SKM Magic Knife Kit

[cody6268]

Been thinking about doing this for fun. I've been wanting to learn knife repair, and most kits on the market (of all styles) require pinning and/or forming of the handle material (if included). At first, I thought about getting the JJ's or Case wooden knife kits, but I'm kinda liking this kit since it does produce an actual knife (the Case are actually basically sold as toys). I've seen these kits from lots of manufacturers (from what I've heard, they've been available for many years), usually Italian for quite some time. Fox used to sell these, but I noticed this was listed as an "SKM" kit for about $30; which is about half what I've seen them sell for on the secondary market after Fox discontinued theirs.

Has anyone here assemble one of these? If so, what issues did you encounter? I've heard the kick springs can be fragile in these inexpensive kits. My plans are to assemble it as intended, and then as my skills increase, replace the plastic handles with horn and then pin it for a better appearance.

https://www.grindworx.com/item--SKM-4-S ... chain--215

[Madmarco]

I too have thought long and hard about having a run at one of those kit knives like the one in your picture. I attempted to dismantle and re-build an AGA Campolin 11" Maltese lockback that came to me brand new but had weak opening and not so secure lock-up, but since I really had no idea what I was doing, all 3 tries at it ended with the knife back in pieces. It's currently with Muskrat Man for reassembly. The problems I encountered were shaping the covers properly so as to accommodate the firing mechanism, and the correct peening process, although, I was working with "make-do" tools so that certainly didn't help. I say go for it, worse comes to worse you're out 30 bucks, but I believe those kits are pretty much pre-fab so it might come together easily. Please be sure to post the finished product should you decide to take a shot at it! EDIT-I watched the video from the grindworx link you provided, and the entire knife is pre-cut and assembled with screws, so you'll have no shaping covers, and no peening, and in the vid he assembled the knife in under 5 minutes, and it worked just like the big boys!

[Kramersknife]

I have built about 3 of these my dad brought me one from italy about 20 years ago they are nice ad work well when assembled it was $10.00 he said there in Italy

[dlr110]

I've done about a dozen folding and fixed blade knife kits and they are fun. It took me a while to
build up my shop equipment and knife supplies like the handle materials and some extra pins and
screws. Look at the thread viewtopic.php?f=2&t=70083
to see some of the ones I've finished. Try them you'll have.

[Bill DeShivs]

The little Magic Knife kits are a nice novelty.
Most other knives are not assembled like these, so you will learn little to nothing about knife repair.