How to straighten the shield

E

ErikMB

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Jul 27, 2017
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I just bought a great Parker Frost gunboat canoe knife - it's gorgeous! However, the shield is sticking out and I would like to repair it. Looking on the inside gutter, I cannot see any evidence of a pin. I suspect the shield is glued on and that the glue has expanded on one end and shrunk on the other.

Does anyone know how to fix this? Maybe heat it up and press it in straight? But without damaging the bone scales?

Pry it out and clean the area with something sharp and pointy?parkerfrost.jpgparkerfrost1.jpg
 
I'd try a heat gun. The less heat the better, and try to keep it as concentrated as possible on the area of the shield, not on the whole knife.

I can't tell from the pics but the hole might not have been milled large enough. If that's the case, after removing the shield I would carefully carve out the hole a little more with a very sharp, small blade.

Or it's possible the person installing the shield just wasn't paying close enough attention and didn't push it all the way in.
 
If it's glued in, a little bit of acetone allowed to weep into the recess might loosen it enough to pry it out. Some glues and even epoxies can be loosened up or cleaned up with acetone.

Those covers look more like stag to me, BTW.
 
Thanks for the advice, guys! D David , I think you are right about it being stag, but I am also a bit confused. Stag means deer antlers, yes? And those are solid bone, right?

This is different from ram's horn, no? The ram's horn I have handled is a bit softer, squishier, giving me the impression it is made of skin or hair, like a rhino's horn. Is this correct? Or am I totally confused? LOL
 
ErikMB said:
Thanks for the advice, guys! D David , I think you are right about it being stag, but I am also a bit confused. Stag means deer antlers, yes? And those are solid bone, right?

This is different from ram's horn, no? The ram's horn I have handled is a bit softer, squishier, giving me the impression it is made of skin or hair, like a rhino's horn. Is this correct? Or am I totally confused? LOL
Click to expand...
'Stag' is antlers, yes. Think of deer or elk anlters. But it's a different material than bone entirely - not the same. I get the impression that stag is generally more porous and not as hard as bone. And stag can also be prone to shrinking, warping with changes in humidity, whereas bone seems much more stable.

If you do manage to get the shield out, I'd suggest using epoxy for replacing it. I have one stag-covered folder from Case that had a persistent problem with the shield falling out. First from the factory, with whatever glue they used. And I'd tried using a gel-type superglue (cyanoacrylate) to fix that - it held for awhile, but then the shield fell out again. Next time around, I used two-part epoxy. And it's held on so far. I've suspected that the porous nature of the stag tended to suck up too much of the other glues tried - and didn't hold. But the epoxy is much thicker / viscous and seems better-suited to stag for this application.

And I think ram's horn is essentially like the stuff our fingernails are made of. Different again, from either bone or stag.
 
Use a sharp knife to dig into the exposed end of the shield and pry it out.
Do whatever is necessary to level the hole and glue it back in.
Scales on that knife are stag-deer antler.
Most bone used on knives is cow shin bone
 
You guys are wonderful. Thanks heaps and a very merry Christmas and a new year filled with good fortune!
 
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