Milwaukee Fastback Utility Knife Mod Question

R

RedWolf4

Joined
Oct 20, 2019
Messages
181
Hi all,

First off not even sure if this is the right section of bladeforums to post this kind of question. I couldn't find a mod specific subforum. Please let me know if this question is not appropriate here. Also - This is a weird question which I don't expect anyone to be able to help me with but maybe someone can, so I'll ask anyway.

I had a milwaukee fastback utility knife for one of my jobs for a couple years until I lost it. I beat the crap out of that thing and it kept on going. Now I don't currently need an exacto knife for anything right now, as I'm not in that industry. However, saw one for really cheap at home depot today, so what the hell I picked one up. I was thinking it would be cool to put in a real knife blade in the handle. I'm thinking a hawkbill, sheepsfoot or wharncliffe blade. Now, I'm of course aware I could just buy the Milwaukee fastback hawkbill and the end result would be very similar. Except that model uses a button lock for detent, and liner lock for opened lock position. I like the utility fastback as it uses a button lock for both open and closed positions. I dislike liner locks, and honestly I enjoy modding things like this. (And I want a better steel than the Milwaukee hawkbill).

In terms of blades that could work, I'm thinking it either has to be a knife that was already a button lock (and I could dremel the size of the button cutout in the tang to fit the Milwaukee handle), or some other type of folding knife blank with a rounded tang so I could again dremel out the cutout for the button. Ideally the less dremeling I would have to do the better. My question is, is anyone aware of hawkbill, sheepsfoot or wharncliffe blades that would fit in the milwaukee handle relatively easily without too much metal removal? I was looking at the Boker automatics like the kalishnikov for example (they just sell them as manuals without coil springs here in Canada). Also of course the pivot size would have to be somewhat similar as well. Ideally something where I can buy just the blade without the rest of the knife, and not too expensive.

I know this is a pretty big stretch to expect someone to know specific blades that will fit this bill, if there even are any, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

Thanks
 
There are so many variables that I don't think it will work. You could take all the measurements and post them and see if anyone else wants to take apart their knives and check if they match. . . But no likelihood you can purchase just the blade.

You will not be able to cut a clean circular track in a hardened steel tang using a Dremel.

It would be a lot easier to find an existing button lock knife that you could modify to your liking, than what you are contemplating. Civivi Altus or Chevalier, & Kizer swayback might be good options.
 
Last edited:
Most more permanent blades that you could modify are much thicker than the Stanley disposable blades.

Really the only advantage to this type of knife is that the blades are easily changed and disposable.
 
Few months ago, I bought the Milwaukee hawkbill, and modded the blade first thing. Slimmed it down, thinned the edge, swedged it. Used it on the job for about a week, and liked it. But long term, I couldn’t get used to opening it with the button and closing it with the liner lock.

If I still had time to play with it, I’d get both Milwaukees and try to swap parts. They might not interchange, and it wouldn’t improve the blade steel, but it would be a cheap experiment.

Parker
 
Thanks for the replies guys, ya I figured this likely is less than doable. Ya good point dremeling hardened steel will not be an easy task. Maybe if I could find a button lock that almost perfectly matches the cutout size. eveled eveled I disagree. While the exacto blades are much thinner, the piece that holds them is similar stock to a knife blade. C catspa ya I dont know why they went with button liner combo its weird I dont like it either. The only problem with using Milwaukee's hawkbill would be lack of a cutout for the button in open position, it would take a lot of metal removal to put that in and would be very difficult to do cleanly.

Ya so this is not gonna be easy lol but I wanna try this anyway for fun. I'll see if I can't figure it out somehow and I'll post here if I do somehow do this. I'm taking it as a bit of a challenge
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top