Rehandle and repair of a Case 2138LSS sodbuster

[glennbad]

Great looking stag!

[FRJ]

Very nice looking fixed blade!

[Colonel26]

Man O Man! That fixed blade is some kinda fine.

[#goldpan]

Update on the Case sodbuster: A couple of issues have slowed down the progress.The issues were the bone flaking on one scale. That's been taken care of. The other was the bird's eye. I wanted to pin it back the same way that Case did the original. They had perfect pockets in the plastic from injection molding. Giving the recessed holes a flat bottom. I found that drilling the holes left a concave bottom. This caused the washers to not lay flat. I came up with a new custom rivet! Believe me I will use cutlers rivets if I ever do another sodbuster. or I will make the "washer" out round brass stock of the appropriate diameter. I would have used cutler's rivets this time, except that the heads on the rivets that have the correct shaft size had smaller heads than the heads on the Case rivets. I need to pick up a larger assortment of end mill bits. If I had the correct size I could cut a very neat flat surface in the bottom of the pokets and eliminate all of the issues.

From left to right: The Case factory "washer" then the first one that I made and finally the new version. The new version takes the concave bottom of the hole into consideration. Of course I did some work with my Drimel so that the throat sits nicely in the hole.

Here is the new set up installed on the pivot pin. Now that I have everything ready I will do my peening tomorrow and then finish sanding and polishing! Its been a learning curve for me with the bone and the bird's eye rivets! Stay tuned!

[gsmith7158]

Randy, I'm glad you are doing that and not me! All those parts would probably be in the trash by now.

[#goldpan]

Well talk about a learning curve! The new "washers" that I made lost their integrity and one of them chipped a chunk off Any way I picked up some 5/16 brass rod and I am going to make some heavy duty "washers" out of it. Well they will more like short cylinders when I am done with them. This is turning into real challenge! If not I will remove the camel bone, after discussing this with Greg our back up plan is put some Elk antler on this sod buster and use cutlers rivets instead. That being said I feel good about this attempt I wont quit on it thats for sure! I am way too OCD to give up I will update this post after I get the sod buster back together, probably tomorrow!

[gsmith7158]

Randy you are a persistent rascal. Good luck!

[#goldpan]

Yes I am Greg! When I PM'ed you I was a little perturbed by that washers fail! Well I picked up some brass rod and here is where I am now!

You can see the centering marks around the hole. What I have here is a cylinder that I drilled to same diameter as the pivot pin, all I need to do is cut it to the thickness that I need. If there is a problem I can slice several "washers" off of this cylinder. These "washers" wont fail the way the last ones did! My goal is to give you the knife you envisioned! If I have to go with the back up plan I am good with it. But failing is not an option, just a detour.....

[gsmith7158]

Looks like that might just work Randy !
Can't wait to see it.

[#goldpan]

After taking a break to work on Greg's Camillus 72 I played hooky from the shop yesterday and went fishing. Had time to think this through and caught a Bass to boot!

So as I was thinking about the Bird's Eye pivot and how to make a flat bottom hole in the Camel bone, it occurred to me to make the brass washer (Is it a ferrule now that its so thick?) fit the hole.

Since the drill bit has a 35 deg. angle I copied that onto the ferrule. Sometimes it pays to stop and just think about the problem
There is some more work to fit everything together then I need to make a new pivot pin. Then fit it all together, check for function and assemble! Greg sorry this has taken so much time. But I'm very OCD when I work a knife.... Next post when its done.

[gsmith7158]

That's pretty ingenious Randy! Take your time my friend.

[#goldpan]

Alrighty Greg, here it is. Not quite done yet but close enough to show you a pic! Dang this took a long time.....

Justa little more detail work and she is ready to go!

And a family portrait Greg! All three should be in the mail tomorrow. That sod buster was a chore! Never have worked on one before. Thank you for giving me the chance to be of service Greg! And for your patience while I worked through the curves thrown by the Camel bone and the Bird's eye pinning!

[gsmith7158]

Randy those look fabulous! We'll worth the wait. I will probably be gone again by the time they get to Georgia dang it but I will at least have something nice to come home to. Thanks again Randy for accepting my request.

[danno50]

Those all look great, Randy!
Dan

[#goldpan]

Thanks Dan!

[montemojo]

Those look great Randy, I have been thinking about doing some knife work myself. Yesterday I worked on an old sheet metal business building that had a cutlers shop in one room. I am now trying to figure out how to talk the owner into selling me some of the tools.

Monte

[#goldpan]

Thanks Monte! Good luck on getting some of those cutlers tools! Let us know how it goes! Of course you know working on knives is a bit more addicting than collecting!

[gsmith7158]

All righty then. I have received my knives from Randy and they are gorgeous. We'll close this thread out with some pictures.

[glennbad]

That's some good looking stuff right there!

[FRJ]

Nice knives. Looks like a great end result.

[#goldpan]

Thanks guys! Greg I'm glad you like em'!

[orvet]

Nice job Randy!

[#goldpan]

Thanks Dale!