Loose wiggly blades

Gary W. Graley

Gary W. Graley

“Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Mar 2, 1999
Messages
28,005
Now, while this probably falls more under the tinkering area, figured those that might have a wiggly blade would be in this area and it's not an actual 'how to fix' but more a 'hey look, I beat the crap out of my bolster and it's ok' kinda thread ;)

And, that's basically what I did, in the What are you carrying traditional today I saw a nice looking peanut folder there and thought, that'd be nice, and then I remembered I had this smallish Frontier knife measuring at 2.8" long closed, sorta in the size range, probably not the same class, but, it'll do in a pinch.

BUT, it has had a rough life, it was given to me, wow a very long time ago and has sat in my knife drawer forever and didn't have much of a life in there, I'm always forgetting to take some before photos, just picture nasty rusted blades as they were not much to look at. I had left it there because the main blade had some severe side to side play, while the small pen blade was pretty good. I 'surmised' that the main blade tang had been ground a little too thin, it is thinner than the back spring so I figured no amount of banging on the bolster/pivot pin would help draw that in enough to help.

BUT, today I figured, why not take my ball peen hammer and just beat the crap out of it and see what comes out ;) and so I did, well I didn't sledge hammer it, I was moderately careful but I hammered it like I didn't care and frankly I didn't, which helped, as you can be too cautious in these kind of repairs I think.

After a few minutes of banging on the bolster, the blade was now fairly good !! so I cleaned up the blades of most of their rust and sanded down the bolsters so they had a nice pleasing brushed finish to them. Oiled the joints...as Charlie always recommends! and touched up the edges and we're good to go, new life to my small red headed step child of a folder...

Here are the after the beating and then sanding photos;

frontier.jpg


frontier2.jpg


So don't give up on your knives, I mean, whaddya gotta lose?? if you're not going to use it anyways, and you can't sell it in it's present condition, might as well go for it, worth a shot at this point.
G2
 
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Nice work:)

I like your brushed finish Gary, you can get a mirror finish too by working up to 1000 (ish) then polishing on a leather strop with some metal compound.

Sam
 
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Way to go Gary. Too often these easy remidies are overlooked. This certainly doesn't fall under Maintenance & Tinkering but rather right here and titled Peening and Polishing.:rolleyes:

Oh, that knife is a nice looking knife too. Very nice jigging and the shield is just perfect.
 
i live it, good work my friend. I bet you can inspire many a person to do this on their loosey-goosey knives :D
 
Ah yes, but if you own a wobbly Schrade, you can beat on it all you want and the blades will still wave at you in jest. Such was the craziness of the Swinden key construction.
 
Good to hear we're in perfect company ;) and yep, I could take those bolsters to an even finer finish but the satin is a lot easier to maintain, especially if you carry it in your pocket.
It's a dandy little folder, I'm sure it didn't cost much at the time, and it's one that I use to perform a magic trick with, as it's small and narrow enough that I can twist the knife over as I turn my hand so it 'appears' that both sides have the shield on there, and then presto I can make it disappear altogether as well :) I really like doing that with other peoples knives, after I show them they are amazed as they didn't realize it had it on both sides! I make the claim then that "wow this is probably worth a LOT of money having it on both sides like this!!" and then I hand it back and of course there is just the one side and they look surprised and I gasp "WHAT DID YOU DO?" you lost the other shield???? now it's not worth near as much...lol then I take it back and flip it again and say whew there it is, no problem...
G2
 
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I wrap the bolsters with a rag and use a vise. Every boker I've tightened up the bolsters either come apart from the liner so I use the head oh a finishing nail on bokers. Just tightened up my 47 case stockman yesterday.
 
Gary W. Graley said:
Good to hear we're in perfect company ;) and yep, I could take those bolsters to an even finer finish but the satin is a lot easier to maintain, especially if you carry it in your pocket.
It's a dandy little folder, I'm sure it didn't cost much at the time, and it's one that I use to perform a magic trick with, as it's small and narrow enough that I can twist the knife over as I turn my hand so it 'appears' that both sides have the shield on there, and then presto I can make it disappear altogether as well :) I really like doing that with other peoples knives, after I show them they are amazed as they didn't realize it had it on both sides! I make the claim then that "wow this is probably worth a LOT of money having it on both sides like this!!" and then I hand it back and of course there is just the one side and they look surprised and I gasp "WHAT DID YOU DO?" you lost the other shield???? now it's not worth near as much...lol then I take it back and flip it again and say whew there it is, no problem...
G2
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I think there needs to be a video of this. That sounds AWESOME!
 
Hah, well I'll see if I can get that captured on video, might enlist the help of one of my daughters...
G2
 
I've corrected the wobble in a number of old Imperial Schrade knives. I pull the covers off, then put the offending end in my vice. Gently squeeze until unwanted wobble is gone.
 
pinnah said:
Django, how do get the covers on and off? Pry and epoxy?
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These Schrades have covers that basically clip on. On each end, there is a metal tab that bends around and hugs the edge of the knife. You can bend the tab back a bit and slip the cover off. Bend back into place when putting back on.

That sounds less aggravating than it really is; it's a real pain to get a grip on the tab. It takes patience. And cursing. Whiskey helps.
 
I had a small two blade trapper with wiggly blade. It happened when I was using it to remove the little piece of stalk from some corn I was shucking. It was a custom, so I sent it to the maker to fix. I asked for domed pins, so I could tighten it up myself. I sent $25 even though the fix was supposed to be free.

I got it back, fixed, with the $25 check, but no domed pins. The fix was BS. The maker had taken the pivot pin out and put in a washer. So now my slipjoint, with relieved liners, has a washer on one side next to one scale. There's a gap between the spring and liner due to the washer. It's a two bladed trapper. I was not happy, but I put it off to me being too picky, since only a knife nut would notice.

Of course it loosened up soon enough. I was pissed to say the least. I covered in leather and put it on the anvil of the vise, gave it some good wacks, no go. I wasn't hitting the pin's top. Tried again, no go. Took off the leather, gave it some good whacks right on the pin...fixed it. However it severley goobered up the nickle silver bolster. The fix has lasted longer than the knife's original build or its repair by the maker.

The goobered up bolster reminds me that no matter how respected a custom maker is, nor how long he's been in business, there is no guarantee of quality.
 
ouch that sounds rough from the maker to you, as for the goobered up bolster, mine was pretty banged up, but some rockin' n rollin' on some sand paper put it back into shape, I imagine I wouldn't be able to do that too often but this beating I think has taught the knife a firm lesson ;)
G2
 
I took some sandpaper to it as well, but some were too deep for my lazy nature. It's shiny and polished, but scarred :)
 
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