Stacked Leather Repair Help Needed!

ddavelarsen

ddavelarsen

Joined
Dec 7, 2000
Messages
5,179
I admit it - I'm weak. Cannot say "No!" when I should... This geezer (that's saying something, considering my own age) comes up to me at a gun show, "They say you're a knifemaker and can fix this for me." An old -OLD- Western trailing point with stacked leather lovingly wrapped in electrical tape. The leather washers are shot.

My problem is the cast-on aluminum pommel.

Can anyone suggest how I might get new leather washers on this thing without removing the pommel? I'll certainly have to split the washers to slip over the tang...I wonder how to best conceal that?

Any help? If I have to I'll tell the fine old man I just can't save his favorite knife, but thought someone here - like my man John Andrews - might have experience with this.

"Hep me!"
 
Dave
make the stack
put the holes for the tang in the wafers
take the wafers and cut them at a real sharp bias
to slip them on the tang..
vise the he!! out of them to compact them
trial fit them to a tight fit.
then cement each one in
after soak it in minwax wood hardener or something like it to seal and swell it up again.

cutting the wafers real sharp bias and staggering them should hide them well...I hope this will help
 
Dan that's exactly what I needed. Thanks, this is how I'll do it and the Minwax idea is excellent - I was wondering if I could make the leather swell after it was on the knife. That is an ideal solution.
 
no problem Dave
make them fairly tight..
Minwax wood hardener is made for rotten wood to stabilize it and fill.
just a note!
I wouldn't glue the bias cuts, it may leave a line there..
cementing the top and bottoms should do OK.
have fun with it:D
 
Have you guys tried gorrila glue on stacked leather yet. Pretty neat stuff. It swells up and oozes everywhere but it doesnt leave much of a glue line when its sanded.
 
My favorite aproach is to 'make it a design feature' you could cut a channel down the back of the stack and put a strip of leather in there. Make the seam where you cut the washers noticible enough that it can only be intentional.

WS
 
It looks as though a cast on part would have to burn the original leather washers. Are you sure there isn't an aluminum pin in the pommel that you could drill or knock out like on a kabar?
 
I was just going to say what Mark did. It's not cast on. There is a pin hidden near the top of the pommel, or a threaded section.
It may be hard to find, but it's there.:eek:
 
Tnx. for info. I was about to tackle this very same project on an antique puukko. I wondered about the gorilla glue stuff and was going to give it a try.
 
Dave,I have restored some WWII leather stacked handles,as you know. If you want to go original,as I did,you should remove the buttcap. The aluminum buttcap you mention probably has a pin that you have to remove. Inspection under a good light should expose it. Just drive it out with a flat ended punch, one just under the size of the pin. Then,cut square TOOLING LEATHER, VEG. TANNED washers and soak them in water. You are probably going to need more washers than you think, because of the compression. You won't have to soak the leather more than a few minutes. Use heavy ounce leather. Run a bolt with a metal washer as large or larger than the leather washers through the stack. Then place another metal washer on the bolt,apply nut, tighten and compress.After the washers are dry, remove the bolt and keep the washers in the order they were stacked while drying. You will know why when you assemble the stack on the tang.I use a good contact cement on the washers when I stack the leather washers on the handle. I also have an oversized tang hole in the washers, enough to allow Accra Glas Gel to have something to hold to and also form a core. Just stack a couple and fill with 'glas, stack one or two, fill with 'glass, etc. When you apply the contact cement on the washers, leave a ring around the tang hole on the washers for the 'glas to grip, and apply some 'glas to cover the round spot as you assemble. Compressing the washers on the handle is not a difficult job,because you don't need the usual pressure you would need if you was using regular treated or unsoaked and uncompressed washers. You will notice how the washers fit together on the tang when stacking. They actually rather lock together because of the way they formed together on the bolt, while drying.That is why it is important to retain the order of the washers. "Glas the buttcap and pin, and pein. Grinding the washer handle is a breeze! A sharp belt really cuts the leather, so you have to go light. Another thing, it is easier for me to use square washers, to get a properly and equally rounded handle. Finish as desired, Dave. Our old pal Abe taught me this way of doing a stacked handle, and it seems to be foolproof. Ol Abe says "Hi"! What the esteemed gentlemen mentiond before me works for them, this is what works for me.
 
Everybody beat me to it. I went back and looked at one I had in a junk box to make sure it did have a pin and it does. A little (make that little ) etch will help find the pin outline.
 
Y'all are right - there are two steel pins holding it on. They would not drive out so now I guess I'm going to have to drill them out...wish me luck, I can't see how that is going to work since the surrounding aluminum is so much softer than the steel. Anyway, I'm going to get it done, even if I have to make another pommel, now! :D Thanks for all your help.

Dave
 
Dave,on 2 of the military knives I restored, two identical looking knives had different locking devices for the wood pommels. That made things aggravating right off the bat! I realize you are not doing a military knife, but I just thought I would toss this tidbit in for future reference. Sadly,as you know, you have pins. You going to center punch the pins and drill them out, huh? That's one reason I have tried to finally distance myself from repair work. You can't come out right on the work for the job, and 99% of the knives aren't worth the $ to start with! I started at $50 per washer handle, so the jobs were pretty much free labor. We work pretty cheap anyhow, huh?
 
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