What should I do? Old 501...

P

Psychopomp

Joined
Feb 21, 2005
Messages
2,662
Hi all.

I picked up a cheap, good condition 501 on ebay and got it today. Solid knife, except with a pretty bad chip in the blade near the tip. It looks like the blade hit something hard while chopping, but the 501 isn't a chopping knife, so I don't know how it could have happened (dropped maybe). The chip is very deep, through the edge grind.

501chip.jpg


I could send it to Buck for a reblade, but I'd really like to keep it as original as possible. I've decided that the best course of action is to regind a new edge back past the chip. But, the problem then is the tip will be exposed when the blade is closed. Of all my Bucks, I carry my 501s the most, so I do intend to carry this knife, and an exposed tip is a vasectomy waiting to happen, so I'd rather not do that.

How difficult would it be to file down the kick without tearing the knife apart? And how would that effect the lockup? Is it even possible (there's not a lot of room to work with in there)? Or should I just add this one to the collection and not worry about it?
 
you might be able to reprofile with a good sharpener lanskey or edge pro good luck.......bigfish
 
I've actually started doing some work on it. I haven't started reprofiling the blade yet, but I've touched up a lot of the cosmetic issues.

There were a few spots of rust on the blade (as you can see in the picture) and the bolsters were pretty tarnished. I buffed out the bolsters as best as I could for the time being and cleaned up the blade. The blade now has a very nice satin finish.

Once I reprofile the edge, I'll (hopefully) perfect the satin finish and have a very nice knife. I need to clean up the scales and then regrind the blade.

I'm having a lot of fun too.
 
Contact Joe Houser at Buck Customer Service - tell him the story and that you want to keep the original blade. I have no doubt that they can take care of the chip and keep the same lines and profile. If it were my knife, I wouldn't to anything to the blade until I talked to Joe.

And while it may reduce some of the fun you're having cleaning up that 501, they can do all that for you at the same time, if you send it in.
 
Gypsy9590 said:
And while it may reduce some of the fun you're having cleaning up that 501, they can do all that for you at the same time, if you send it in. [/FONT]
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I'd do that if this was my only 501. But since it isn't and I really don't have anything to lose, why not go for it.

After some more looking and measureing, I may be able to regrind the edge without exposing the tip, so at least it's looking up a little in that regard.
 
Psychopomp, I have filed down the "kick", the steel is hard and I used a fine file, but is is doable, just takes time, which is a good thing in this case.

On the other hand I had an older 501 that I thought was a goner, the steel had fatigued near the rocker pin and actually broken...it was such a good friend, I sent it into Buck with a note that if they couldn't do any thing to please send it back...it came back...fixed and sharp and shined up...they really did it proud. Preston
 
I'm having such a good time with this that I can't stop... so here's a little update.

I really liked the satin finish that the blade was taking after buffing out the rust and scratches that I wanted to try it on the bolsters. The high polish shows scratches. So I got out the abrasive buffing Dremel wheels (180 grit, 220, up to 400) and then finished on a fine felt polishing wheel.

I absolutely love the finish on the bolsters now! It took the scratches out and looks more like a brushed sterling silver. I think this finish will be more durable and less likely to tarnish as well. I've also cleaned up the scales and buffed out a few scratches there.

Here's a picture of how the knife looked when I opened the package lastnight:
1.jpg


Here is it right now, there's still a few scratches to buff out, and I haven't started on the blade yet, but... there's a marked improvement:
5.jpg


As much fun as I'm having, I think it's time to stop for a while. When I get home from work tonight, I'm going to begin regrinding the blade.
 
Psychopomp said:
When I get home from work tonight, I'm going to begin regrinding the blade.
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Looks excellent! :thumbup:

What do you need to do to regrind the blade??? Do you have a fixture of some sort???
 
That chip looks like a 'pry' chip to me, sort of like flint knapping. I did that once to a thin edge 103 trying to pry out an elk whistler....now I would saw the jaw section....
 
chickentrax said:
Looks excellent! :thumbup:

What do you need to do to regrind the blade??? Do you have a fixture of some sort???
Click to expand...

Right now, I'm going to see how much I can smooth out the chip on one of my extra coarse diamond benchstones. If that doesn't work, I'm going to try some 220 grit paper over a Sharpmaker rod. If that fails, then I'm afraid it's off to Dremel-ville for the regrind.

Right now after some work on the diamonds the chip has smoothed out considerably and I think I'll be able to remove it and regrind the edge without exposing the tip. I'll have to thin out the edge a little, but that's ok, the grind on the 501 is a little thick to begin with anyway.

And if I do expose the tip slightly, I think I'll take down the spine as opposed to filing the kick (this would amount a milimeter at the very most, probably much much less). If this were a 110 or 112, I'd file the kick, but there's not a lot of space to work with in the 501.

