Ulster Project

[muskrat man]

Ok, Here we go.

First step was to clean up the edge and remove some of the rust and corrosion from the blade.
Before:

After:

Look at what a backspring, they used to build'em right, didn't they?

now it is time to strighten out that bent liner.
Before:

After:

Put her back together:

Now the blades had some side to side play, when I put it back together I had some excess pin sticking out of the bolster, I gave it a few good raps with a ball peen to spread the pin and correct the side to side play.

The bolsters were pitted, dinged, and marred, so I filed and sanded them smooth.
Before:

After:

Then I peen over the rocker pin:

Not pictured, I clean the liners with 220 grit sandpaper, after removing the other handle and get ready to add new scales.

New handle blanks, elk stag:

 

[muskrat man]

I had no old handles to make a template from, so after sanding and filing the correct angles and length I traced around the liners with a pen and ground them in to a rough shape with a sander and a dremel tool and sand them down.

then I put them on the knife trace my bevels grind everything down and finish sand, this is how they look on the knife.

Buff them up

glue them on:

buff once again:

 

[muskrat man]

I thought i'd shoiw ya'll how I did it. I got carried away towards the last and didn;t take as many pictures. I cleaned all the rust and corrosion inside and out, whoever had it let the blades go and they are pitted, buit it gives the knife character. So what do you think?

 

[waliguy]

Excellent job! I have no idea how to do that stuff, and admire those of you who have the know-how! Very nice the way it turned out though...bravo!

 

[glennbad]

That is really something, MM!

I have the tools and knowhow for something like that, but not the drive or imagination. You have given me inspiration, however, and if I can wrangle some time to get down in the shop, I may attempt a "pimp" job on one of my orphans.

Excellent work...

Glenn

 

[Rupestris]

I went by a resale shop a couple weeks ago and they had three old beat up Imperials marked $12 ea. Not quite that bad but a little rusty and dinged up. After reading this I think I'm going back to get 'em. (Think $25 for the three is a fair offer).

Like Glenn, I have the tools and some know-how but I need something to keep me busy over the long weekend.

Thanks for the post and great job!

Chris

 

[muskrat man]

After you do a few you start to get the hang of it, then you start going hog wild . Be careful with the imperials, if they are shell handles it'll take a bit more work to get some good handles on them. I can post a "how to" of how I rehandled my shell knives or I can answer questions if you have any, and thanks for the comments! I love this stuff, i'll not buy any more knives that are in good shape , it's too much fun fixin' them up, then once you get done, you usually have a unique knife that you've reworked yourself.
Ratman out

 

[El Lobo]

M/M,

There are some folks who are well known for "embellishing" knives with covers, filework, and bladework. Ray Cook, Wendell Carson, Michael Prater, Ghostown, and of course Herman Williams, are a few that come to me right now.
Who knows, maybe you have found a nice career?
At any rate you're doing nice work.

Bill

P. S.
You may already know this...but you can smooth out the patina on those blades by boiling enough vinegar in a glass to cover the blade, then about 5-10 minutes in the vinegar, rinse in water, dry, and gently buff with an eraser, or a good metal polish before the patina completely sets. Just in case you felt like trying.

 

[muskrat man]

Bill,
It sure is a job I wouldn't mind doing. I was always told that if you could find a job that you enjoyed you were lucky. If I could do these knives up for a living, i'd be a happy camper . Either way I enjoy fixing up old knives for myself and family members. I am always studying the works of a few "embellishers" to try and get ideas and feel my way through things. Prater, yellowhorse, williams, and a handful of not so famous guys are ones I really enjoy studying. Thanks for the tips on how to clean the blades up, I did not know that. I think i'll leave this one "as is", it kinda gives a contrast to the knife, I think. I will be sure to try it on a future knife though.
Ratman out

 

[El Lobo]

I think I've posted this before, but here is an old Royal that showed scratches, spider webs, and signs of the cell gassing out on the blades. Sooooo, I gave it a vinegar patina, which is plain to see as it stops at the tang area.

Just as info.

