thong hole tubing for pins?

A

andrewfinnie13

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Jun 20, 2009
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364
well i bought all the supply's i needed to finish my knives and kind of liked the look of the see through style of the thong hole tubing and decided that ide get some to use for the pins. and well that was a week ago and it dawned on me that it might not be a good idea to use 1/4" thong hole tubing for the pins.
is there something flawed with my thinking?
 
It's entirely up to you. Some competition knives use thong tube for pins so you can mount a lanyard near the front of the handle; that way if the knife slips it stays very close to your hand instead of swinging around from your wrist. IIRC this is a rule at some cutting competitions now.
 
Several folks use the 1/4" tube for pins. flare them or just glue them in and champher the inside.Not My thing but alot of guys like it,I think it's just a place for more gunk to build up during use.
Stan
 
I have used a lot of 1/4 tubing as pins. I just bought 36 inch piece from Fastenal. The tubing is as strong as pins. since there is not much force on the pins itself. Since the epoxy make the pins, scale and knife as one. Any force is distributed through the whole knife not just the pins.
 
You can cut the heads off a couple of machine screws and do it in a vice,be careful not to crack your handle material. Use an 82 deg countersink to relieve th handle material some.Practice on some scrap to see how much pressure is required.
Stan
 
andrewfinnie13 said:
thanks James and SBuzek.
what kind of tool would you use to flare the tube?
Click to expand...

I don't flare my tubing ever. Like I said when you glue the knife together. It becomes one. The forces on everything changes. The parts should never come apart. I haven't had any returns.
Till I have my first one. My main customer is the tactical user.
 
I don't flare or countersink my tubes, just fit 'em fairly snug and epoxy them in, shape them along with the handle, then chamfer the inside a bit so there's not a sharp edge to cut the lanyard. I do cut a couple shallow grooves into the outside of the tube, for the epoxy to "grab" onto. Like Jim said, I don't think it makes any difference strength-wise. Pins/tubes etc. are there to keep the scales from shearing off the tang... put a short length of SS pin or tube in your vise and see if you can bust it off... ;) If you're concerned about the tube/pin holding the scale tight to the tang, either countersink/peen them or use Corby bolts. Bill DeShiv has excellent advice on peening.
 
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A mechanical bond is always better. It's a simple matter to slightly flare the pin holes with a pocket knife, then use a tapered punch to flare the tubing. Be gentle-it doesn't take much hammering to flare it. Don't use a forging hammer! Use a little one.
 
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