- Joined
- Mar 18, 2008
- Messages
- 3,371
So, I saw this on the auction site:
I could see it had some issues:
I thought, if I could get it for a good price, this would make a good candidate for my first attempt at a rebuild.
Well, I won it for $1.04 plus $3.75 shipping. Got it in the mail, and it did have issues. As you can see in the third picture above, the bolster and scales are separating from the rest of the knife, pulling the pin out, almost. Well, apparently it kept being used for some time in this condition, because the springs had worn grooves into half of the tangs, causing the un-worn portion to work it's way between the springs and liners, spreading out the knife. (There was a thread not too long ago showing a knife with the same problem) Also, as you can see, the jigged plastic scales have shrunk, and are ugly to boot. The (supposed) pen blade is nearly gone, and looks like it has seen the worst side of a grinding wheel. The clip has seen better days, also, but there is some life in there. I couldn't resist trying, and for less than $5.00 shipped, it wasn't much of a gamble.
This was going to be alot of firsts for me. I have never dis-assembled a slipjoint before, nor replaced scales between bolsters, nor re-pinned a slipjoint. I knocked the pins out, pulled it all apart, removed the ugly plastic scales, and started cleaning. Fortunately, most of the components were in pretty good shape. Unfortunately, I didn't think to do a WIP picture progression. Since calling me a novice is an insult to true novices, however, this is probably a good thing. I wouldn't want anyone to pick up my bad techniques!
I will post pictures of the finished product when I can find the cord to my camera.
I replaced the scales with some nice wood that I picked up at a yard sale. I think it's black walnut, but I'm not sure. I just know it's pretty. I epoxied the scales in, sanded mostly to shape, then used small finish nails for pins. So far so good (except where I left the nails too long on one scale, and they bent over instead of mushrooming. Learning experience). I sanded the tangs with a belt sander, smoothing and evening them out. Then I tried to assemble the whole thing. Disaster! I put the wrong springs with each blade, and since they are different thicknesses (I didn't notice this at first:grumpy
when I peened the pins, the whole thing was cock-eyed. Back to the drawing board.
I had to take it apart again. This time I decided to simplify the process, and eleiminate the almost gone pen blade. It would be a slim, single blade slipjoint.
This time it worked. I very carefully assembled it as a single blade, single backspring knife, cleaned it up, sanded to shape, oiled and polished, and am mostly pleased with the results. I even reground the blade a bit. It's now nice and sharp, and usable, although all the work to the tang took away most of the snap, as well as causing pretty weak pull (maybe a 3 or 4).
Like I said, pics to follow as soon as I can get them on photobucket. I can't wait to hear your feedback.
I could see it had some issues:
I thought, if I could get it for a good price, this would make a good candidate for my first attempt at a rebuild.
Well, I won it for $1.04 plus $3.75 shipping. Got it in the mail, and it did have issues. As you can see in the third picture above, the bolster and scales are separating from the rest of the knife, pulling the pin out, almost. Well, apparently it kept being used for some time in this condition, because the springs had worn grooves into half of the tangs, causing the un-worn portion to work it's way between the springs and liners, spreading out the knife. (There was a thread not too long ago showing a knife with the same problem) Also, as you can see, the jigged plastic scales have shrunk, and are ugly to boot. The (supposed) pen blade is nearly gone, and looks like it has seen the worst side of a grinding wheel. The clip has seen better days, also, but there is some life in there. I couldn't resist trying, and for less than $5.00 shipped, it wasn't much of a gamble.
This was going to be alot of firsts for me. I have never dis-assembled a slipjoint before, nor replaced scales between bolsters, nor re-pinned a slipjoint. I knocked the pins out, pulled it all apart, removed the ugly plastic scales, and started cleaning. Fortunately, most of the components were in pretty good shape. Unfortunately, I didn't think to do a WIP picture progression. Since calling me a novice is an insult to true novices, however, this is probably a good thing. I wouldn't want anyone to pick up my bad techniques!
I will post pictures of the finished product when I can find the cord to my camera.I replaced the scales with some nice wood that I picked up at a yard sale. I think it's black walnut, but I'm not sure. I just know it's pretty. I epoxied the scales in, sanded mostly to shape, then used small finish nails for pins. So far so good (except where I left the nails too long on one scale, and they bent over instead of mushrooming. Learning experience). I sanded the tangs with a belt sander, smoothing and evening them out. Then I tried to assemble the whole thing. Disaster! I put the wrong springs with each blade, and since they are different thicknesses (I didn't notice this at first:grumpy
when I peened the pins, the whole thing was cock-eyed. Back to the drawing board.I had to take it apart again. This time I decided to simplify the process, and eleiminate the almost gone pen blade. It would be a slim, single blade slipjoint.
This time it worked. I very carefully assembled it as a single blade, single backspring knife, cleaned it up, sanded to shape, oiled and polished, and am mostly pleased with the results. I even reground the blade a bit. It's now nice and sharp, and usable, although all the work to the tang took away most of the snap, as well as causing pretty weak pull (maybe a 3 or 4).
Like I said, pics to follow as soon as I can get them on photobucket. I can't wait to hear your feedback.
(got several open)