WWII Colonial Pilot's knife mod

[#goldpan]

I had been wanting to do this for years. Recently I got my chance! I picked up this one for about $25.00 on Ebay.

As you can see the saw blade was broken making this one perfect for a mod!

The scales were held in place with screws which made them easy to remove. The new ones are walnut reclaimed from my old Marlin 30-30 when the stock broke. Next I cut the pins and disassembled the knife.

At this point I was so into the build that I forgot to take pictures... The next step was to clean all the parts. After that the big thing was to replace the broken saw blade. The tang is built from two pieces that sit on either side of the saw blade and are held in place by a pin. I drilled out the pin. removed the two tang spacers and spent a lot time looking at parts that had to be assembled. I used the tang spacers as template and cut the profile to match the spacers. I drilled the hole for the pivot pin first and them used a dummy pin to hold everything in alignment, clamped it all together and then drilled the pin hole for the pin that holds everything together. After that it was time to assemble!

Next I worked on shaping and finishing the scales..

At first I re-blued the entire knife. However I changed my mind and buffed off the bluing on everything except the master blade and saw. (I see I did not get all of the blue paint off of the saw blade... ) I used brass for the pivot and anchor pins. The black slotted scale screws were replaced with stainless steel Allen head screws. The walnut scales were finished with a semi gloss clear coat. All in all I could have been a little neater with the fit and finish. Things will get better! After spinal surgery in December I still have some nerve issues with my left hand. Things get a little shaky sometimes.... I really like the way this one turned out If anyone has one of these with a broken saw blade that they would like to sell cheap or trade PM me. I want to do another one soon. Well here it is! What do guys think?

Some of you may have noticed the screw heads standing a bit proud on the scales. They were hitting the blades inside the liners. This morning I removed and shortened the screws. All is well now! Thanks for looking!

Randy

[edge213]

Rany, that's really awesome upgrade.

[SteelMyHeart85420]

Now I regret gettin' rid of the one I had, for that very reason. That's a serious pocket chopper, nice work

[#goldpan]

Thanks guys! What I like about the new saw blade is that its for wood and the teeth point in the opposite direction that the original did. This way it it cuts on the pull stroke instead of the push. No need for liner lock. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the lock was removed.

Randy

[#goldpan]

One more thing... Anyone notice the E/O notch? It was needed to make it easier to open the saw blade as it sits different that original.

Randy

[TripleF]

Awesome work pal!!

[#goldpan]

Thanks Scott!

[glennbad]

That's friggin' cool! I have something like that sitting on my bench waiting for a mod.

There was discussion before about replacing the snapped saw blade on those with a sawzall blade.

You may have just driven me over the edge.

Nice job!

[#goldpan]

Thanks Glenn! These are addicting! I can't mod just one I found another one cheap and still looking. At first I was going to make a giant canoe frame out of this one. Then I was contemplating a reverse gun stock but settled on this E/O design. I would love to do all!

Randy

[orvet]

Nice job Randy!
I have one and have an original saw blade someone here took out of a knife.
I need to put it in my knife but seeing your blade that looks more useful.
Where did you get the blade?

Great work!

[#goldpan]

Thanks Dale! I purchased the blade at Ace. Its for a reciprocating saw. I used the tang spacers for the template then cut and drilled it to fit.

Randy