How to Remove Brass Pins From Leverletto?

[NoahsKnives]

I have here a fake Chinese Bill DeShivs leverletto clone

I bought this off a friend who had it when he was younger and it has always been broken for as long as i have owned it

I’d like to kinda make it not a clone if that makes sense

I have a new blade for it that i made to remove the name and logo and trademarks

And I plan to make a new spring for it as that is the issue is the cheap Chinese spring

I also have new stag for the handles from a buck I got few years back

The stag on it is real believe it or not and has held up over the last 5-6 years I’ve owned it and it’s sat in my toolbox

But I’ve never actually had one of these apart minus kits

How would I go about removing the brass pins?

And what steel would be good for a new main spring?

[Killgar]

Bill DeShivs is the guy to really answer such questions. But until he gets here, here's how I do it-

When I want to de-pin a knife, and I want to preserve the parts, I place a piece of masking tape with a little hole in it over the bolster, with the head of the pin in the hole in the tape. Then I carefully file down the head of the pin flush with the bolster/tape, then I use a pin punch and hammer to punch the pin through the other side, placing the knife across two pieces of wood with a cloth over them so that when I punch the pin down through one side the other end of the pin has room to exit (in the gap between the pieces of wood).

For switchblade spring steel I used 1095, as recommended by Bill DeShivs.


I've taken apart several pinned knives. Here are just a sample of some of the results-

P1050433.JPG (35.38 KiB) Viewed 461 times

P1050441.JPG (48.43 KiB) Viewed 461 times

P1050432.JPG (40.66 KiB) Viewed 461 times

And I've made several springs, following the instructions of Bill DeShivs. Just a few here in a pic of work in progress-

nkrSM0P.jpg (103.94 KiB) Viewed 461 times

[NoahsKnives]

Bill DeShivs is the guy to really answer such questions. But until he gets here, here's how I do it-

When I want to de-pin a knife, and I want to preserve the parts, I place a piece of masking tape with a little hole in it over the bolster, with the head of the pin in the hole in the tape. Then I carefully file down the head of the pin flush with the bolster/tape, then I use a pin punch and hammer to punch the pin through the other side, placing the knife across two pieces of wood with a cloth over them so that when I punch the pin down through one side the other end of the pin has room to exit (in the gap between the pieces of wood).

For switchblade spring steel I used 1095, as recommended by Bill DeShivs.


I've taken apart several pinned knives. Here are just a sample of some of the results-


P1050433.JPG
P1050441.JPG
P1050432.JPG



And I've made several springs, following the instructions of Bill DeShivs. Just a few here in a pic of work in progress-


nkrSM0P.jpg

Thank you for this information I’ve done a few projects myself but typically I’m not trying to save anything scales wise I’d like to keep the scales on this knife for another project

Here is a really cheap Chinese stiletto I bought ( I don’t own just Chinese junk) I just work with these because I don’t care if I ruin them you can see I used a Dremel because I don’t care about the crap resin and the reason I took this apart for was because I put a new safety in it and put new handles on it some nice oak wood ones sadly I didn’t take photos of that the knife I no longer own but I also did a blade swap on it too.

[Bill DeShivs]

To make a new blade, you would have had to remove the pivot pin.
I file the heads off, drive the pins out and then polish the file marks out.
I also use a thin, sharp knife blade that I drive between the liners to sever the pins.

[NoahsKnives]

To make a new blade, you would have had to remove the pivot pin.
I file the heads off, drive the pins out and then polish the file marks out.
I also use a thin, sharp knife blade that I drive between the liners to sever the pins.

Thank you for the info the blade I made was completely from scratch via copying one from a parts knife the photos I posted are also before the blade swap. I have lots of cheap Chinese parts knives I use for templates and I make them out of better quality materials depending what I am doing if that makes sense

[Reverand]

That makes perfect sense to me.
You are honing your skills, without risking expensive originals. In my opinion the blades are the more difficult parts to make, so it won't surprise me if you are making the complete knife from scratch soon!
Either way, I am looking forward to more pictures of your work.

[NoahsKnives]

That makes perfect sense to me.
You are honing your skills, without risking expensive originals. In my opinion the blades are the more difficult parts to make, so it won't surprise me if you are making the complete knife from scratch soon!
Either way, I am looking forward to more pictures of your work.

Thank you I plan to post photos soon I’m making handles out of cherry wood right now for another Chinese stiletto and than I’m gonna make some new springs for 2 Chinese leverlettos both are clones of expensive knives I plan to declone both of them and add my own twist too them

They are both getting new handles 1 is getting a new blade which I have made but not with me (top knife) the bottom one I’m gonna polish the blade up to get rid of the text it’s getting a wood handle the top knife is getting stag but from a buck I got the stag on it I plan to try to keep and reuse later.

My overall goal is to start making my own automatics or at least restore some despite limitations because of where I live

[mikeynj]

Just my observation, and it may not be popular, but those round, piano wire springs are pretty reliable. Being rounded, there are less spots to become stress risers. And honestly, the only cheap-o switch knives with rounded springs I've seen broken are the ones someone looks at and says, "That's weak!" and pries on the thing with a screwdriver to get more kick. And it works for about 2 dozen flicks and then breaks. If you're going to make your own springs for the skill and all, go for it! I love figuring stuff like that out in my workshop. Getting a spring properly tempered can be a pain, is all. Good luck opn the projects, please post photos! Mikey

[NoahsKnives]

Just my observation, and it may not be popular, but those round, piano wire springs are pretty reliable. Being rounded, there are less spots to become stress risers. And honestly, the only cheap-o switch knives with rounded springs I've seen broken are the ones someone looks at and says, "That's weak!" and pries on the thing with a screwdriver to get more kick. And it works for about 2 dozen flicks and then breaks. If you're going to make your own springs for the skill and all, go for it! I love figuring stuff like that out in my workshop. Getting a spring properly tempered can be a pain, is all. Good luck opn the projects, please post photos! Mikey

Thank you I have never heard of using piano wire before I will have to try that

See I’ve always wondered if that’s what happened with the one knife I got off my friend I do still have the broken spring parts from them both and honestly these springs were horrible quality just looking at them

Pardon the photo quality

I’ve got this spring from another Chinese stiletto I switched out the spring on it wasn’t broken or anything but it was out of a stiletto I had for many years and I just felt it was time as I had already started doing handles and the buggered up safety on it and the Chinese spring held up for the years of abuse I put the thing through I never bent it never did any of that just played with it over the years.

I’ve never had bad luck with Chinese stiletto springs myself specifically with the rounded ones the only problems I have had are ones that are too short and fire really weak and sometimes they don’t engage and the blade snaps back on the top of my fingers. But I’ve never had issues with them breaking but the Chinese square springs I’ve had nothing but problems with in the ones I’ve been given and owned myself.

I will be posting follow up photos soon on the progress I make I’m currently waiting on brass pins as I didn’t have any 2.50mm and 2.0mm sized pins for my other stiletto project which is coming along nicely.