Question for sdt11670

R

redshanks

Joined
May 8, 2005
Messages
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You mentioned in a couple of recent topics that you repair/rebuild/restore folders and they look as good as new when done. I have a new but unfinished Schrade and am debating whether to attempt to finish the knife myself or leave it the way it is as an item of interest.

The knife is complete except for the bolster pins, which have not been sanded or ground, the bolsters need to be polished, a rivet in the handle is standing proud, and the backsprings have only been partially sanded or ground.

Can you advise me as to the difficulty in undertaking this? According to your personal profile, you are not accepting e-mails.
 
It is very easily done by hand with very fine grit emery cloth, if you can only find say 400 grit machinist polishing cloth then you will need to tear off a piece and sand an old piece of steel with it untill you have made it smooth before touching your bolsters or backsprings with it but all you have to do is sand them in one direction and just like sharpening start heavy and end with light pressure and after you have no visible scratches you just put some metal-glo polishing paste on them and rub them very hard or use a dremel tool being careful to not touch the handle scales of course. This is very simple to do and the finished product will look as good as new. I have a book called the complete book of pocket knife repair i cant think of the authors name at present and am not at home so i cant look but this is probably the book that i learned this from i do remember that i learned to fix the keyholed Schrades from reading this book.
 
I forgot to mention that you only use the paper and metal glo for final finishing of the product. You will need to shape the bolsters if needed with files and you definetly need to file the pins flush.The book Don listed above is the one i have, however i do believe that Mr. Kelley uses belt sanders and drill presses for his work in the book but it can be done with only hand tools and an electric drill which is what i use. Of the ones i have fixed and showed to people none have believed that i repaired them! The last one i showed a guy he took it and held it under the light and said "I cant see any scratches or pins there is no way you did this yourself."
 
Thanks, Luis and sdt, I have already ordered the book. That leaves me with one question. The knife is a 225OT and is kind of interesting as an unfinished Schrade. Since this knife was last made in 1992, the condition of this knife shouldn't be the result of the closing of the factory. Am I better off leaving it the way it is?

This is what I have:

File0001Small.jpg

bottomSmall.jpg
 
Redshanks,
The 225OT looks like it was squished. Both bolsters are sitting lower than the scales and the rivets are popped. Is the main blade peaking? Does it open and close ok?
Otherwise a good looking knife. What do you want to do to it?
TTYL
Larry
 
Looking closely, it does look unfinished. I have several OT's and UH's like that, and I personally prefer to keep them the way they are as an example of an assembled yet unfinished knife. I put a finished example with them for display. Yes, the scale ends have to be buffed flush (revealing the base material color) with the bolsters, pins filed flat and buffed, and same with the springs/liners on the bottom. (and adjust the clip kick!) I personally like it the way it is but....having expounded beyond the question....the knife is yours to finish, or leave as is, preserve or use.

Codger
 
Larry, it's not squished. I have another one to compare it to and if anything, the unfinished one is thicker. The main blade has not been sharpened but the saw blade is complete. Both blades open and close as they should. On my other knife and almost all of my other Old timers, the scales have been sanded down where they meet the bolsters, resulting in a lighter color as can be seen on this one:

225OTSmall.jpg
 
Redshanks.
Wouldn't you love to know how this escaped from the factory?
I have an unfinished 53OTG where the blade is the only thing not complete..
I think you have a keeper as is.
Thanks for showing.
Larry
 
That is a great knife! I would have a hard time not using that one camping and hiking... :eek:

Good book, DL! Got it for Chrismas a few years ago, already used information from it to fix a few.
 
Thanks for the advice guys. I did intend to try and finish it, but perhaps it is more interesting in it's present condition. If it was "liberated" from the plant, I wonder why the person who took it didn't finish it, or if it was a lunchbox knife, why would they take an unfinished knife in the first place. Besides, everything I try to "improve" turns to crap anyway. ;)
 
I had one identical to that one! I put it in a padded vise with feeler gauges between the blades and liners and gently squeezed the bolsters and took up all blade movement and no further peening of the pins were required, then i filed the pins flat with the bolsters and polished them using used 400 grit paper untill they dissapeared and of course used metal glo for final polishing and there is no sign of the knife ever being tampered with and of course the pins are invisible and now appears no different than a keyholed Schrade.
 
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