Slip joint handle pin question

SVanderkolff

SVanderkolff

Joined
Oct 31, 2002
Messages
979
Most of the slip joints I have been looking at have a pin about 1/2 inch back from the front bolster centered between the top and the bottom of the handle. How is this pin attached to the liners or is it and what purpose does it serve?
Thanks
Steve
 
Steve, it pins the covers to the liners. The liners and shield are pinned before the knife is assembled.

Wolfe
 
Wolfe is correct. The pin is peened and flared at the liner and then spun at the cover to finish it. Covers are not glued to the liners. They are held in place by the cover pins and spring pin.
 
Some covers are glued, such as the work of Yellowhorse, thats the way he gets all the different materials on a knife. Santa Fe Stoneworks also only uses glue. I have a knife with mammoth (Bradley) attached with glue and one pin, and one wth pearl (HK Parker) where it's glued and has three pins. Epoxy's great :)
 
Epoxy is great, but one or more pins act as a reinforcement and as a decorative element, plus being traditional with the pattern. They also serve as alignment/antislipping aid as the glue cures.
Epoxy shrinks a bit and it has a great pulling force...it can also bow the liners/scales while curing. CA glue is sometimes used from the edges just to seal moisture out; in this case the pins have more substantial purpose.
 
When I do rehandles I like to use both glue and pins to create the best long lasting fit that I can.
 
I've seen many variations of attaching covers. Some are just screwed on and countersunk, some glued, some are dovetailed in addition to the other methods....it depends on the material and the knife maker.
 
I've noticed about 50% if my knives have pins all turned round and 50% have the center cover pin turned/ domed and then the spring pins are smooth and flush with the covers. I've noticed this later part on smooth bone and wood. I wonder if these are epoxied or if the tension of the spring in the frame is enough to hold it in tightly. Perhaps it makes disassembly easier with less damage to covers. I've usually seen the pins all domed on hugged bone and stag. Any insight?
 
BearBug said:
I've noticed about 50% if my knives have pins all turned round and 50% have the center cover pin turned/ domed and then the spring pins are smooth and flush with the covers. I've noticed this later part on smooth bone and wood. I wonder if these are epoxied or if the tension of the spring in the frame is enough to hold it in tightly. Perhaps it makes disassembly easier with less damage to covers. I've usually seen the pins all domed on hugged bone and stag. Any insight?
Click to expand...

My guess is that the covers with pins flush are found more on smooth finished cover materials. The domes on those might get sanded flush in the finishing process. Even those pins are probably peened a bit, but have had the dome smoothed out. I have also seen knives with both like you were saying. I am not totally sure why some seem different.
 
Thanks for the responses. I understand what the pins are for I just cant get my head around how to peen or otherwise attach a 1/16 inch pin into a 1/16 inch liner.
Thanks
Steve
 
Generally speaking, the holes in the material are tapered on both sides of the pile. The pins are of soft enough material that it swells in the the peening process to fill the taper. This is not necessary when spinning heads on pins.
 
SVanderkolff said:
Thanks for the responses. I understand what the pins are for I just cant get my head around how to peen or otherwise attach a 1/16 inch pin into a 1/16 inch liner.
Thanks
Steve
Click to expand...

I can speak for how I have done it, and blades&grace is correct too. The pins going into the liners are finished before assembly. You start with a drilled hole in the liner, and then with a countersink, or a slightly larger bit, you ever so slightly bevel the inside side of the liner. Next, you slightly peen the appropriate size pin in your vice. If you pass that pin narrow side first through the beveled hole from the inside of the liner, it will catch when it gets to the mushroomed out part that you peened. After the cover material is drilled and put into place, with the outside hole also countersunk, the pin is cut to the appropriate length on the outside of the handle, and peened to the cover material. Since the hole on the liner was countersunk, you can lightly sand the liners to leave the pin flush or almost flush on the inside.

For stag, the way I did it was cut the pin to length before putting the covers on. The pin was lower than the stag, so I used a punch to help peen it down in the recessed hole. The liner side was flat on an anvil.

Hopefully this is helpful.
 
brownshoe said:
Some covers are glued, such as the work of Yellowhorse, thats the way he gets all the different materials on a knife. Santa Fe Stoneworks also only uses glue. I have a knife with mammoth (Bradley) attached with glue and one pin, and one wth pearl (HK Parker) where it's glued and has three pins. Epoxy's great :)
Click to expand...

Where do the Santa fe stone works come from ?, because they're fairly expensive.
 
You can also buy pins that are hollow for the first few thousandths on one end and then just flare them on the liner side instead of peening. Typically spinning (creating a dome) is only used on the nails (pins that go thru the frame). That way you can drill a little bit bigger hole in the slabs than the pin or hole in the liner/spring to alleviate cracking the slabs when spinning and on spring pressure. The dome will apply the pressure down on the slabs from both sides. Most makers don't dome a pin they plan to buff down flat.
 
blades&grace said:
Generally speaking, the holes in the material are tapered on both sides of the pile. The pins are of soft enough material that it swells in the the peening process to fill the taper. This is not necessary when spinning heads on pins.
Click to expand...

This is a pretty good description.
 
Here is photo of Camillus Buck stockman I sectioned. It's not a scale pin but it does show the swelled ends of a blade pin in the bolster. There should be lot of threads if you do a search showing folks putting on custom scales with pins and/or glue 300



I found a photo of a Buck Dymondwood scaled 303 that I took apart to rescale. It shows the original rounded head scale pin on one end the other pin did not survive 'demo day'. The spring pin is not rounded as much. Custom or factory the process is the same, place scale pins in the liner and peen, or in the case of a factory stamp the end flat. Then place on scale material and round head of scale pin by a spinning press. By hand you have to have your pin at proper length and then if you are good peen the round head or use a rounding stamp with the liner and bottom end of pin on a block. But, what do I know I have only mangled production knives and only tired scale pins once. After that I just used epoxy.

 
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Glue might hold for a long time. Pins WILL hold for a long time.
"Spinning" a pin head is done to reduce production time. Proper peening works as well.
When a pin head is smoothed flush, there is still some degree of taper left to hold the scale down.
I have never seen pins offered with hollowed ends. Please tell me where these are available.
 
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