What is this thingy, please?

J

Johan van Zyl

Joined
Oct 11, 2000
Messages
372
Hi everyone! There's this thingy I would very like to know the correct name of. You see, I've got this panawal khukuri which has been working very hard indeed. The aluminium rivets worked loose and the two butt slabs of buffalo horn came undone. So I simply knocked out the shot rivets and epoxied the slabs temporarily in place and set the khuk to work once again. Now there's a lull in the work and I decided to remake the handle very securely and properly, and make it a good looker to the bargain. I chose to make the slabs of a good, fine-grained wood, and hold the slabs together with a set of special "screws". Now here's where the "thingy" comes in. The "screw" I am referring to consists of a threaded rod with a threaded washer on each end. Two sets are required for the handle. The "washers" will be brass, about 4 mm thick, with a diameter of 10 mm, and are given slots so that you can turn them down hard with a screwdriver. The threaded rod is about 5 mm thick, and about 25 mm long. I phoned some big hardware suppliers in my city and others to try to buy some, but no-one could supply them. So in the end my aged father-in-law (who was an expert gunstock maker) agreed to make these "screws" for me. For the life of me I don't know what they are CALLED, technically, and I would be interested to know. Can anyone help? (Those who possess certain kinds of revolvers, will have seen them holding the buttplates together - which is where I got the idea.)
 
Hi Johan,

I think you are describing a type of "Loveless fastner". Check here under fasteners to see if that is what you are looking for. If not, look at the slotted tang nuts further down the same page. They would work as you describe with a threaded rod.

Regards,
Greg
 
You're a whiz kid, Greg! Both those sites I looked up answered my question. So "Loveless fastener" and "slotted tang nuts" both fit the bill. My father-in-law said he would put a pair of little holes in each of the tang nuts which will enable me to screw them down with the use of the tips of a pair of sharp-nosed pliers. That'll be neater, he said. He's forever the perfectionist.

Thanks again, Greg! I know if I use these tang nuts the panawal khuk will not be restored in the original fashion, but gee, I sometimes like putting my own "signature" on some of my khuks. My other more expensive khuks I guard jealously in their original form...
 
Originally posted by Johan van Zyl
You're a whiz kid, Greg! Both those sites I looked up answered my question. So "Loveless fastener" and "slotted tang nuts" both fit the bill. My father-in-law said he would put a pair of little holes in each of the tang nuts which will enable me to screw them down with the use of the tips of a pair of sharp-nosed pliers. That'll be neater, he said. He's forever the perfectionist.

Thanks again, Greg! I know if I use these tang nuts the panawal khuk will not be restored in the original fashion, but gee, I sometimes like putting my own "signature" on some of my khuks. My other more expensive khuks I guard jealously in their original form...
Click to expand...

Interestingly, it's infinately much stronger and more comfortable to permanantly attach the handle slabs to the tang. This can be done simply by attaching with 2-ton epoxy *AND* screwing them in. They'll literally last a lifetime, through *ANYTHING*. You'd be hard pressed to think of anything that'd budge the handle slabs once they're attached that way...
 
I'm not a knifemaker, but I think with the Loveless bolts, the stud and nut stick up above the surface of your handle. You then grind it off and sand flush with the surface of the wood. You then have a very finished looking job. Combined with epoxy, the wood scales will never come off.

Steve Ferguson
 
The top two are indeed Loveless bolts with the telltale steel screw showing in the center of the brass nut.
The bottom knife has mosaic pins.
 
Hibuke, Fergie & Art, yes, yes, yes! You've got it all on the nail. I will epoxy the slabs AND use the Loveless marvel. I'm rarin' to start. Thanks especially for the pics! Stay well.
 
Johan,
I'm glad I could help. Please post some pictures of your handiwork
when finished.
Regards,
Greg
 
Thanks for info, Rusty! Yeah, Greg, I'd like to, when I'm finished. But I'll get someone on the forum to post them for me, after I mail colour prints by snailmail.

I had another look at the khuk lineup on HI's website. Gee, but the Malla and the Hanuman are superb, IMHO! But see what the Rand/dollar exchange rate has done to us South Africans: according to a survey I just read, a meal for one at a steakhouse in the Big Apple costs $22,50. In Johannesburg, South Africa, the same meal costs R45. If I exchange my money and go to eat in New York, it will put me back the equivalent of R225. A good quality Hanuman costs $195, which is 8,7 times the cost of the meal in New York. The same Hanuman will cost a South African 43 times the same meal in Johannesburg. Add on the cost of safe shipping of $35, then you get the equivalent price of 51 meals in Johannesburg. To get the feel of it, multiply 43 meals eaten in New York by $22,50, and you get the Hanuman now costing the princely sum of $967,50. Oh, and I've got to tell you this: I contacted the distillery in Kathmandu to enquire about the cost of sending me one bottle of Khukri Rum in the khukri-shaped bottle. They quoted $10 for one bottle (375 ml) and "only" $85 for shipping by courier!

