Bringing new life to an old TL-29 using simple hand tools

[quattromori]

Evan,
thank you for taking the time to start this thread and post your WIP pictures.
It's not the tools...skill rules. And that's why I appreciate so much your work (and Glenn's, and others here).

Fausto

 

[mike Berkovitch]

Thank you Evan, it is real pleasure to watch your photos, also some things are more clear to me now.
Looking forward to next session

Mike

 

[Primble]

Bring it on, Primble!

Loved the Charlows in hand - awesome Philll - good to see friends sticking up for one another - even turncoats !!! :thumbup:

Primble, I've seen your plans...

And we all know how this ends...

:thumbup: Foiled again - back to the thread derailing drawing board !

P.S. - I hope you have more to do with your time soon !!

More seriously - thank you for the "training" in this thread - much appreciated !

I will have my grand opening of "Primble Works" any day now ........

maybe even a Primble's Mother of All GAW's - old Case redbones, grail Charlows, and Case/Bose collabs !!!!

There are going to be some mighty sad faces from that other thread when they see the rules for my next GAW !!

They better be stocking upon Kleenex.

 

[arrowhd]

Waiting to see the next set of photos. Great "How to" idea. Just about everyone has one of these knives waiting to be refinished.

 

[esnyx]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

I have a trapper that I'm interested in trying to rescale, but it has bolsters on both ends. It seems like it would be a lot easier to rescale it as a barehead, or at least it would eliminate the need for precision cutting. Before I destroy this knife, how hard is it to remove a bolster? Are they usually glued on or do they use a solder or something similar?

Cory, most production knives have their bolsters riveted on. You can remove your end cap bolster by drilling the rivet out from the inside of the liner. Use a bit that is about the same size as the hole it is riveted through, and the bolster should pop off.

Another option is to cut the rivet in the same manner you would cut the pins to disassemble the knife. Wedge a knife between the bolster and liner, and tap it with a rubber mallet until it comes off. This may cause the liner to bend a little, so you might have to straighten it back out in a vice.

 

[Cory Hess]

Thanks, Evan. Sounds like something I can do. I appreciate your taking the time to answer my question.

 

[philllll]

Looking forward to the next installment!

 

[esnyx]

Ok, I'm back with an update.

Now that we have the scale shaped out and glued, its time to drill out the pin holes. It is important to try and drill the holes as straight as possible. In this case, slow and steady wins the race.

With the pin holes drilled, haft the knife down close to the final shape. Doing this before pinning the scale to the liner prevents you from having to haft the pin along with the liner and risking hafting past the peened head holding the pin in place.
For this step, I whittle out the general shape using my carving knife.

At this point, I clean up the liner and clean up the scale with my file and sandpaper.

Now that it's all cleaned up, you can use a philips head bit to ream the pin holes. This gives the pin something to hold onto when you peen it over, and allows you to sand the pins flush with the liners and scales.

Flattening the pins with a file, trimming to size, and peening the back side of the pins. When you peen the pin, tap it lightly around the top of the pin with a ball hammer until it is domed and wont fall through the hole.

Flip the scales over, trim and file the other end of the pin flat, leaving some room for peening, and peen the pin, making sure not to peen it too heavily and crack the scale material.

File and sand the pin to be flush with the liner.This is also a good time to clean up the liner to your highest grit sandpaper. I brought it up to 1500 grit to get it as smooth and shiny as I could by hand.

Here I did some more peening to make sure the pin was nice and snug.

The pin is now barely visible.

At this point, the scales are finished. There will be some more hafting done after the knife is assembled, but these are good to go for assembly.

Thanks for looking! Feel free to ask me any questions.

Look out tomorrow for another update!

 

[Eric H]

This might just be the best thread I've read in years...

 

[*Magic*]

Very cool thanks for sharing!

 

[gunstockjack]

Lookin' good!

 

[waynorth]

Nice and clear to me. Ongoing thanks for this thread Evan!

 

[esnyx]

Now that we have the scales mostly hafted and the liners cleaned up, we can start assembling the knife.

Before assembling, I clean up the springs to prevent any old gunk from jamming up the action after assembly.

Assemble the spring and scales.

Clean up the blade tang to help smooth out the action.

Set the blade in the handle with the holes lined up, and, using your vice, squeeze the tang against the spring until the pivot holes align. Then tap the pivot pin through the hole while it is compressed, and the knife will stay together.

Trim the spring pins with some room for peening, file the pins flat, and peen on both sides until the scales are nice and tight against the spring.

File and peen one side of the pivot pin

Here is where it gets a little tricky. This tool it called a slackener, and as you can see, it's obviously homemade. I got a thin piece of stainless steel from my local hardware store that measured about .01" thick. Cut a strip out of the middle that is slightly larger than your pivot pin, then file and sand down any burs left from the cutting. This tool will allow you to peen the pivot pin without having to worry about seizing up the blades because you peened them too hard.

Slide the slackener between the blade tang and the liner, and tap the peened side of the pin down to the bolster. You want to cut the pin with the slackener in place so that you do not take too much off, and then are unable to use the slackener.

Cut and file the pin, then peen it until there is no longer a gap around the pin head. Repeat this process on both sides with the slackener in place, then remove the slackener, and squeeze the bolsters together to close the gap left by the slackener. Peen the pins lightly, checking the action and blade play of the knife every few taps. The goal here is to peen the pins until there is no blade play while maintaining a smooth action.

File and sand the bolsters until the pins are flush and blend in.

At this point you can start with the final shaping of the handle. Sand and file the scales and back spring until they are even and smooth.

Now she's all cleaned up and ready for a tung oil finish!

Stay tuned for a final reveal with an extra surprise tomorrow!

 

[paulhilborn]

This is just FANTASTIC Evan---Thanks again for this---A lot of work went into the thread as well as the knife---Much Appreciated!!!

 

[Cory Hess]

Very nice, Evan. Thanks so much.

 

[Primble]

Wonderful thread Evan - thank you for the lessons!!! WOW !!

 

[dpowers311]

Nice work. Makes me want to redo one of my 29's.

Dave

 

[esnyx]

Nice work. Makes me want to redo one of my 29's.

Dave

Do it! And post pics!! I'll help you with any questions you have along the way!

That goes for anyone else out there wanting to try out a modification! Jump in with both feet! JUST DO IT!!! You never know until you try, and that first step is always the biggest hurdle!

 

[intron]

One of the most informative threads I've read. Thank you!

 

[glassjaw]

This really is awesome! I really do appreciate this post I want to give it a shot now! Thanks Evan!