All About Pocket Knives

Hi All - I'm new to the forum and knife collecting (I had to find a cheaper hobby than gun collecting), I've recently started to pickup old knives and have been cleaning them up.

I'm trying to get myself setup to do some repair and restoration. I already have pretty much all the hand tools I need and have purchased a drill press and belt/disc sander. After searching through several threads on pin spinners, I've been trying my hand at making a pin spinner without much success. Does anyone know of a source for a carbide spinner? From what I've read on this forum the spinners available at the knife making supply leave something to be desired.

Jim

Have you tried using a set screw? Someone had suggested that a while back on one of the threads. I tried it last night and had pretty good sucess with it. If you look at the bottom of a set screw you will see that it has a radius "dished" out. A #10-32 and a 1/4-20 should be a good place to start. Get several of each to experiment with should you choose to go this way. On the carbide spinner, I myself have no idea where to get those. Welcome to AAPK Jim!

learn to peen first, you can get good results without cutting into handle material by accident and it will teach you patience because you'll bust a couple sets of handles in the process of getting the feel for peening.

Thanks to both of you for your advise. I have a Buck pen knife and an old Colonial Stockman tore apart right now for cleaning, etc. I'll post some results in a couple weeks once I receive the pin stock I ordered and have a chance to put them back together.

"Have you tried using a set screw? Someone had suggested that a while back on one of the threads. I tried it last night and had pretty good sucess with it"
Caddyman, what did you use to spin the set screw?
Did you chuck in a drill press?


catt57

http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kni ... =37&t=6844

all you want to know about pin spinners and more.

I've made a few for myself....the best ones for 3/32" pins are made out of hex drive bolts, as they already have a nice cup in the bottom. The set screws work great for the 1/16" pins.

While the best ones I have are home-made, I have to agree with Muskrat Man. Learning to peen is worth a lot and one you adapt your spinner to finish after peening, you'll be amazed at the results. Properly peened, most just need a good buffing though.

Hey diligence, thanks for posting that link. Been looking for it a few times, but couldnt remember where it was at. Thanks!

Thanks for the reply's on pin spinning. I have finally finished the two knives I was working on. I had taken several before pictures, but unfortunately my kids accidentally deleted them while using the camera for a school project.

The Buck knife I repaired was a small two blade pen knife with the small blade broken. I decided to make it into a single blade and try my hand at some filework on the backspring below are a couple pictures of the results





The second knife I restored was a pretty in-depth project. I started out with a three blade Colonial Stockman, it was a pretty cheaply made knife with steel liners and die cast chrome plated bolsters that were loose and plastic imitation stag handles that were cracked. Also the blades were rusted and pitted, but intact.

I decided that I would replace the steel liners with brass and the die cast bolsters with nickle silver. I used the original steel inner liners as a pattern and as the scale liners backed by a brass liner in the completed knife. I also replaced the plastic handles with emerald diamond wood and polished the blades.

Below are some pics of my progress through the project. For my first attempt I was pretty satisfied with the results.

Four .025" Brass plates pinned between two of the original inner liners ready for shaping,



The four completed brass liners, the two original steel liners, four pieces of nickle silver cut out prior to shaping and two of the original die cast bolsters.



Nickle silver cutouts pinned to the orginial steel liners the original plastic handles are under the tape. I used the original plastic stag handles to determine the location for the inside edge of the new bolsters



completed nickle silver bolsters still attached to pattern.


Below are pics of the completed knife. I think I have about 50-60 hours work into it. It was a blast doing the project and I learned a lot.