wirejacks

[Owd Wullie]

Here's my BLUE one.

[singin46]

Cool Wullie!

[oregon]

Wire Jacks: All except the small sheep's foot (Boker) are George Schrade manufactured. Boker bought George Schrade Co. in 1956 and shed it in 1958 and the equipment was sold. Green for Girl Scouts and red for Boy Scouts.

The largest folder is the #225 stainless steel blade with heavy nickle plated handle Fishing Knife (4.75" closed). The big hawkbill, with a heavy guage chrome vanadium steel blade, is the #175 Utility Knife (4" closed, missing its red guard).

All, except the Boker (tang etch "BOKER USA") have the patent date of 1-27-42 (two years after George passed away in 1940). I don't know if the Boker ever held a guard.

The portion control sized spoon (marked on the back of the handle "Allegheny Stainless Steel WB/W" ) and the folding fork are from a George Schrade Scout Chow Kit.







Note that the background is the terrific book "George Schrade and His Accomplishments to the Knife Industry" by the Great Grandson brothers George M. and William Schrade. About 80 pages, black & white, lots of photos of knives, and a great resource for me. Link to table of contents: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/ ... nts003.jpg BTW, William Schrade, Bill, posts in the Schrade collector's forum over @ bladeforums.

[singin46]

Very cool assortment of Wirejacks and cool info on the Schrade Company.

[oregon]

Thank you for the kind words singin46.

Here is one of the knives that I mangled (I have direct personal knowledge that the cap lifter performs its intended function):















My mangling was to remove the small amount of red paint from the guard, prime and then paint with orange enamel and then replace guard.

Thank you for looking.

[singin46]

Looks like the orange might have been painted later. Is this the case?

[oregon]

Yes. I removed the small amount of original red paint from the guard and painted it with orange enamel paint. The tiny guards are compression fit only on the Scout Wire jacks. They can be removed with a chop stick, small piece of wood or small screw driver. To reinstall the newly painted guard I employed a small envelope of wax paper to pave the way and protect the paint and simply pushed the guard into place.

[singin46]

Yes, as you may or may not know, I have many of these as well and was thinking of repainting the green one because of the paint loss on it. It looks like a very nice job oregon!

[oregon]

Thank you singin46.

I bot the paint, white base coat and orange enamel finish coat @ Home Depot, in spray cans. When the guard was prepared I put the bent end of a paperclip into the guard and the entended end of the paperclip on a magnet stuck to a steel pole so I could spray from all directions and bring the painted guard into the house to dry for 24 hours without touching it.

What about replacing the steel guard with a titanium one and anodize it a good color like bright green. I need to find some thin Ti sheet and try this. I have a DC power supply for anodization work.

You know, brightly anodized aluminum would work as well. Dreaming here.

Why not carbon fiber or bulletproof glass...

Remove the target guard and send it to me, ready to paint, in the mail. I will send it back to you oranged.

[singin46]

Thanks oregon, I want to actually repaint mine in original dartmouth or dark green

[singin46]

Here's the green girlscout one I was talkin bout. The red is a 1926 stamp and the green has the 42' stamp.

[oregon]

Two fine specimens of Scout Wire Jacks. Good clear tang stamps, full blades and guards are present. Wonderful knives.

I wonder if a clever person could etch the image of George Schrade onto both sides of the guard? Once etched you could clear coat or simply Tuf-Glide (stop aging) the guard and return it to the handle. Does a technique exist, something for a novice, to transfer an image to metal (acid etch)?

You could do a re-paint tutorial: Before, during and after type of thing. Help us all out.

[singin46]

Here's what I did today oregon.

[oregon]

Toothpicks! WTG. Brilliant. Easy on the metal and on the painted surface.

That color looks right on point for the Girl Scout Wire Jack. Good choice.

Was it much trouble: Removing the guard, preparing the surface of the guard, getting the right color and painting the guard?

It sure turned out good.

Thank you for the photos.

[singin46]

Thanks oregon! Well the trick was not in gettin it off or even coming up with the toothpick idea. I have an area in my backyard that has no leaves or anything but dirt so I put the toothpicks in the ground, sat the handle piece on top of it and began to lightly paint it. 3 coats did the trick. I left for work and hoped it wouldn't rain before I got home tonight.
Everything worked as planned and now al I have to do is get it back in the wire without scratchin it up!

[singin46]

Ok, I scratched it up, tryin to get it back in. Maybe on the second try, I will do better. What if I do a little enamel clear coating after. I'm an idiot!

[junebug]

hey guys....nice job perry!!!
i usually go with:
sand metal
metal etching primer (rattle can)
paint ( i try to use ONE SHOT)but anything really
clear coat(rattle can)
and some times i will let small metal parts with fresh paint dry a day and set near the toaster oven(on top usually) for a bit ,just to make sure all layers are cured......
install.....but as perry just found out....my way has scratched b4 too

hope this helps a lil


junebug

[singin46]

Yeah, I totally sanded off the new paint, gonna use a little more patience this go round.

[oregon]

I used a little wax paper to "shoe horn" and slide and protect the newly painted guard into place. Once in place in the handle of the knife i pull out the wax paper while holding the guard in place.

[singin46]

Well I knew I wasn't thinkin hard enough on this! Thanks to IMband, Josh and oregon for helpin me out.
I would've never thought of using wax paper,,,,GENIUS!

[singin46]

Curious about one thing oregon, how did you completely get the plate inside the liners, to where it settled in place? What kind of tool did you use to push it into place?

[oregon]

I spread the wire handle with a screwdriver to make the insert a smooth move (I had my son hold the open blade steady on my desk top with the handle's belly pointed up) and I pulled/pushed the wax paper sleeve and finally a cleaning swab (thin wood with small cotton ends, one end blunt and other end pointy) to manipulate the guard into its final position.

[singin46]

Ok, Thanks oregon. I figured you had done it like this, which is pretty much like I had. That screwdriver is handy to pry the handles open somewhat.

[oregon]

Here's a big Wire Jack Utility Knife #150 with a Bowie blade of chrome vanadium Steel.

Four ounces, 4 3/4" closed & 8 5/8" overall open. Anatomical and comfortable in the hand. Minimalist.

[singin46]

Very cool, I have one as well but mine is in much worse condition.