The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Cool to see this post of yours way back when. With the 55 you just posted in the fb group not long aho talking about how it is your most used gecs. 7 years later and it looks better than ever hahaIll add a few pics of my own
I just like this one
A few photo's that get to the point
Absolutely beautiful!
Looks pretty cool to me on the bullet end knives...and I find it useful. Form AND function!
Joe Schmoe here, if one were inclined they could do this project with the tools in this picture if you wanted or any other blade deletes or swaps. PS don’t ever try to drill out the pins, you can start it with a drill to give the punch something to grab but the drill will go off center real fast and you start drilling through stuff you really want to still have. Also if it isn’t an all steel knife substitute the nails with nickel silver round stock that is larger than what you need and file it down. I’ve never found round stock the right size for GEC knives. 2.2+ mm is the closest drill bit size but also very hard to find.
Hey Josh, good to see you around here
It is fun for me to go back and see my old posts and pics as well. Amazing some of the ones I stupidly let go of lol
This was only the second mod I did, prior to this one which is the same knife as the first one but the first time I did it I kept the blade forum blade and added a spey and cap lifter. Before these the only thing I had done was fix some blade wobble. I also didn’t have the file when I did these and used the diamond side of a fallkniven sharpener to size the nails to use as pins. The only reason I’m saying this is that I think people can do more of these things than they think they can, and I think they should. I bugs me when people just say oh I can’t do that I need too many tools or whatever other reason that shouldn’t be a roadblock. More better tools have only saved time and my shoulder from all the extra sanding. And the only power tools I’ve added are a Dremel which wasn’t the first but I would tell anyone to get that first, a 4x36 belt sander, a hand drill and a drill press. A blade swap/delete is simpler tool wise since you are not doing anything with covers (hopefully) you don’t need a saw or vise or whatever. I pound out the pins on a piece of old scrap wood on my basement floor, I think I drilled a small hole to put the pin over for it to go through more easily, you have to be careful when you pick it up because if the pin is in the wood but also still in the frame you have basically nailed the knife scale to the wood and it can bend the knife scale if you pick it up anything other than straight and gently. I’ve used the same piece of wood since I started so it has plenty of knife shaped dents in it to cradle the knives and keep them from slipping around or turning which can make things difficult. A lot of people say to cut through the pins with a razor blade, that’s not a bad way but it’s not how I started doing it so it’s usually my second go to but it works fine if you’re careful and it reduces the chances you’ll break a scale while disassembling but you can’t cut through steel pins that way. If you are doing a blade delete and it has domed pins on the knife you’ll probably want to cut through those unless you can get rid of the dome without damaging the scales which is doable with a dremel. After it’s disassembled if you cut through the pins you have to get them out of each side of the knife so you would take out any hardware that will come out, blades springs and liners then you want to cut the pins down as much as possible and file them flat as well and tap them out from the inside I don’t drill out pins but at this point you probably could as you wouldn’t be going through much material for it to get off center. Some folks also drill the holes in the knife to fit the pin stock, which is fine but I think it can change the pull on the knife. You’ll then want to size whatever pins you are using to fit the holes.
EngrSorenson
I don’t think GEC used anything proprietary when I was there they had their pin stock out and it didn’t appear special and also it seems that different knives have different sized holes drilled and sometimes it even seems the bolster hole is a different size than the handle holes which are different sizes than the blade holes. I always try to fit everything together with the largest pins possible to fit in the existing holes but that pin will fit through the bolster but then not through the blade then when it fits through that blade it won’t fit through the other so more has to be taken off at which point it might be way too small for the center spring or but end, so I just make each pin individually and keep it where it was made for. I gave up a while ago trying to figure it out. Once the pins are all size put the knife together with all three pins through and one piece at a time spring first. On GEC knifes the punch out the blades so that one side of the kick is usually rounded and one side is more straight I put the knife together so that the straight part goes in first so I can use it to catch the spring and the push the blade down into what will be the well which pushes the spring into position and you can the push the tang into position while the spring is out of the way and when you let go everything will be in position you can the pit the other scale on top which usually requires putting two pins through first then pushing the other into position before placing it on because the spring tension moves them around. I usually tap the pins through with a small bell pien hammer to make sure they are as tight as possible and usually on the sized pins on side is a little thinner than the other, then cut the pins file them flat with some still sticking out on each end usually once you’ve cut the pin as close to the bolster or scales as possible if you just file enough to flatten the pin then the right amount will still be sticking out. You then need to peen all the pins I always put something in the blade well to keep it from narrowing while peening everything, usually scrap metal or a spring from another knife, I think this is more important than putting something between the tang and bolster to keep a gap there you can always loosen a blade that’s too tight but you can’t open up a blade well that’s too narrow. I peen the center pin first, again to keep that blade well as open as possible, then the but end pin, and finally the blade pin. I have the flat sided hammer in the picture because that was what I originally used as an anvil putting the square end on the basement floor and leaning the handle on the floor to keep it upright and tapping on the round end as the anvil, all you need is some piece of hardened metal to use as an anvil it could be anything. Then file off the excess and sand it as appropriate if it’s a blade delete there’s not much more to it maybe evening out where the liners and spring meet, if it’s a blade swap you may or may not want to sand down the springs to be even, I say may or may not because sanding or grinding anything between the center pin and the blade pin will weaken the pull of the knife so you have to decide for yourself and there can sometimes be significant differences in the springs of the same model so that a lot has to be taken off to have smooth back springs. Sorry for the long post to those who just want to talk about GEC’s new releases, I’m also hoping for a new caplifter knife. If anyone has any questions about modding you can feel free to PM me or better yet post them in the “modified production knives traditional only” thread.sharp bit, better yet a machinists center bit, go slow till the bit grabs, you won’t go off center.
I’m certain you’re right about that. I was more saying that to fully drill out a pin from a knife is next to impossible to do well as the other end of the knife is most likely round as well and therefore almost impossible to hold straight, level, and plumb for almost any distance let alone all the way through two bolsters and how ever many blades. I have a drill press but nothing to hold anything other than my left hand which is not suitable for the job, my right isn’t either. But even if I could hold it perfectly still or had something to do it, it would probably be next to impossible to get it straight to start with. That requires more skill and equipment than I’ll ever have. It’s like an artist drawing a perfect circle.
You wont like the answer
There is no need to drill the entire pin, you only need to remove the head, the part that’s been peened to create an interference fit, once that’s done the pin will drive out easily.
Also, if for some bizarre reason you are trying to drill through, drill halfway thru, turn the piece over and drill from the other side, you have a much better chance of meeting in the center than hoping to drill from one side. As always, mark your centers carefully, smaller bit, make sure it’s sharp, use a cutting lubricant and go slow. A machinist vise can go a long way in keeping the knife plumb if you are careful setting it up, much better than hand held!
You wont like the answer
Aside from the 79, my first ebony Charlow and ebony presidential top the list. My 47 viper as well
I agree 100%.
