Traditional pivot pins?

A

aarya

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Jun 21, 2006
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Something i've wondered about for a long time. How big are the pivot pins in different custom/production-model traditionals? And what material is most used for the pins, and why?
I'm guessing nickel silver, same as many bolsters? Or do most use steel of some sort?

Hope you traditional guys can help me out!
 
When I attended the ABS school folders class taught by MS John Perry we used 303 stainless pins in our slipjoint folders. On a number of production slipjoints e.g. Case, Buck you will find nickel silver pivot pins. Some of the custom makers are using brass or phospor bronze pivot bushings and stainless pins w/stainless frames and bolsters on their slipjoints.

A key consideraton on classic slipjoint knives with bolsters, is to use a pin that is the same material as the bolsters because when peened and finished it blends and does not stand out.
 
Good info Scott. :thumbup:

Another question if the OP doesn't mind me tacking one on. Would the size of the knife have any bearing on what a maker uses for pivot pins?

I have a Camillus 886 which is a big, Buck 110 like lockback. The bolsters are nickle silver and I believe it has SS pins. The pin color is bluer than the bolsters and there is a slight high spot at the pins as though the pin material is harder than the NS.

Thanks,
Chris
 
The pivot pins in my old Buck stockman and cadet are stainless steel I believe. I rememer some of the magazine ads for the Bucks in the late 60's early 70's, talking about the unbreakable pivot pins.

Whatever they are made of, their a rugged knife.
 
Wouldn't nickel silver wear quickly, if used as a pivot pin? Well.. More quickly than steel atleast?
And what's the size of different pins? 1/8th of an inch? Smaller? Bigger?

(And i don't mind any questions being asked in this thread, if it's got to do with traditional pivot pins/pivots in general.)
 
ScottK said:
A key consideraton on classic slipjoint knives with bolsters, is to use a pin that is the same material as the bolsters because when peened and finished it blends and does not stand out.
Click to expand...

I thought about that, and it seems like NS wouldn't be a really good material for the blade pins. Of course, one could get around that by using a nice tempered SS pin and leaving it short enough to press-fit a pair of NS "slugs" into the bolsters for a nice finish. No?
 
I think that most custom guys I see use the 416 stainless pins to match the 416 stainless bolsters. Rick Menefee will on some of his shadow patterns use titanium pins. The 416 is what I have been using.
 
If you look at some of the old German knives the pins are steel like Buck.I kind of like the look.
 
Case may use NS pins but they're a different composition and hardness because they oxidize differently have a different color and will stand slightly proud of the bolsters after some wear.
 
Where the pivot pins of old, also made of new silver? You read stories about knives being in use for decades, and i'm just thinking. Wouldn't the pin wear out? Or is the engineering so clever, that it doesn't actually wear much on the pin?
Or is it that pivot pins are easily replaced, and if one wore out in the old days, they'd just re-pin it?

I was just thinking, on most modern folders/tacticals, you'll see them use phosphorus-bronze bushings, teflon-washers and other things to reduce wear. (Also to make it open and close more quickly, but an old-time classic folder isn't so much slower to open.)
Is it just that modern folders/tacticals are over-engineered, and they'd hold up as well or almost, as an old-time classic folder?

Or am i just being silly, and over-analyzing/thinking this whole deal?
 
For most of the older US and Sheffield made folders (100 years ago or so) the pin material was usually the same as the bolster, and bolsters were usually nickel silver or iron. I have a lot of older slipjoints from that time period, and many of them still are tight. As has been noted, it was common for the Solingen-made knives to have steel pins.
 
I don't think an NS pin will wear through. One nice thing is if it loosens a squeeze in a vise ot a tap with a mallet usually will tighten it right up, because the NS is soft enough.

I have an Ulster/Schrade Scout that's a little loose but has those trick Schrade bolsters. Is there any remedy for that?
 
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