When a sheild is pinned, how do they do it?

[SVTFreak]

Just curious. How do makers pin (or double pin) a sheild? What's it mean, mechanically?

 

[Alnamvet68]

I think the shield is pinned pretty much the same way the handle scales are pinned on. While we're on this subject, I just found out that case not only pinned and glued their shields, but they also hot pressed them into Delrin scaled knives.

 

[waynorth]

Over the years, the shields were pinned through holes drilled in the shields.
The holes were beveled to allow the heads of the pins to be smoothed without losing their grip.
GEC, with its signature/detailed shields, welds/solders pins on the back, and then peens them through the handles.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

As best as I can recall, one or two pins are driven through or affixed to the shield (either soldered or perhaps cast into the shield as one piece), extending for some length to reach through the inside face of the liner in the knife handle. A recess for the shield is milled into the cover material, and holes for the pins are drilled through the covers (bone, stag, synthetic, etc.) and through the liner/scale underneath the cover (usually brass or nickel silver, sometimes steel on custom/handmade). The pins on the back of the shield are then placed/driven through the pre-drilled holes in the covers and liners, and then the ends of the pins are peened/flattened to the brass/nickel liner. I think this is done by backing the liner against a firm fixture of steel (something like an anvil) inserted into the blade well of the knife handle*, and gently tapping the outer ends of the pins against that, which peens/flattens/widens the inside end to affix it firmly to the liner inside. If you look into the blade well of the knife, at the inside face of the liner on the shield side, you can usually see the ends of the pins there.

(Edit: * = On a new knife build, I'm assuming the shield would be pinned to the cover/liner assembly before the handles are pinned together with the blade. This would obviously make it simpler in accessing the back side of the shield pin, to peen it in place.)

If the shield pins extend through the shield at all, the ends would then be cut and/or filed/sanded down to be flush with the shield. On some knives, you can see the circular outline of the pins on the shield under close examination, assuming the pin stock was driven all the way through it. Other shields might've had pins attached/embedded only in the back side of the shield, but I'm not sure of this.

Quite some time back, I seem to recall seeing a thread/photos/video of the process; I'll see if I can track it down, and link it here if I find something useful.


David

 

[SVTFreak]

Sweet! Answers my questions and now I see them on my knife.

Thanks all!

 

[arizonaranchman]

"Quite some time back, I seem to recall seeing a thread/photos/video of the process; I'll see if I can track it down, and link it here if I find something useful."

Sarah is great at finding obscure old posts...

Interesting question, learned something here yet again!

 

[Codger_64]

Since heating in a shield was mentioned, I'll toss this out. A collage of pictures from the Schrade factory in Ellenville showing the process during their last year, 2004. The subject knife is a 34OTANN, anniversary edition.

Beginning top left and moving clockwise, the shield being heated into a cover with molded in cavity slightly smaller than the shield, the raw cover showing the cavity, the cavity closeup, the unmounted shield, the finished product ready for shipment.

 

[arizonaranchman]

Cool pics 64 thanks!

 

[Brian.Evans]

Very cool pics.

 

[Codger_64]

Now more closely on topic, here is a pre-WWII A.W. Wadsworth Germany (A. Kastor import branding) Scout pattern with jigged bone covers and a pinned shield. The jigged cover would be inletted for the shield, the liner pinned to the cover, then shield, cover and liner drilled thru. The two pins with tapered heads inserted, peened from the liner side and then finished smooth on both shield and liner side. Most often when new, the pins would be invisible. Only years of handling and tarnish makes them visible today. IIRC these pins are the same German Silver (nickle silver alloy) as the shield and in this instance the bolsters and cap.

 

[richstag]

A picture really is worth 1000 words. Thanks for that, Charlie.

Over the years, the shields were pinned through holes drilled in the shields.
The holes were beveled to allow the heads of the pins to be smoothed without losing their grip.
GEC, with its signature/detailed shields, welds/solders pins on the back, and then peens them through the handles.