Old Timer Scales....Are they pinned or glued on, or both?

O

Opee

Joined
Jan 27, 2023
Messages
4
I am considering putting some mammoth ivory scales on a Schrade Old Timer folder, or a Trapper folding model.
There are appx 3 brass pins on the knife, and what I am trying to find out is are the scales pinned to the knife liner, or is there also glue used to hold everything together?
I recently installed ivory on a Buck 110 and it came out very nicely, but the Buck knives are designed to be customized after leaving the factory. Buck 110's don't have any glue, only brass pins. Hoping that the Old Timer also has only pins and no glue??
Thanks for any input from those who have modified or taken apart an Old Timer Folder.
 
Very few factory knives that I have seen use glue and pins, that seems to me an at home or custom knife thing.
 
Buck 110s might lend themselves to being customized, but are not designed specifically to be easily customized post manufacture. They are designed to offer a rugged and reliable hunting and utility knife at a fair price.
 
Even if they did have glue...it can be physically removed from the liners I would think.
Cheers
 
tongueriver said:
There are some faux Schrade knives made by Bear and Son which have ONLY glued covers.
Click to expand...

Cal this is so true, I should have specified that only the knives made at the actual Schrade USA factory were glueless.

Eric
 
Is this a real Schrade OT made in NY or a modern Chinese imitation by Taylor brands and BTI ?

A real old timer isn't glued, but I have no clue about the modern Imitations.
 
JM2 said:
I forget that the old timer name is still out there. I don’t consider old timer to be a brand anymore. It’s like taking a go cart and putting a Chevy emblem on it, doesn’t make it a Chevy though.
Click to expand...

But there is this interesting comparison of a Schrade USA Uncle Henry with a Chinese Taylor Schrade Uncle Henry that was posted several years ago:

knarfeng said:
You should change the thread title. "Imperial Schrade" is not "Taylor Schrade".



Taylor Scrhade uses two alloys
7Cr16MoV used in the Delrin models.
9Cr17MoV used in the Bone models

7CrMoV is about a dead match for 440A in composition. 440A is what Schrade-USA used. So this is not "lower end", but rather "equivalent to what Schrade USA used".

9Cr17MoV is reasonably close to 440C in composition.

Oddly enough, last month I got rather curious about the Taylor Schrades. I bought a pair of Uncle Henry 834UH Ranchers.
One made by the original Schrade-US
One made by Taylor-Schrade
I wanted to compare side by side.

2015-11-14%2013.24.49_zpsgy6ogy4o.jpg


2015-11-14%2013.25.23_zpsescjemq1.jpg


My observations are below:
►as far as "fit" goes. They are about equal. No real gaps on either. Springs are almost flat, but not quite, on both. No blade wobble on any of the blades on either knife. Equally smooth actions. Both were a bit stiff when I first got them, but both are smooth now, after cleaning, oiling and working the actions a bit. Spring strengths are about equal (4-5) on both knives.
►For "finish", the US Schrade has more nicely rounded corners on the bolster and springs. I used a Sharpmaker coarse stone to round the corners of the Taylor, and it's pretty good now. The original has a small swedge on the main blade, the Taylor does not. But the Taylor blade is thinner at that spot, so I'm not certain that a swedge was an option for them. (see crinking comments below.)
►I did some minor manila rope cutting comparisons to look at the steel performance. The Taylor is at least as good as the original. (Both last noticeably better than Case Tru-Sharp, which I ran as a comparison point.)
►I was curious how Taylor would handle crinking the sheepsfoot. The Taylor is crinked a little, but mostly it is offset. The positive part of this is that the sheepsfoot blade comes out straighter, making it easier to use. The negative is that the blades are thinner. Neither knife has blade rub, but it is possible to cause the blades on the Taylor to rub together if you push hard against them while opening the knife. You cannot do that with the Schrade. I don't normally experience blade rub when opening either knife.
►I've carried both now for a couple of weeks. In performance I can tell no difference. Now that I have rounded the corners, the fit and finish is equal. And I think I like the offset blades better than the more heavily crinked blades.

In short, the Taylor-Shrade is pretty close to a dead match for the original US-Schrade.
Schrade-US had a reputation for making excellent working knives. I think these are likewise good working knives.
Click to expand...
Food for thought.

- GT
 
Not sure if swinden key is a concern. I might have misread also, I see only covers wanting replaced.
 
Last edited:
The swinden key makes it simple if you're just replacing covers. All you need to do when you put it back together is put a new center pin in.

Eric
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top