Seeking Knife Repair Advice

T

Thirsty

Joined
Jul 26, 2002
Messages
5
I think I might have posted to the wrong forum, so trying again here...
I have a Camillus Pilot Survival Knife, circa 1967. (For ID purposes, it looks most like the #5733 on the Camillus website.) It has some wear, minor rust, and the guard is just a little bit loose. I would like to take it apart, clean it up, and put it back together with the idea of treating the steel and leather separately, and ending up with a tighter fit in the handle/guard area when I'm finished. My question is: how do I get it apart? Is the "hex nut" style butt really threaded onto the shaft? Can I put it in a vise and torque on it with a wrench? Or is that nub at the end actually the end of the shaft, through and swaged to the "nut"? Please keep in mind: this is not a knife that I ever want to sell. I am not a collector. I'm going to keep this knife, use it forever, and don't care if it's in original condition. I'm even willing to shorten or lengthen (slightly) the handle if necessary. All I want is to improve it's condition and feel... Please pardon my ignorance, and thanks for any help!
 
I am pretty sure the pommel is swaged on and will not be an easy thing to remove. However if you don't care to save the pommel you can cut it off and replace the handle with a solid style handle such as a block of wood or micarta. If the leather will permit it you might be able to tighten the leather by sliding in inserts made of leather or hey, even metal shims.Trim them and seal the handle with superglue. Should last forever then. Good luck:)
 
Welcome to BladeForums!

I have the same Camillus knife from the same time period. It also has the same play in the guard. A couple of questions come to mind:

1. No offense please, but-you can get a brand new Pilot Survival knife for probably around $30. It might just save you alot of aggravation in trying to save a 35 year old one.

2. I understand wanting to save an oldy but goody so here are my thoughts on it. :D

The large hex pummel on my example is peened onto the stick tang. I don't believe it is threaded onto the tang, but I may be mistaken. I don't recommend trying to twist or tighten it by turning on the pommel. You may be able to tighten it up by clamping the hilt\ricasso area in front of the guard and re-peening on the end of the tang with a punch. Don't clamp it too close to the guard or it will not allow it to move, and would just stay loose.

Another thought (I'd like to see more input here): Sand the leather to take any sealer off of the surface and soak the handle in a container of neatsfoot or linseed oil. This will allow the leather to soak up the oil and expand, which should tighten up the guard. I would then dry the outside of the handle and seal it with some type of oil based sealer, but I'm not sure what to suggest.

Let us know how you make out.

Good Luck!

Mongrel
 
Thanks for the responses, Bill and Mongrel. I received an email on this from Camilus also. The consensus seems to be that the butt or pommel is not threaded, but has the tang coming through it, like you say. I would have to grind or cut the swaged / peened end off to take this knife apart. I like your ideas of shimming, soaking, and / or re-peening because those solutions would be easier, and pose less risk to the knife. But the rust bothers me, and begs for naval jelly and a brush, so... I will have to think on this some more. As to the new knife suggestion, Mongrel - no offense taken. But why buy a new tool when you can spend a whole weekend fixing an old one? ;) I'll let you know how it turns out. Thanks again, - Thirsty
 
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