Intentionall removeable scales?

[rict]

Hope this is in the right place; I wasn't sure where to put it...

I've made several sets of pistol grips for one of my semi-auto pistols. Because they are just held in place with screws, I can swap the grips out easily depending on my mood/needs.

I would like to do this same thing (have "swappable" scales) with an inexpensive fixed blade that I have, but I'm not sure screws/nuts are the best way to go. It looks like the Becker BK2 uses ordinary (?) screws/nuts to hold the scales in place, and the BK2 seems to be a knife that people commonly make their own scales for...would this same system be the best for my intentions, or is there a better fastener for this?

 

[phillipsted]

Rict - I find the best thing to use for "knock down" scales on a fixed blade is pivot bolts. Basically this is a threaded spacer with two pan-head machine screws. Buy some bolts that match the holes in your tang (e.g., 3/16", 1/4"). I use as few as two, but preferably three on a medium-sized fixed blade.

The trick to getting a tight fit is to drill the holes for the diameter of the bolt and tang-hole. Then, go back and counterbore the holes with a slightly bigger bit. This creates a shelf for the head of the screw to snug down against and pull the scales tight to the tang.

Good Luck!

TedP

 

[james terrio]

The problem with Becker-style bolts and hex nuts is, it's a bit tricky to cut a 6-sided pocket for the nut to sit in. I drill a round pocket just a hair bigger than the width of the nut across the flats, then use a small chisel to carve in the hex shape.

Chain ring bolts work well, too, and are very easy to use. They're just two pieces, no spacer inbetween. You can leave the heads proud, but it's better to countersink them so they sit flush.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

In converting an existing blade, pivot bolts or sex bolts ( Chicago screws and many other names) are what works.

 

[jdm61]

The problem with Becker-style bolts and hex nuts is, it's a bit tricky to cut a 6-sided pocket for the nut to sit in. I drill a round pocket just a hair bigger than the width of the nut across the flats, then use a small chisel to carve in the hex shape.

Chain ring bolts work well, too, and are very easy to use. They're just two pieces, no spacer inbetween. You can leave the heads proud, but it's better to countersink them so they sit flush.

I have used those chain bolts and in the future, I will probably use something more like a pivot bolt (not a stand off and two screws) with round head torx setup. The chain bolts can be grabby on the hand and any slot head screw will eventually get boogered up no matter how careful you are. Plus, crap gets down in the center of those chain bolts.

 

[rict]

Terrific; thanks to you all for the info.

I've used Chicago screws before (to adjust tension) on my Kydex holsters, so that's what I'll probably use for this project.

I'd seen pictures of knives with the chain bolts (but didn't know what they were called) & I like the look of them, but if they are "grabby on the hand", that wouldn't be good. I had never heard of pivot bolts before, but I'll have to check those out.

I did countersink the holes (with a slightly bigger bit) on the simple wooden scales I'm using to experiment on how to shape the grips, since they are just held on with "hardware store" nuts/bolts of the right size. I'll replace those with some nice homemade micarta scales & Chicago screws for the final product.