I've been thinking about future projects too. This is something I've always wanted to do but never had the time to sit down and start something. Now that I have started, I'm pretty hooked. I'd like to do some "modifications" to other 500 series knives. As much as I love the 110, the slim and graceful lines of the 500s is beautiful. The 110/112 is a worker, the 500s are more refined.

The 501 is a good size and easy to find and inexpensive enough that a mistake isn't the end of the world. I'm on the lookout now for a 501 with damaged scales. I think my satin finished bolsters would look very nice with ebony.

I should be finished tomorrow or Sunday. I'll post pictures of the final product when I'm finished.
 
I finished the blade tonight and I'm very happy with the results. I didn't have to file the kick or grind the spine down, I was able to take the cutting edge back past the chip without exposing the tip.

I used 220 grit sand paper then moved up to 320 and then to 400. After the 400 grit paper, I used a fine diamond stone before moving onto the Sharpmaker for the final edge. It's a scary sharp little knife right now.

I'm very pleased with the final results. There are still a few scratches here and there, but nothing that really bothers me, or takes away from the knife. It's so nice now, that I may start carrying it. It's funny that a bad ebay experience (the knife was two weeks late in arriving and wasn't as described in the auction) turned into a good experience and seems to have opened up a new hobby for me. I'm actively looking for old beat up knives now.

So here's a few pictures of the final results.

7.jpg


8.jpg

My reward for a job well done.
 
:thumbup: The before and after pics speak for themselves but that is amazing. How long did it actually take ya?
 
mfinden said:
:thumbup: The before and after pics speak for themselves but that is amazing. How long did it actually take ya?
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I started on it Thursday night, worked some yesterday morning and finished it up this evening. This wasn't a very difficult project, just cleaning it up really, so it didn't take too long.

I've decided that next I'm going to try to replace the scales on some sort of Buck. I really like the 500 series, but I wouldn't mind a 110 or 112 project. If I can find another 50X (or a 300 series), I'd like to try ebony scales, and I don't think ebony would look too good with the brass bolsters of the 110/112.

There's an old beat up two dot 110 around here somewhere that I've been thinking about sending back to Buck for a reblade that may be a candidate for new scales. The blade is useless, it's sharpened down too much to even consider keeping. But I'm not sure if it's even worth the effort of fixing up. If I do send it in and it comes back free of play with a new blade, then I may go for new scales, but as it is, the bolsters are banged up from hammering so I don't think it could ever look too good. Might be worth it as a beater though with a new blade.
 
Looks great!
Does anyone know what blade steel was used on the old 500 series with the red micarta handle scales?
 
Psychopomp said:
If I do send it in and it comes back free of play with a new blade, then I may go for new scales...
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Were you going to do the new scales yourself??? Buck peens the 110/112 [hollow] scale rivets from the back [inside], just the opposite of most knives. Easy to replace with the whole knife disassembled, probably hard to do afterward.

I did a 112 with black Micarta scales, it's here [pics] under something about 112's. I think it looks pretty good with polished brass bolsters.

And about your satin finish - if you're willing to spend a very few $$$, Sears has cheap polishing wheels that can be fit on a bench grinder or in a pinch, a drill clamped to your bench. I've been using their black rouge and my brass looks pretty good after sanding w/400 and then polishing with Sears black rouge...but it does take a half hour or more of polishing...

I don't know if I want to make a hobby of this kind of thing or not...the real tools [not cheap Sears] are big $$$... :(
 
Pyschopomp, nice job the edge, the blade looks good as new, entire knife is excellent...I like my 501s for carry when the 112 is not suitable...the 501 sheath is small and unobtrusive. Enjoy your "new" 501.

If you send that 2 dot in for reblade and the bolsters are really beat up...Buck will refinish them. However, one that I sent in for reblade came back looking new, I was really pleased...later after handling it more I noticed that it felt different. They had taken quite a bit off the front bolster and it really changed the feel. I'm not saying that it's all bad, just different. I'm thinking that if I send in another that is "dinged" I'll will ask for a less aggresive refinish, if possible. Preston
 
Psychopomp said:
I finished the blade tonight and I'm very happy with the results.

8.jpg

My reward for a job well done.
Click to expand...

Very nice job indeed! :thumbup: Great choice for the reward.....one of my favorites. :)
 
The dots on the blade near the tip in the picture iwth the Killian's cap... I'm not sure what those were. Just smudges, they wiped right off.

Trax, I may be game for disassembling a knife like you've done to replace the scales. Maybe not any time soon, but you never know. I'm looking around for sheets of ebony and rosewood just to have some on hand when I do decide to go for it. I think an OD green Micarta would look great on a 110/112.
 
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