Knife modding by committee/GAW

[HeathH]

Is the other spring different enough to allow it to close properly? Ide hate to see it lose any of its length, maybe grind the spring itself and a tad of the belly of the blade to clear it? Drill new rear holes and grind the spring the clear entirely? Brass liner turned out great, thats the spirit!!!!

Matt

Both springs are equally bad. I think it's the basic fitment that's off. It seems almost like they put the wrong blade onto the knife. I haven't tried to get a picture of it, but the main blade had worn a deep groove in the backspring where the tang was rubbing it. The corners are very rounded off on the halfstop. Seems like it was opened and closed a lot without lube. If I swap the springs, both blades have acceptable snap... but I'm still going to need to solve the blade rap problem.

Drilling new holes is a good idea... but then I'd have to put new walnut on because the holes would be off. When I saw the mark on the backspring from the blade impacting it, I figured I could just grind a bit off of the spring. I had no idea the fitment would be off so badly though! it's kind of ridiculous. I think I'm going to pursue the stop pin method, it seems like the cleanest solution. I think I can place it so the pin falls right in the sharpening choil. I don't think the kick will hit it on opening. I'm going to have to play around with it a little bit.

Wow, HeathH you’re making great progress! I’m enjoying seeing the intermediate steps as you complete them. Thanks for taking the time to record, share, and explain the process.

Thanks sir! Once I get the stop pin sorted out, I think I'm ready to pin it together and start selecting a winner. I am going to order up some smaller steel pin stock for the stop pin, however, I was going to just use a nail, but that feels cheap and seems like more of a short term solution. Once I get the pin in, I will post updates of that process.

Thanks to everyone for the patience. Allegedly my jeweler's saw will get in tomorrow... looking forward to playing with that!

 

[Lostball]

Where in the world have I been??? I had seen this thread but didn't pay much attention as I usually just look at a certain few. But this one is awesome. If it's not too late I'm in. Thank you sir and thank you for all the great pictures and information along the journey! Great stuff!!!

 

[Hickory n steel]

Bumping this thread.

 

[HeathH]

Stalled! Sorry guys, although I did add the disclaimer that it might take me a while!

Did some work on it tonight... I increased the pull strength from about a 1 on the main blade to about a 4. It's passable now. I've never managed to add tension to a backspring without breaking it, so I'm pretty excited about that. Also, I got the stop pin added!



Gradual progress, but progress none the less

 

[traumkommode]

Nice, Heath! How'd you add the tension?

 

[HeathH]

I put the end of the spring that interfaces with the blade into a vice, then I lightly bent the spring back toward myself over the course of a few minutes. I think I was able to get away with it because the material is so soft on this knife, but I'll take it! Next time I have the knife apart I will take a picture of the tang of the pen blade vs the master. It really shows how half stops can wear over time... The spring provided great tension on the pen blade, the main is just so worn that there wasn't any snap left to it.