Broken back-spring on Belgian clasp-knife

Jack Black

Jack Black

Seize the Lambsfoot! Seize the Day!
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I thought I’d post this to a new thread as it’s certainly not something I’ve seen before, certainly not like this anyway.



I thought I’d got a real nice knife when I picked up this Belgian-made clasp knife yesterday. Looking at it, I found it hard to believe it was over 60 years old.



Gave it a light cleaning and oiled it last night after photographing it.



Picked it up today to sharpen it and immediately noticed the back-spring on the can-opener blade was broken. It didn’t even break dramatically or anything as the knife hasn’t even been used, been opened maybe half a dozen times. Obviously not as robust as the Sheffield-made models I had as a kid :(



Has anyone else ever experienced something similiar?
 
Ghastly!!

The heat treat on springs for military issue knives might not have been very good soon after WW II?

That said, I've heard tell of springs busting on very costly knives. I think Duncan had a CASE/Bose Dogleg that had a bust spring. It's not common, but it happens.

Drag for you as that was a nice find.

Regards, W
 
Jack,

sorry to hear/see that. That was a nice find, my friend. I hope the loss is not too heavy - though you haven´t lost it directly.

I never had any problem like that, fortunatelly.
 
Thanks fellers, it means another trip to York unfortunately, and if I can get a replacement, it seems to be pretty much pot-luck what you get. The first knife had a flaw too, though not of the same magnitude. Even if I get a replacement, who knows how long it'll last.
 
At least they make good ale! Sorry for the disappointment, Jack.
 
Cheers Elliott. Rain foreacast again tomorrow, so I'm hoping not to drown! Won't have time for any ale tomorrow either unfortunately :(
 
willgoy said:
Ghastly!! The heat treat on springs for military issue knives might not have been very good soon after WW II?
Click to expand...
Or during the war, for that matter. This is my father's WW2 Canadian military issue knife. Case XX should be decent quality, but the backspring on the main blade is broken. To be fair, it happened much later, as I can remember it still being usable in the 1960's or so, and Dad didn't baby his tools.
Case2.jpg
Case3.jpg
 
I got drenched in York, and the guy in the shop seemed really uninterested. He did give me what he said was the last clasp knife he had though. Not quite as nice as the previous one, but for now, it has both springs. I also found the broken piece of the spring. Knife needs cleaning, but I'll try and get pics up later.
 
Bummer.

I'll see if I can make it to the flea market at the weekend again Jack. I saw some British/MoD clasp knives, one with a marlin spike, that weren't soooo bad.
 
There was a lovely program on TV last night called 'From the sea to the land beyond' It had some film from the 30's. It had a boy whittling with his penknife, and a shot of a soldier preparing for D Day who had his army clasp knife on a piece of string/cord around his waist. It was carried around behind his back, and then the knife was pushed up under the cord so that it didn't swing around. A good system I thought.
 


The replacement clasp knife is made by the Libert company, (which I think is the 3rd of the 3 Belgian contractors). As previously, the knife is in great condition cosmetically for a 60 year-old knife, and I hope that the heat-treatment of the steel is better than with the previous example. From a purely aesthetic point of view, I have to say, I preferred the look of the stamp on the Colin Winand knife best. Also, the Winand knife had better ‘stepping’ of the blades, which made it the easiest to open.



On the Colasse knife, the sheepsfoot blade and can-opener sit at the same height, which means that they can’t be opened by pinching the blade. The Colasse knife also has the stiffest springs. The springs on the Libert knife are less stiff, and the slight difference in height between the two blades allows the sheepsfoot blade to be opened by pinching the spine (as long as you have warm, dry hands). Opening the knife with the nail nick is also possible, but worth taking care over.

Here are the three A.B.L. 1951 clasp knife marks:





 
On the Colasse knife, the sheepsfoot blade and can-opener sit at the same height, which means that they can’t be opened by pinching the blade. The Colasse knife also has the stiffest springs
Click to expand...

I had that problem on a British made knife of the same type. I had to open the can opener to open the main blade, and the backsprings were way too strong IMO. It's a pity as the blade was very good.
In the end I gave the knife away, life's too short to put up with problems like that. I much prefer the later version of the BAK as
I'm more of a user than a collector.

101_0075.JPG
 
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jacknife said:
I had that problem on a British made knife of the same type. I had to open the can opener to open the main blade, and the backsprings were way too strong IMO. It's a pity as the blade was very good.
In the end I gave the knife away, life's too short to put up with problems like that. I much prefer the later version of the BAK as I'm more of a user than a collector.
Click to expand...

Yes, with the similiar British-made knife I had as a boy it was a real struggle to open the blade (much easier with the version without the can-opener) and sometimes I'd even have to lever it open with a coin. It was easier as I grew older and had stronger fingers, but it eventually got relegated to my boot-cleaning box where it often stayed open. While I feel nostalgic about it now, I'm not sure I thought that much of it as a kid, and was certainly glad to get my first SAK. There must have been a lot of hungry British 'Tommy's during WW2! Having said that, I have no idea why the can-opner was so over-engineered in the first place, I have a P-38 can-opener that's been managing just fine since 1978!
 
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