Hoffritz mod for Willgoy

glennbad

glennbad

Knife Moddin' Fool
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jan 13, 2003
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William contacted me some time back about doing a mod on a knife of his. He had this great Hoffritz 2 blade knife, but wasn't too crazy about the factory covers. After some back and forth, Will decided on some smooth ivory bone. He also agreed to a new shield.

He asked me to post pictures for him...


Before





and some progress pics





And some pics of the final product








This build was not without its' drama. I realized when finishing the knife that the bone was pretty porous, more-so than I was used to, and the pores were loading up with the polishing compound. I tried everything I could to work it out. I'm sure there is some cool technique that I haven't learned yet to avoid that. With much apprehension I sent the knife to Will, explaining my concern and offering restitution if he didn't like the look. To my relief, he actually liked the look of it. Maybe he was trying to make me feel better, who knows. I did really like the overall look of the finished knife, and I figured with age and handling, the bone would color some anyway.

Great knife, with a single spring and catch bit for the small blade, crazy crisp snap. I was kinda hoping Will would let me keep it and build him something else, LOL! Anyways, thanks to Will for letting me work on it.

Glenn
 
That's a nice looking knife Glenn - good job. Will can carry itwith pride. I don't have an answer for you about the polishing compound - maybe one of the other knifemakers will have the solution.
 
Great job done Glenn. Will is lucky to have this nicely restored knife.

Mike

Edit - I appreciate the fact that you didn't mirror polished the blades and left their true personality, only a bit cleaner
 
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Very nice work Glenn! I actually very much like the look of porous bone when its loaded up with polishing compound, kinda gives it a textured look. Good stuff! :thumbup:
 
Great work, as always Glenn, you've really retained the character of the knife I think. Nice knife Will, congratulations :thumbup:

Jack
 
Glenn, I really am pleased with the outcome, top of the favourites pile.:thumbup:

This has nice thick bone handles, no skimpy stuff here at all, and the smoothing and radiusing are very impressive. As for the pores, it looks much more pronounced in your pictures than it does in the hand and I'm telling you Glenn, you are in good company with this one. All my GEC white or ivory bone knives have the same effect. It changes as the bone yellows with age, all good.

The pattern is one I'm very taken with, a large Serp Pen is the best way I can describe it. Single spring, sabre ground Clip master about 3.5" closed so just the right size for my tastes, single-springs are my main line too. Glenn did a lot of work re-fitting this knife and I'm very grateful for the outcome, thanks also for the comments everybody. He does a grand job.

I'm soon offering a 9K giveaway (not this one mind!) but it all depends if I can find somebody to photo the knives....watch this space:D:eek:

Thanks, W
 
Nice work, Glenn! Thanks for posting your progress pics. I found it interesting to see how you left a lot of extra material hanging over the frame while pinning the knife together. I assume this is to prevent cracks while peening the spring pin?
 
puukkoman said:
Nice work, Glenn! Thanks for posting your progress pics. I found it interesting to see how you left a lot of extra material hanging over the frame while pinning the knife together. I assume this is to prevent cracks while peening the spring pin?
Click to expand...

Whether it actually accomplishes that or not, in my mind it does give a little more meat there. Also, sometimes when peening, I miss the pin. If there was very little overhang there, I might chip off a piece, so that is my reason for doing that. It may be an extra step that makes for additional work, but so far, it has worked well for me.

Thanks,
Glenn
 
Glenn, I wanted to contact about maybe tinkering with an old case ive acquired but can't seem to find any way to email you. Its probably because I'm using my phone. What is your contact info?
 
garykentjr said:
Glenn, I wanted to contact about maybe tinkering with an old case ive acquired but can't seem to find any way to email you. Its probably because I'm using my phone. What is your contact info?
Click to expand...

Gary, I left you a message...
 
Great knife, great work. Seems like I have seen a Bulldog or other rebranded Olbertz in that pattern somewhat recently. Glenn, you dont happen to tighten up Swinden keys do you?
 
Looks like new pivot pins- did you take it apart in order to peen the handles, or was there something else going on? (This is ignorance talking, not criticism, just to be clear.)
 
Mark, it has been my experience that Swinden keys do not really lend themselves well to adjustment. What I have done on them is usually is to remove the swinden assembly and re-pin them as a normal knife.

Scr, the entire knife was taken apart. I haven't gotten any good yet at pinning covers on an assembled knife. I also did some modification to the bolsters, as they were cast, and somewhat hollow underneath. I ended up filling them to make them more solid.



* Update on this knife - I was contacted by Will a few weeks ago, and there are some issues that came up with it. There are stress cracks appearing on the bone at the pivot pin (center spring pin). This was through no fault of Will's. I had concern that something like this might happen. When I originally worked on the knife, I noticed that the brass liners were extremely thin and flexible. I didn't want to replace them at the time, as I wanted to leave the knife as original as possible. The cracks could be from my workmanship, but my thoughts are that because the snap is so stout on the knife, and the thin liners, that perhaps that pin is absorbing that shock from the snap and that is leading to the stress cracks. Will is sending the knife back to me, and if he allows, I will post pics of my rework on it.

This is the first knife that I have had to fix anything on (that I know of). I do appreciate the great comments from you all, but it would be wrong of me to accept them without acknowledging these issues that have come up.

Glenn
 
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