How to customize old traditional knife?

G

GabeG

Joined
Oct 14, 2023
Messages
1
I own an old westaco jack knife and was wondering if it would be a good idea to replace the scales, what material I should use, and how I would replace them.

Currently it has an old yellow celluloid and I really like the history in how it has an I guess forgotten material used, or one too old for modern times. Ultimately I don’t know if it would be a good idea, I would be able to get the rust in places I haven’t been able to, but I don’t know how I would make new scales or new pins.

Is there somewhere I could send the knife to have it done, and what would be an older more historic material for the scales if I were to replace them
 
GabeG said:
I own an old westaco jack knife and was wondering if it would be a good idea to replace the scales, what material I should use, and how I would replace them.

Currently it has an old yellow celluloid and I really like the history in how it has an I guess forgotten material used, or one too old for modern times. Ultimately I don’t know if it would be a good idea, I would be able to get the rust in places I haven’t been able to, but I don’t know how I would make new scales or new pins.

Is there somewhere I could send the knife to have it done, and what would be an older more historic material for the scales if I were to replace them
Click to expand...
There are some members here who do re-covers. Hopefully someone will come along to either offer the service, or help guide you through the process yourself.

If it was a colorful celluloid, you might be able to use an acrylic pen blank to make new covers from. My local woodworking supply shop sells them - people turn them on lathes to make pen barrels.

I have used finishing nails as pins, but I’m just a hack, so wait for better advice to come along…
 
Celluloid is unstable. It can exude gas that will eat the knife, it can let go more violently and twist the knife by pulling on the handle pins, or it can sit there and do nothing until sometime after you're dead.
I've used finishing nails for pivot pins, but I can't see them for holding on handle covers.
An expert would remove the old scales and the brass pins, and peen new handles on with new pins. I did that once with some success and a lot of sorrow and pain.
Most people would pop off the celluloid and glue on new covers with epoxy or, I hear, superglue. Wood is a popular choice for handle material, but you can use anything you can shape.
I believe we have a list of craftspersons at the top of the page.
 
If you are handy, then this is certainly something you can do yourself. Here is a thread where I did a WIP mod with pictures.(starts on page 2) It started as a shell handle knife, so that's a little different then yours, but most of the steps will be the same for your knife.

WIP mod with pics
 
glennbad said:
If you are handy, then this is certainly something you can do yourself. Here is a thread where I did a WIP mod with pictures.(starts on page 2) It started as a shell handle knife, so that's a little different then yours, but most of the steps will be the same for your knife.

WIP mod with pics
Click to expand...

Ah man! I read your post and got pretty excited to see the thread.

Unfortunately all of the pictures have suffered the same fate at so many others here.... It happened recently and suddenly. Poof gone. Heaps of good information lost to the void.
 
RickHuf said:
Ah man! I read your post and got pretty excited to see the thread.

Unfortunately all of the pictures have suffered the same fate at so many others here.... It happened recently and suddenly. Poof gone. Heaps of good information lost to the void.
Click to expand...

That's weird, I can see all of them...
 
glennbad said:
That's weird, I can see all of them...
Click to expand...
I was curious too, to see your work on that. But I also can't see the images. If linked through photobucket as it appears when I hover on the placeholder link for the images, I suspect they might restrict viewing to only those with an active photobucket account (I'm speculating), and maybe only allowing viewing if the photos are sourced via your own account (maybe why only you're seeing them, I don't know).

I used to have a pb account, but don't use it anymore. They've become awfully picky about how/where/who gets to see content linked via their hosting site. A while back, I sifted through all of my old content on BF and removed all of my photo links to photobucket. Transferred everything to imgur instead and replaced all the links in my posts. Tedious as heck and took days to get it done. But no issues with imgur so far, since I've done that.
 
Last edited:
Okay, bizarre...I guess I'll have to roll up my sleeves and dive in the old fashioned way, UGH.
 
glennbad said:
Okay, bizarre...I guess I'll have to roll up my sleeves and dive in the old fashioned way, UGH.
Click to expand...
Just FYI, I also can't see the pictures but am curious about the process (especially from a master such as yourself) and would count the pictures as a necessary piece of this priceless information!

PS - Just consider this cheerleading if you do indeed decide to repair the thread!
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
You fixed that a lot faster than I might've assumed if I had tried to do the same. Looking at it now. Good Stuff. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Luckily I still had the pics handy. I just had to resize them all for upload, copy and paste all the text into new posts, and upload the pics. You know, easy as pie!!! (Now if only I could work on knives that quick...)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top