Flattening accidentally bent slipjoint liners

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Brian.Evans

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Aug 20, 2011
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So......I was working on a slipjoint and I accidentally bent the liner a bit. Everything is shaped, soldered, ect. It's ready for pinning as soon as the parts get back from Peter's. I'm not sure how much its going to be bent, but it seems a bit off just holding it on a flat surface. I'll know for sure when I get the parts here. Is there anything I can do to flatten it? I think this one might just have to have some gaps if there's nothing I can do. Suggestions?
 
I have tapped liners on a flat hard surface to remove very small bends, I don't recommend trying to bend the opposite way but if it comes to remaking that is another alternative. Put a piece of leather over the liner and give it a whak.
 
Basic blacksmithing lesson 5: When straightening, put the piece on an anvil with the bend sticking up (like a little mountain) rather than trying to straighten the ends. Carefully tap the high spot and watch what happens. Some metal is going to be displaced, thinning the hammered area. Using a hard plastic, wood, or leather mallet can minimize that, if your material is fairly soft.
Perhaps a metallurgist can explain why this method is so much less likely to fracture a piece when bending cold than using pliers...this is important, for instance, when straightening a kitchen knife tip.
(I see people trying to straighten workpieces the oddest ways, this is the one that works.)

That said, I'm often not that happy with the results- straight, smooth, parallel liners and blades are where good folding knives begin.
 
Yikes when your talking a word like flatten it sounds kind of big. No amount of work is too much
to make it right. Not even if you have to remake that side of the knife.
Ken.
 
Put the piece on a precision ground surface, and take a small lump of soft lead (large fishing weight) and whack it with a deadblow to pre-flatten it. Then use your flat lump of lead between your part and the hammer as a cushion. You want to use a hammer that has a large, mostly flat face. I discovered this trick in another life when I didn't have a lead hammer at hand, and it's come in handy quite a few times.

Alternately, a lead hammer, I happen to have one but they're not super common.
 
No Scales?

I glue the scales on after soldering bolsters. This makes a more ridged piece that is less likely to get bent.
 
Ok, ok. I knew I'd get the straight chicken from you guys.

I am running low on all my supplies, basically I'm out of canvas micarta and nickel silver liner material, or I might consider remaking that side.

I decided to go ahead and lap the liners on sand paper on my counter. I got them both very flat, flat enough that they want to stick to the counter. So, it will be ok this time. However, they were apparently more warped than I thought because the liner ends are a bit thinner than the middles. It is ok for this one, but I will have to make sure it doesn't happen again. I'm at the point where I will be chasing my tail trying to get it perfect. I usually mess it all up by not stopping when I'm ahead and trying to get it "just a little better." This time I'm listening to that little voice inside my head and stopping.

I guess I should have said in my original post, I have the bolsters soldered and the scales glued on and the pin up by the bolsters peened on as well. I was messing with one of the liners and accidentally bent the liner at the bolster/cover junction. Not bad, but enough that the previously seamless joint between bolster and cover is now slightly askew and you can feel the cover is slightly above the bolster.
 
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