Tightening up slipjoints

[GWashington1732]

I've got a couple of old slipjoints that I found in antique stores, just a couple of Imperials, but after taking a couple of rust spots off, I found them to be in great shape, aside from a bit of side to side play. Would tightening them up be as simple as sticking them in a vise and giving the a turn like I've done with my Buck 110 or would that not work here? I'll post pictures if you need them but I don't feel like messing with the camera right now. They're just normal peanut designs so I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work.

 

[Bastid]

I would start with taps with a rubber mallet with the knife on top of a phone book and work my way up to more forceful methods. I tighten up my 30 y.o. Buck 110 with the rubber heel of my shoe against carpet.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Many Imperials had "Shell" handles. Don't tap or squeeze them!
You can tell if the knife has hollow shell handles if the knife has a small tab folded over the liners on each end. If you can't tell, post pictures.

 

[GWashington1732]

The mallot got rid of most of the movement and I got it really tight with a mini c-clamp.

 

[GWashington1732]

Many Imperials had "Shell" handles. Don't tap or squeeze them!
You can tell if the knife has hollow shell handles if the knife has a small tab folded over the liners on each end. If you can't tell, post pictures.

I have one like that, but it's not one of the ones I was trying to tighten

Here's the knives I picked up at the antique store for six bucks a piece. I tightened the second from the left and the one all the way to the right. The one allthe way to the left is the one with the shell handle.

 

[Slim to None]

Just be careful - overtightening makes as unsatisfying a knife as blade play. A GEC of mine had a little blade play, so i wrapped it in a towel and gave it a few wacks.

The blade play was gone, but the walk and talk was ruined, because the tang of blade started rubbing against the liners. Fixing that was another story.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

I believe the blue on has shell handles, also.

 

[GWashington1732]

I believe the blue on has shell handles, also.

You are correct, I didn't notice it before, that one's got more problems than blade play though, it needs quite a bit of work to get it into good shape, there's big chunks missing out of the blade, but I only paid a few bucks for it so it should be fun to work on.