some luck. Just be careful and clamp the blade down so you don't helicopter it.
 
deltonacoins said:
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. It is handmade and the maker is deceased. I guess that leaves it up to me to fix. I can do it. I just didn't know if epoxy would work for this. I have a drill press, clamps, grinder, etc. so it shouldn't be a huge task to handle. Thanks again. I appreciate your help.
Click to expand...

If you can drill hole in blade , make it with hidden pin and glue bolster with epoxy .
 
Correction: the handle can't be swiveled out of the way because you couldn't get it back into position after replacing the bolster.
The handle will have to be removed, but that's not a major job. Just remove the pin and tubing.
If you use epoxy to hold the bolster on, it might hold for quite a while. But it might not.
 
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