All About Pocket Knives

They used spot welding well before 1970 and still do today. Those really are the spot weld marks just as I've seen them made at the factory.

VERY interesting, thanks Bob!

Sorry for the detour Chief, the work's looking fantastic!

Eric

No problems I am stuck at the moment with the Case PJ while I do some practice work on a little Colonial 2 blade Jack. I have cleaned things up good and ready to start peining. I don't really know where to start. I guess I will just put in pins for now and then try to put in spacers at blades. Then do some peining.

Elvis wrote:They used spot welding well before 1970 and still do today. Those really are the spot weld marks just as I've seen them made at the factory.

I beg to differ sir. On the left is a liner from a case 54 pattern from a 70's era knife On the right is a liner from a case 54 pattern from a modern (late 90's or 2000's era knife). As you can see the older liner has a pinned on bolster, the newer knife has a spot welded bolster. You can see the difference in the marks on the underside of the liners. The spot welded liner just has a small dimple, the pinned liner has a bradded over (but flush) pin showing that was integral to the bolster. Chief's knife clearly exhibits the latter bolster attachment method.





Not trying to be an ass, I just hate the spread of misinformation. There's too much of it floating around the world already.

Differ if you must, but the round marks near the pin holes in the original pictures are from the bolsters being attached to the liners. As I mentioned before, even the one at the end of the main blade spring has one, and it gets no movement.

Elvis wrote:Differ if you must, but the round marks near the pin holes in the original pictures are from the bolsters being attached to the liners. As I mentioned before, even the one at the end of the main blade spring has one, and it gets no movement.

Ummmmm.....I agree I was only pointing out the bolsters were pinned, not spot welded

Very interesting again! I thought they looked kinda round and even for a weld, although I never would have thought they'd drill right through the center of the tommy pin either. I'm more accustomed to this type of setup, where the pins are offset from the bolster pin hole:

And I was just trying to point out that the original liners weren't damaged, but the set you have pictured here are a bit different. Who made those? I like the double pin set-up (even though I've considered buying a spot welder).

Bob, that's a modern Canal Street trapper scale. Most of their knives are pierced the same way, although I'm not sure about the cap end of the single blade, that's a pretty small piece, gonna have to check it out tomorrow.

Eric

I'm peining. Got my spacer in and peined the blade pin. I think I will leave the spacer in and pein the spring end now. It is nice not having to pein and take care of the bolsters.

The little Colonial is back together. It tightened up a lot and I will shine it up a bit. I got a lot of peining practice and learned a little about pinning one back together. One day I may put some scales on this one. Maybe some deer antler I make myself. that would make a 2 dollar knife into an heirloom. Man I have a long way to go to get to there. I hope the fire keeps burning.

I forgot I had a before and after. I guess you can tell.

Looks like things are coming along just fine to me.

Keep it up Chief, looks great!!!

I stuck some pins through the Texas Jack this evening. I will be doing some serious peining tomorrow. Things are looking OK but this bone is very brittle. I have learned a lot and thanks to folks here, I am almost done with this one. I don't know that it will ever be good enough to trade but it will be a good one for me to carry and remember the lessons I have learned. Maybe it will get new handles one day. Who knows?

soak it in lemon oil overnight to rehydrate the bone, it will also make it softer and less prone to cracking. I've heard old time Sheffield cutlers used to do this before taking a knife back apart to minimize the change of scale damage. I practice this also.

Lemon oil will be on my list. Well here she is. All peined up and ready to spend some time in my pocket. I have lots of finish work to do. I do not have power tools so I will be hafting, if that is even the right term, with lots of elbow grease.

Learning to set the pins properly, is one of the hardest things to learn in knifemaking and repair. Atleast for me, it has been. Looks like you're on the road to getting it just right, Chief!

WB

This is it. I'm done.

Looks like a great job!

Use it well.

Glenn

I just dropped in here to "check it out" ,,,,Great thread gentlmen very good information

Question...At present I do not have any brass rod to practice on peining.but I have access to a lot of metal hangers. Would that be a suitable material to practice on?

buddyie22 wrote:Question...At present I do not have any brass rod to practice on peining.but I have access to a lot of metal hangers. Would that be a suitable material to practice on?

Probably not Buddy... I assume you mean coat hangers (?) The metal needs to be softer like brass, nickle silver or copper - you don't have any copper nails in the workshop by chance?

I once accidentally got some pins mixed up on my bench and started to put together a knife with a steel piano wire pin, instead of nickle silver as soon as I started hammering I knew something wasn't right.

Derek

Most hardware stores sell brass nails and bolts. You can cut the heads off the bolts and use them. A regular nail is hard to peen, but would work better than a wire hanger.

Brazing rod or brass rod for gas welding will work good for pins if you can't find anything else. If the brazing rod has flux on it take that off before you use it.

My local Ace Hardware store carries three or four different sizes that I use in brass rod but they don't have any nickel silver.

Find local True Value hardware stores have brass rod also as well as local hobby shops like Hobby Lobby.

nails and mild steel gas welding rod generally peens well for me, especially if you're shooting for domed pins