Bill

 

[muskrat man]

It does give a nice even patina, dosen't it? I like the old look, i'll definately have to try that. I'm going to take a break from folders and work on getting some handles on a few fixed blades I have nearly finished , aswell as finish a couple of knives made from sheep shears, like the Apache style knives.
I'll run for now
Ratman

 

[lrv]

MM,
Nice job. Keep us updated. May I save and put these on the web page with your comments?
TTYL
Larry

 

[muskrat man]

MM,
Nice job. Keep us updated. May I save and put these on the web page with your comments?
TTYL
Larry

Sure, have at it. Under one condition, give me a link to the site
M_M

 

[muskrat man]

well, I got the one shear knife finished and the glue is setting on the other fixed blade handles. Heres a picture or two of the shear knife. If your wondering it has an osage root handle.

Ratman out

 

[NAFix]

MM:
Getting in here late... but I wanna go back to the Ulster. That's really nice work and stuff that I'd like to be doing.... I think I have the tools, but don't know if I have the skills.... I'm pretty sure I can get the knives apart.... but getting them back together has me concerned... I guess what I don't get is getting the pin the blade pivots on (rocker pin?) back thru both bolsters and filing and smoothing it so that the "head" doesn't show when looking at the boster, ie, looks integral to the bolster. It looks as if you left the bosters attached to the liners when you had it apart, and it sure seems like that pin has to go all the way thru the bolster, but in your end result the pin is invisible....How do you do that???
Barry

 

[waynorth]

Love these "how-to" threads, MM. Keep up the good work!
You may wind up saving more knives than you'll ever see, when people start getting the idea!
Here's a knife I made from an old cross-cut saw blade, one of the 2-man variety. Did it in the early 1970's (71-72?), but never made too many more. This one's been more recently reground.
I might have to start trying to repair folders, which I'm more interested in anyway. You are an inspiration, MM!

 

[muskrat man]

Barry, an invisible pin is what helps make a knife look good. First off, the bolsters are soldered to the liners, and removing/attaching one is a pretty big job. The pins will stay in one of the liners, then you just press everything back down onto the pins in the order that it came off, then you tap the protruding portion of the pin with a ball peen hammer to spread it, if there is any side to side play when the blade is open, it doesn’t hurt to do this lightly even if there is no play, it helps the pin to fill the hole so you cannot see it. Then you file the excess off being sure to follow the contour of the bolster so you don’t make a flat spot or a dip. Once everything is flush, you sand it down, I start with 150 or 220 and work my way down to 600 then steel wool and buff. 99.9% of the time your pin will be invisible or nearly invisible. A couple I have done, I cannot see the pin under any circumstance, but another couple I did you can see the pin because of the difference in material if you turn it just right in the light. The key is tapping the pin, once that pin spreads and fills that hole up and you bring everything down flush, there are no gaps, so what’s to see? A lot of schrade knives have “invisible” pins because there are no pins through the bolsters at all; the hinge pin is simply a pin through the blade that interlocks into cutouts on the inside of the bolsters, an ingenious idea really.
Hope this helps you to better understand
Ratman out
P.S the pin through the bolsters is the hinge pin, the pin running through the backspring(s) is the rocker pin.
P.S.S I don;t think I made myself real clear in the above statement, I do NOT remove the bolsters from the liners becuase of the difficulty of the job, plus there is no need to remove them.

 

[muskrat man]

Nice looking knife waynorth. The handles that are setting up are all on crosscut saw blades. I have a drop point, a bit of a straight blade, and a palm knife that still needs handles. Thats a really nice looking blade.
Ratman out

 

[orvet]

Thanks MM! Good stuff:thumbup: :thumbup:

I have a bunch of old stuff I need to take a stab at. I have been doing doing 3 fix blades for someone and haven't had much time for anything else. I have a blade of my own design back from heat treating, but it is waiting until I finish the other three knives. I have 2 nearly completed, and 1 to go.

I am anxious to get to re-doing a bunch of old folders........you are inspiring me. Keep up the great work!

Dale

 

[NAFix]

Thanx MM. That does clear it up very well... And I especilly like the part about not taking it further apart than you need to (leaving the bolsters on). Now I just have to make sure not to mix up the parts when I start taking them apart... perhaps best to do one at a time!
Thanx again,
Barry