Folding knife repair

S

Sean Thornton

Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Messages
4
My daughter is a Senior Girl Scout and asked me for a pocket knife. I found a 1950s vintage Girl Scout knife by Kutmaster that is excellent shape except that the spring that holds the main blade open doesn't seem to be doing it's job well.

Is there a shop that will repair old pocket knives or is this something that I can attempt on my own? If the second option, where can I get parts or instructions?
 
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Sean
Parts are not available, unless from another knife. There are no stores that repair knives. So I guess you would have to pay an old fart like myself $50/HR to repair it. It may be cheaper just to get another knife. Let me know if I can help.
Bill
 
Sean Thornton said:
My daughter is a Senior Girl Scout and asked me for a pocket knife. I found a 1950s vintage Girl Scout knife by Kutmaster that is excellent shape except that the spring that holds the main blade open doesn't seem to be doing it's job well.
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It sounds like you need to tighten the pin up on the hinge for that blade. Sometimes you can smack it a few times with a hammer and your fine. The other thing you could do would be to replace the back spring, but that would get a lot more involved. You would almost have to take the scale off on at least one side, in order to get that pin out of there. It is very difficult trying to drill that pin out of there, with the handle still on the knife. But if you remove the scale on at least one side, then you can cut the pin off and pound it out of there in a few min.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Parts are not available, unless from another knife.
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There are plenty of camping knives around to get parts from. They are more common then electrician knives.
 
If you have to ask, you can't do it yourself. Only good advice I see is from Bill. Might be better to buy a new one that she can use with confidence. Save the old one for her collection.
 
A hobbyist may be your best bet. It is not difficult to make the needed parts, but it can be expensive to use a professional. If the repair cost exceeds the value of the knife, then a hobbyist is the only way to go. I would love to be able to help people out fixing knives of this sort, but it would not be economically feasible for me to do so. Consequently, I get to work on some really neat and rare pieces!
All "camping knife" parts are not the same. To use a replacement part would require the part to be exactly like the old one. Part specifications can vary even within the same manufacturer. I will be glad to explain how to repair any knife with the most basic tools. Doing it this way is a lot of work, though.
Bill DeShivs
 
John
Perhaps you can repair the gentleman's knife? You seem to know an awful lot about it.
Bill
 
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