First are the knives, I call them shearing knives. They are nothing real special, a chopped down kitchen knife will do. You can make this yourself from any old kitchen knife. I prefer a short (2" at most) sheep foot blade, the edge must be thin, but not too thin, it also must be tempered hard or else the edge won't cut the pin, it will just roll and dent. I have an Eko slicer I'm going to chop down tonight to replace the cheap Chinese fillet knife that has taken a beating, it was tempered too soft.
The process is pretty self explanatory; here are some pictures to guide you. (NOTE: before attempting to shear the pins you must first grind off the head of the rocker pin and tap it out using a punch)
I tape up the blades first so they don't get damaged and to keep my fingers safer. I then place the knife in between the tang and liner (when the blades are open) and tap in in-between them with a hammer like shown here.
Then I remove the knife and tap it down from the top like shown here
I then hammer it all the way through the pin
Do this to each side of the knife if it is a multi blade knife
Then do likewise to the rear pin, unless it is a bare head type knife with no rear bolster, then just remove the pin like you did the rocker pin.
Tap out all the pin stubs with a punch, and then you have the knife taken apart
Now, on to the others, A good hammer is a necessity, I use a ball peen, a tack hammer is handy to have around too. You can use these for everything from peening pins, straightening bent liners and reattaching bolsters.
Also in that picture from left to right are split ring pliers, side cutters, needle nose pliers and lineman’s pliers, all are handy to have in the shop, but the lineman’s and side cutters are by far the most used in my shop for cutting pins.
Files, not enough can ever be said about files. They are used for countless jobs in the shop, from truing to file work to shaping handles. I keep a set of needle files for intricate work, single and double cut mill files and a couple chainsaw files. The single cuts are for metal, the doubles are for fine tuning the shape of handles, chainsaw files for file work, I also try to keep rat tail and triangular files on hand too.
One of the most important tools for reassembly is the slackener. In Ben Kelly's "The complete book of pocket knife repair" he states that he uses a slackener of .015 in thickness. This works for some multi blade knives, but I have found that it leave way too much play in the blade when open with single blade, and even some multi blade knives. I use anywhere from .005 to .010. The best thing to use IMO is feeler gauges I learnt this from a local embellisher. Notches need to be cut in the ends of them so it will surround the pivot pin on three sides when in place. Basically what this does it allows head space for the blade to pivot smoothly and to snap open and closed. You can use a thinner gauge than you think to remove play, but sometimes you have no choice but to leave the play, because (and I have done this many times in the past) if you keep going to thinner gauges, eventually you loose your snap and it doesn’t open or close with any authority like it should. I don't usually go below .007 but on some case copperlocks since they have the pivot bushing you can go down to .005.
Punches, I keep a center punch for marking parts for drilling, but I use a homemade punch most of the time. I have a set of punches that are decent quality, but the smallest always seems to break on me, so I made my own. Nothing fancy, just a modified Phillips screwdriver. It is tapered for strength; it won't break and has only bent on one occasion when I really had to hammer on it. The taper also allows me to knock out anywhere from 1/16" to 5/32" pins without trouble. The larger punches are good for setting bolsters and other odd jobs in the shop.
After you take that knife apart, you won't be able to get it back together without pins. I buy 1/16", 3/32" 1/8" and 5/32" brass and nickel from Jantz knife supply, shipping isn't cheap so if you order you better stock up. If the knife has steel bolsters, I usually use a nail; they are tough and work excellent. If the hole is an odd size, you’ll have to turn down a larger pin to fit the hole, I use a belt sander, and a drill or drill press and let it spin on 150 grit sandpaper between my fingers. Here is my parts box, always keep scrap parts, even short lengths of pin, pin stock isn't cheap and you'll be able to use even the shortest scraps sooner or later, here is part of my box containing small parts and short pre cut pins.
Questions?
If anyone is interested, I have a complete rebuild coming up Monday on a case hawkbill, if anyone is interested I could do a step by step tutorial of how I do it, from start to finish. This one will have visible pins, file work, maple burl, lanyard hole-the works.
I'm learning so much already. I was waiting on pinstock to put my hammer brand back together- now I may just use a nail. Good tip. So another question. How is a pin spun? What is used to do this?
