Hawkbill does not fully close

A

Amestron

Joined
Apr 3, 2015
Messages
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Hi, guys!
I just got a Case XX hawkbill from eBay and it does not close completely, as you can see in the pics. It looks like the spring is somewhat unadjusted. Is there an affordable fix for this? A DIY solution, I mean. I have tried to put it on a vise but it does not help too much.

Thanks in advance for your help!

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The picture isn't showing up for me. Are you hosting the picture on a third site like Photobucket like you're supposed to?
 
Amestron said:
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That sunken backspring^ is a clue. Blades that don't 'snap' shut or close fully on their own are sometimes due to heavy wear between the blade tang and the end of the backspring. Normally, on a healthy knife with no wear, the end of the spring should always keep tension applied to the tang of the blade, which is what pulls the blade as it's rotated toward the handle, into a fully closed position. The end of the spring should also sit flush, or very nearly flush, with the liners, when the blade is closed. If there's enough wear between the two, that tension can no longer work to do it's job. As deeply as the spring is sunk below flush with the liners, I'd bet there's some wear in there, probably a lot; either the tang or the spring, or both. Look directly into the bolster end, so you can see the contact between the two; you might even see a gap, with lots of play/movement between the tang and the spring.

Another possibility might be if that knife is some sort of a homemade rebuild, putting parts of different knives together (blade from one knife, into a handle & spring from a different knife), with a bad fit between the two. The 'brightly' visible pivot pin looks almost too obvious, and might indicate the knife was disassembled and rebuilt with a new pivot pin, at some point.


David
 
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Thanks, David
In theory the blade is a mint Case Hawkbill, and doesn't look too used. I must accept then that it is probably a defective one with no easy fix, if any, right?

Thanks again for the answer.
 


This is the ad's pic. It really shows the bright pin you told me. A bad deal, it is. Anyway...
 
Amestron said:
Thanks, David
In theory the blade is a mint Case Hawkbill, and doesn't look too used. I must accept then that it is probably a defective one with no easy fix, if any, right?

Thanks again for the answer.
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I think 'no easy fix' sums it up. If the knife is still functional anyway, I'd just make a user of it.

The blade's date stamp indicates 1990, which seems newer than the handle & shield appears. Maybe it was a 'fix' of some sort, perhaps to replace a damaged blade from what might be an older knife. In fact, the bolsters and liners appear to be steel/iron, which I don't recall seeing on 1990s-vintage knives from Case (or maybe even '80s/'70s, for that matter). Everything I've seen from Case, at least from 1970s and forward, has had nickel bolsters and either nickel or brass liners on them. In searching the web for iron-bolstered knives from Case, the only reference I see is for a knife made prior to 1940.

Edited to add:
One thing you might consider, to get the blade to close a bit more, is to file the 'kick' on the lower portion of the ricasso, just behind the cutting edge. With the new blade in the knife, it looks like there's plenty of the kick to take a little from it. If there's room in the bladewell for the blade to drop without hitting the backspring, that might at least get the blade's edge fully inside the handle. The backspring would likely sink more from doing that, and/or you might give up more 'snap' in the closing, if it's not already too weak. If it's already weak, I'd likely not file the kick anymore, as it'll just make it weaker.


David
 
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That's very, very interesting. I will try and keep you updated. You really know a lot about Case knives. I'm impressed.

Thanks once again!
 
Well, I finally tried your solution and worked like a charm! Now the Case Hawkbill frankenstein is fully functional and safe to use.

Thanks so much for your help!!
 
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