John Primble camp knife help!!

[sweetT019]

Well fellers, i will get right to it.
I have had this John Primble camp knife for as long as i can remember but never used or carried it because the bail and pin had been ground off and the knife is falling apart.

Here is what i am talking about





It has nice covers and the blades are mostly full



I even bought some lanyard bails





With my peanut and class ring



it is a nice knife. I would love to have it ready take on my daily knife chores, but the pen blade and bottle opener are unusable.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix it?
I think it would need a new pin and then put the bail on.

I would really like make this knife a user, it seems perfect.
I have never tried to replace a pin in a knife and don't know how hark it would be or if i could even do it.
I want to get 'er fixed up though.

 

[Peregrin]

I think this one belongs in Maintenance Tinkering and Embellishment.

 

[paulhilborn]

Sweet, it's certainly fixable :thumbup: And it's not to intense a project at that. You can by some pin stock online. Use the correct size punch and use a hammer to punch out the existing pin. Clamp the end that's spread open with a padded vise and hammer/tap the new pin stock thru. Slip on the new bail.

Use a wire nip to remove the excess pin sticking thru, leaving an 1/8 to a 1/16th of an inch of pin remaining on each side. Hammer/peen the pin and sand to a desired finish of your choice.

I've done this on several slip joints and I remember the first time being somewhat intimidating, each time after that it got easier and easier.

The key is to make slight adjustment, I'd insert the new pin while the knife is clamped while constantly opening and closing the blades for that sweet spot so it will open and close normally---obviously to much pressure will make the blade near impossible to open or close. If the pressure is to great you can tweak by using a large flat blade screwdriver and ever so slightly inserting in between the liners and twisting to spread the knife apart slightly to find that sweet spot.

I personally would leave the bail off and after peening the pins sand the pins (using a progressive assortment of higher grit wet/dry sandpaper) to blend flawlessly into the bolsters:thumbup: I certainly understand putting the bail on to keep the knife in an original state.

This method most certainly works but I hope others while chime in with their method as well.

Search for "how to" videos also. I think it's always nice to see a visual tutorial

Good luck and just know this can be done yourself :thumbup:

Feel free to drop me an email and I'll pass along my cell number if you have questions and would like to give me a call. I have info on the pin stock also.

Paul

 

[mtangent]

I have put the pin in first, then tighten the clamp. Tighten the clamp a little at a time, as it gets close to final, & move the blades around as Paul describes.