How do I replace Buck 110 scales?

P

Prometheus

Joined
May 6, 2007
Messages
2
Hello all,

I am new to this forum, and a newbie bladesmith (actually, more of an ornimental blacksmith who plays with 1095 every so often.)

I've got a Buck 110c folder that I've had for many years now, and it's a great knife. Recently, I purchased a stunning bit of stabilized birch burl that would look great on it. Carving the new scales is no problem, but I have never tried to remove the scales from a finished folding knife like this. Since I'm so fond of this old blade, I figure it'd be best to ask around before just jumping in on the project. I have some experience peening rivets and many other metal and woodworking techniques, I just don't want to mess this one up.

I *am* aware that working on this knife myself will void Buck's warranty, and that is a risk that I am just going to have to take- I don't subject it to a lot of abuse, and I can't imagine that I'm going to break it anytime soon.

So, is there a non-destructive way to remove the old scales? If so, can I purchase replacement rivets and/or reuse the old ones? If there is no way to remove them without destroying them, how can I deal with the silver pin that acts as a pivot for the lock, and attach the new scales?

I would assume that a new set of scales could be epoxied- but am not sure if any old two-part epoxy would work, or if there is a specific product that is suggested for this job.

Any advice on this project would be greatly appreciated! If there is no good way to do this, I can always use the burl for some other project.
 
I have replace scales on a dozen or so Buck 110's so far, The first time I did it, I worked with a Case knife and I took a bunch of photos then saved them on the web, as a tutorial, in case anyone wanted to see how I did it. The Buck and the Case knives are similar; the Buck is a little heavier and a little thicker than the Case, but the way they are made is very similar. Here is the link to my tutorial:

http://pages.suddenlink.net/superdave/

good luck. It's really pretty easy.

regards,
Super Dave
 
Hey- thanks for the tutorial Dave!

Looks simple enough- would I be right in assuming that the pins you used were for decorative purposes only, or did you actually epoxy them in place and use the pins to hold in the scales?

If they're just decorative, I may as well skip that bit, and leave a nice smooth burl handle in place.
 
Great tutorial Dave. On a point of order, it is a 'spine' as in 'backbone', not a 'spline' as in the grooves on a shaft (motorcycle kickstart lever for example).
 
I just use the mosaic pins as decoration. The scales are kept in place with epoxy. This is a non-reversable process, however. If you ever expect to want to disassemble the knife at a later date. you should use peened pins and do not epoxy the scales. I always epoxy my scales, which voids Buck's Lifetime warranty. 10-4 on spine vs. spline
 
Super Dave said:
I have replace scales on a dozen or so Buck 110's so far, The first time I did it, I worked with a Case knife and I took a bunch of photos then saved them on the web, as a tutorial

http://pages.suddenlink.net/superdave/
Click to expand...

Hi Dave! It's been over ten years since you posted the above link to a tutorial on changing out Case scales. Understandably, the link appears to no longer work. Might you still have the tutorial available somewhere else?

Thank you for your time.

Blessings!

Lee


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The link is from 9 1/2 years ago, from a poster who has not logged in since 2008. This ancient thread should not have been resurrected.
 
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