Why am I boring you with all this? Just rueful natter.
 
Originally posted by Johan van Zyl
Hibuke, Fergie & Art, yes, yes, yes! You've got it all on the nail. I will epoxy the slabs AND use the Loveless marvel. I'm rarin' to start. Thanks especially for the pics! Stay well.
Click to expand...

Well, if you use ordinary screws, you can save on having to buy special pins. You can make up decorative mosaic pins yourself, using glass beads, etc, and laminated over with epoxy...
 
Originally posted by Johan van Zyl
I will epoxy the slabs AND use the Loveless marvel. I'm rarin' to start.
Click to expand...
Keep us posted - show pics when you're done.
 
Will do. So far the Loveless fasteners have been made for me by my father-in-law. My son-in-law would have brought them for me, as he was visiting my f-in-l at the time, but he forgot. (I live a ten-hour drive away from my f-in-l.) My wife is there at the moment, visiting my oldest daughter, who had her first child on the 27th. So I became a grandfather for the second time, lucky me! She'll bring me the fasteners next week, so then I can get going with the project.

Dunno if anyone's interested in the following: I bought this .38 Special Smith & Wesson revolver new in November of 1981, and I've never gotten around to determining which model it is. So now I'm in the process of sending a picture of it to S & W in Springfield, MA, so that they can positively identify the model for me. I just gotta know! You might find it strange that I have to go to these lengths just to get the ID on the model, but that's life. My city and my immediate circle of friends are not high on guns.
 
When you open the S&W's cylinder the part it swings out on is the crane. Stamped on the frame underneath the barrel but covered by the crane when it is closed should be some numbers such as 10-4, 19-2, etc. They correspond to the model number and variation number. The 2 digit number is the model and the dash separates it from the single digit variation number if there is one. I don't believe Smith went to 3 and 4 digit model numbers til later in the 80's.
 
Seems there's no end to the merits of this khukuri forum! Rusty, I'll take a look this evening and report back to you tomorrow. In the meantime I can tell you its got the exact appearance of a M15 Combat Masterpiece (IF I can rely on the accuracy of a caption beneath a picture of one in a S.A. gun magazine of July 1984). Only difference is, in my revolver the front blade sight looks a bit different, and it does not have the adjustable rear sight of the M15, but merely a square-cut groove to sight with. See you tomorrow, and thanks once again!
 
Thanks Rip. I take note. However, the barrel doesn't seem to be heavily built at all, but then I am not in a position to compare it with anything else. Thanks also for the link, but due to the profound depravity of my computer hard- and software the link doesn't produce anything. Well, I swung out the cylinder like Rusty suggested, and viola! There it stood for all to see: MOD. 10-7. Shows how disgracefully unattentive I have been all these years. How many times have I not opened that cylinder to clean it, and I never noticed! So it’s a Model 10, variation 7 (whatever that means). This enabled me last night to look up some few references I have on the S&W Mod. 10.

Rusty and Rip, seems this is a medium frame revolver able to digest even the .38 Spec. plus P loads without fear of damage. S&W began in 1957 to assign model numbers to their handguns. The Military & Police became known in the factory inventory as the Model 10. According to a brand-new reference (July 2002) the M&P (Mod. 10) remains in the S&W catalogue and is still a steady seller. The M&P has been in continuous production for 103 years. No other handgun, not even the Colt SAA, can make that claim, so the article proclaims.

Confusing to me is the additional numbers also appearing on the crane, opposite the model number. There is a B13, with a slightly smaller size number 81707 just below, concealed when the cylinder is swung shut. This is not the serial number, as the serial number appears on the bottom strap of the grip. This revolver was bought new in Nov. 1981, so this must have been put on the crane by the factory. You guys might know what this means?

(Uncle Bill, this is great! I’m ever appreciative, and surprised, at the undoubted expertise that comes out of this khukuri forum.)
 
OK, glad I could help Johan. You say the barrel is not the stright sided heavyweight but is tapered? Is the barrel pinned to the frame? Is the butt squared or does it curve forward ( rounded ) at the bottom rear of the grip? how long is the barrel?

I also have a 10-5 with 4" barrel. When I turned 21 in the early 70's such revolvers were disdained as they had been THE police issue revolver thru the 50's and 60's. Carrying something better was the watchword among the more "gunny" cops. That meant a 357 magnum or a 44 or 45 caliber. Hollowpoints had come out but had not been developed.

The legendary quality of the S&W revolvers hadn't taken a beating yet, but their wondernine auto pistol the model 59 was taking a beating. Then after the early 80's and stainless, their reputation was shot.

Those revolvers made during the 50's thru early 80's are of a quality that won't be seen again. Take care of what you have.
 
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