My first real mod

Misplaced Hillbilly

Misplaced Hillbilly

Joined
May 16, 2018
Messages
4,183
nmnvj9.jpg
23k6dc.jpg

Sad shrunken covers.This fella was made to serve his country as a Navy/Coastguard utility knife, those covers are unbecoming. Lets see it we can't restore some of this fella's dignity.
2i9mnpe.jpg
10pratc.jpg
152dhl5.jpg
25i6h3q.jpg
t5ki39.jpg

There, now after wearing those worn out utilities he gets to wear his dress whites.
2v0h63q.jpg

Pic with his brother who went to the Army.
iodzc5.jpg

Page of a 1946(?) Catalog I found in another thread showing both knives, Navy knife 3rd from top, Army knife 4th from bottom.
dggymd.jpg

The antler that waited 2 years for this moment.
First I removed the old pieces, found that near the bolsters was little sharp tabs punched from the liner to be the "pins" there. 4 on each side. I simply cut those off with a dremel. Next I cut down the center pin and peened both sides. Then I cut the antler to slightly over length. Then split it with a hacksaw after scoring a center line with the dremel cutoff wheel. I next trimmed the pieces to fit length wise, as you can see the antler was nearly perfect width wise. I used a piece of 100 grit flat on a table to make the back side of my covers flat and flush. I used the dremel to bore divets s on the back side to clear the peened center pin. Then I epoxied and clamped the covers on. After 4 long hours lol, I removed the clamps and used a sanding drum on the dremel to shape the covers. There was a couple small places where due to the size antler I had that the liner was a little proud of the covers. I sanded them flush as well. Sanded my work smooth but being careful to leave the natural scratches and character to the antler. 600 grit, then polished with 1500 grit.
BIG THANKS!! To all the support and encouragement of my fellow porch members.
Special thanks to glennbad glennbad for modding inspiration, also special thanks to r8shell r8shell for modding inspiration and for inspiring me to look at knives I might otherwise have passed by. Thanks y'all for giving new life to old blades!
 
Last edited:
Misplaced Hillbilly said:
nmnvj9.jpg
23k6dc.jpg

Sad shrunken covers.This fella was made to serve his country as a Navy/Coastguard utility knife, those covers are unbecoming. Lets see it we can't restore some of this fella's dignity.
2i9mnpe.jpg
10pratc.jpg
152dhl5.jpg
25i6h3q.jpg
t5ki39.jpg

There, now after wearing those worn out utilities he gets to wear his dress whites.
2v0h63q.jpg

Pic with his brother who went to the Army.
iodzc5.jpg

Page of a 1946(?) Catalog I found in another thread showing both knives, Navy knife 3rd from top, Army knife 4th from bottom.
dggymd.jpg

The antler that waited 2 years for this moment.
First I removed the old pieces, found that near the bolsters was little sharp tabs punched from the liner to be the "pins" there. 4 on each side. I simply cut those off with a dremel. Next I cut down the center pin and peened both sides. Then I cut the antler to slightly over length. Then split it with a hacksaw after scoring a center line with the dremel cutoff wheel. I next trimmed the pieces to fit length wise, as you can see the antler was nearly perfect width wise. I used a piece of 100 grit flat on a table to make the back side of my covers flat and flush. I used the dremel to bore divets s on the back side to clear the peened center pin. Then I epoxied and clamped the covers on. After 4 long hours lol, I removed the clamps and used a sanding drum on the dremel to shape the covers. There was a couple small places where due to the size antler I had that the liner was a little proud of the covers. I sanded them flush as well. Sanded my work smooth but being careful to leave the natural scratches and character to the antler. 600 grit, then polished with 1500 grit.
BIG THANKS!! To all the support and encouragement of my fellow porch members.
Special thanks to glennbad glennbad for modding inspiration, also special thanks to r8shell r8shell for modding inspiration and for inspiring me to look at knives I might otherwise have passed by. Thanks y'all for giving new life to old blades!
Click to expand...
Fantastic job!
 
Looks great to me! My first mods looked a lot like that. As you get more into it, you get more bold, and try more difficult things.

Keep at it!
 
Thanks, limited tools to work with right now. I don't have a drill press, or anvil, I wouldn't want to try tackling pins without a drill press. Maybe once I get more into it I'll pick up a small drill press, a 25-50 lbs anvil. A band saw would probably come in handy. I was raised by a mechanic who did carpentry on the side, and does woodworking as a hobby. Unfortunately my Dad's really well equipped woodshop is 5-6 hours drive away.
 
Misplaced Hillbilly said:
Thanks, limited tools to work with right now. I don't have a drill press, or anvil, I wouldn't want to try tackling pins without a drill press. Maybe once I get more into it I'll pick up a small drill press, a 25-50 lbs anvil. A band saw would probably come in handy. I was raised by a mechanic who did carpentry on the side, and does woodworking as a hobby. Unfortunately my Dad's really well equipped woodshop is 5-6 hours drive away.
Click to expand...


I don't have an anvil, and while I have a drillpress, I don't use it for many of my operations. Don't let lack of tools discourage your creativity.
 
Thanks, glennbad glennbad
Some future more extensive mods are planned. The antique store where I've found my recent vintage knives have quite a few that have broken blades, broken springs, ect. My next plan it to buy a few of those and try some frankenknife mods.
 
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