Camillus TL-29-type … are these typical innards?

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SomebodySomewhere

SomebodySomewhere

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So, I bought an oldish Camillus TL-29-type knife and it turned out the screwdriver blade pull was like 11/10 … required pliers to open. After talking to people, the consensus seemed to be it had been DIY’d at some point (brass pins, unusually clean wood).

It was pretty cheap, and never one to leave well enough alone, I opened it up to see what I could learn. First question is whether anyone knows if this is the normal tang shape for the screwdriver blade. It looks like it would be a heck of a lot harder to work than the main blade. Im not sure I see how it would work … was it maybe reduced to get that blade to sit below the scales? Searched around here but couldn’t find any images of the insides of these.

More to the point of the extremely tough opening on the screwdriver blade, I notice that the springs are slightly different, and I wonder if one is meant to go with a particular blade. The taller beefier spring was under the screwdriver blade. Again, assuming someone had repinned it at some point and maybe didn’t see the difference? Or maybe it doesn’t really make any difference - they’re pretty close at the end where they'd contact the tangs.

View attachment 2088216

That said, that spring (under the driver blade) was sticking out somewhat when closed:

View attachment 2088223

And as long as I’m asking, it looks like the bolsters were normally welded to the liners (and one side still seems to be) … is what I’m seeing on this loose one an indication that someone used some JB Weld or something on this side to repair? (It was loose.)

View attachment 2088218

Thanks for any thoughts … mainly a chance to play around and learn. Probably going to put back together with just the knife layer.
 
Few years back, I went on a TL-29 jag - maybe that’s one I mutilated. (jk) I didn’t do any Camillus branded ones, but a couple Craftsmans, possibly made by them.

I came to believe that a slip joint action was a poor choice of where to mount a twisting/prying tool like a screwdriver. Mine all ended up with ungodly side play.

That does look like JB Weld, doesn’t it? I never saw any on the ones I opened.

I agree with the DIY diagnosis.

Parker
 
catspa said:
Few years back, I went on a TL-29 jag - maybe that’s one I mutilated. (jk) I didn’t do any Camillus branded ones, but a couple Craftsmans, possibly made by them.

I came to believe that a slip joint action was a poor choice of where to mount a twisting/prying tool like a screwdriver. Mine all ended up with ungodly side play.

That does look like JB Weld, doesn’t it? I never saw any on the ones I opened.

I agree with the DIY diagnosis.

Parker
Click to expand...
Haha! Someone mentioned the Craftsman connection to me the other day … this one has the Camillus stamp on the main blade, but maybe someone swapped it into one of those? With so many of these around, I’m sure just about everything has happened at some point.

Does that tang shape look right to you on the screwdriver blade? It seems like it should have a rounded shape similar to the main blade, but that’s just my 35-year-old C-minus in geometry talking.
 
Looks like it was reworked by someone.

However, tangs of the blades look like they should. You can see that the knife blade tang was square-ish at some point, but has been rounded from use. The screwdriver blade is correct. Notched in front to allow for the liner lock to engage.

The bolsters aren't typically glued or soldered on. They are riveted usually.

Not sure what other questions you have...
 
I've never taken any apart, but all the ones I've handled have had a much stronger pull on the screwdriver blade. Many have been real nail-breakers even when new. The "liner lock" is a secondary safety, they rely primarily on the backspring to keep the blade open in use, so that tang shape makes sense, as does the proud spring (extra thickness to support expected load).
 
I own several Camillus electricians knives, a Proto, a couple of Kleins, and the screwdriver blades range from hard to open to impossible to open without another tool. I wish there was some way to remedy this without major modifications to the knives.
 
Those parts look good to me. The bolster are held on with a tommy-on pin. That's the protrusion you see at the back of your bolsters. it's actually a part of the bolster. The hole that it goes through in the bolster is countersunk. When the bolster is attached the pin is pressed in a O press and spread into the countersink forming a tight bond. Afterward whatever is left sticking over the liner is ground off. Just like riveting. I think whoever took the knife apart knocked the bolster loose when he was cutting the bolster pin, twisted it, or who knows what else. Once you pop the bolster off you can't reattach it with the pin since it's now too short, hence the JB Weld.

You can weaken the pull by rounding the corners of that tang off JUST A BIT, evenly on both sides. That might affect the lock-up with the linerlock though. You can also take a bit off the spring in the area forward of the center pin. On your photo it would be the area over the box (in the table grid) at the top of that strip under the spring. Notice how much fatter it is compared to the blade spring. If you do that it needs to be gradual and smooth, and don't go near the end, just the area over that box. Again it doesn't take much.

Alternatively you can also weaken a spring that's in a knife by taking material off the back of the spring in that same area (from the center pin forward to about 2/3rds of the way to the end of the spring. This you can feather towards the butt of the knife since you have a nice straight run there, and whatever is taken off the spring behind that center pin doesn't usually affect spring tension on a jack.

Eric
 
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glennbad said:
Looks like it was reworked by someone.

However, tangs of the blades look like they should. You can see that the knife blade tang was square-ish at some point, but has been rounded from use. The screwdriver blade is correct. Notched in front to allow for the liner lock to engage.

The bolsters aren't typically glued or soldered on. They are riveted usually.

Not sure what other questions you have...
Click to expand...
Very helpful info - thanks!
 
yablanowitz said:
I've never taken any apart, but all the ones I've handled have had a much stronger pull on the screwdriver blade. Many have been real nail-breakers even when new. The "liner lock" is a secondary safety, they rely primarily on the backspring to keep the blade open in use, so that tang shape makes sense, as does the proud spring (extra thickness to support expected load).
Click to expand...
Good to know this isn’t so unusual — thanks for the data point!
 
ea42 said:
Those parts look good to me. The bolster are held on with a tommy-on pin. That's the protrusion you see at the back of your bolsters. it's actually a part of the bolster. The hole that it goes through in the bolster is countersunk. When the bolster is attached the pin is pressed in a O press and spread into the countersink forming a tight bond. Afterward whatever is left sticking over the liner is ground off. Just like riveting. I think whoever took the knife apart knocked the bolster loose when he was cutting the bolster pin, twisted it, or who knows what else. Once you pop the bolster off you can't reattach it with the pin since it's now too short, hence the JB Weld.

You can weaken the pull by rounding the corners of that tang off JUST A BIT, evenly on both sides. That might affect the lock-up with the linerlock though. You can also take a bit off the spring in the area forward of the center pin. On your photo it would be the area over the box (in the table grid) at the top of that strip under the spring. Notice how much fatter it is compared to the blade spring. If you do that it needs to be gradual and smooth, and don't go near the end, just the area over that box. Again it doesn't take much.

Alternatively you can also weaken a spring that's in a knife by taking material off the back of the spring in that same area (from the center pin forward to about 2/3rds of the way to the end of the spring. This you can feather towards the butt of the knife since you have a nice straight run there, and whatever is taken off the spring behind that center pin doesn't usually affect spring tension on a jack.

Eric
Click to expand...
Thank you greatly—that is a generous set of information for this novice. I may first try rounding the tang slightly as the liner lock seems to have mainly lost its spring anyhow, so I wouldn’t be losing anything. Very much appreciate the insights--thanks again.
 
I’ve seen guys on the job open a TL-29 halfway, into an L shape, for more leverage to break loose a tight screw. Frequently springs the joint.

The proper way to abuse one is to grip your vise grips or channelllocks on the blade about 1/2” from the tip, and lever away. Then you can grind off the twisted part and have a screwdriver again, little shorter now.

Parker
 
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