All About Pocket Knives

I was looking at these German pearls in the attached picture and wondering??? How did they drill the holes in the pearl to attach the handles to the knife? That is how did they do it without cracking or breaking the pearl? Seems it would be hard enough to shape pearl handles, let alone attaching them to the knife by rivet. I notice that some of the pearl's of today are glued on.

verrrry carefully with a sharp drill. and on top of that what about peening them down? good reason to spin the pins.

1) a jig made to hold that pattern (size) securely to the press (drill) table.
2) Diamond impregnated cobalt bit
3) Same jig has Ti-tipped drift punches. Brass is semi-malleable making this process easier.

It comes down to having the right hold. ie: The right equipment.
Being a former Industrial Tool Contractor. If you can think it, it can be done,,well,,pretty much, things like pocket knives are easy and don't require extremely tight specs/tolerance.

Hope this helped.-ILK

Where is my buddy?? The one from NY ?? I misses hiiimm.

ilikeknives wrote:1) a jig made to hold that pattern (size) securely to the press (drill) table.
2) Diamond impregnated cobalt bit
3) Same jig has Ti-tipped drift punches. Brass is semi-malleable making this process easier.

It comes down to having the right hold. ie: The right equipment.
:

Nice collection of pearls TCT .

In the good old days before electric drills and diamond impregnated cobalt tips, master craftsmen used something called a fiddle drill which was also known as a parser. A shaft with the bit on one end slotted into a wooden bobbin at the other end. The cutler would be standing at his work bench. The scale was held upright and tight to a piece of wood by a vice in front of him. He had a specially designed plate strapped to his midsection into which the bobbin was inserted. A leather thong wrapped around the bobbin was used to rotate the bobbin back and forth by hand which turned the shaft. The cutler had precise control over the speed and could apply subtle changes in pressure by simply leaning forward slightly. A good analogy would be trying to start a fire with a stick and a bow. For cutting holes for shields and cartouches etc there was a 'two legged' parser. Two shafts inserted into the bobin. A steel template with the shield shape cut-out was placed over the scale and the cutler followed the template like a hand powered jigsaw. Apparently this tool was ideal for cutting delicate materials such as pearl and tortise shell. s-k

HEY S K,

Great explanation on the drills. I was researching for my book in the home of the family that has the original tools used for the Tidioute cutlery company. I saw a number of these items there. After reading your post, it makes a lot more sense. THANKS

here is a parsa

Hi Johnnie. Thanks for the post. That helps alot to clarify my description. All the sources I have call it a Parser. I think the skill involved in some of the old knife making is incredible. The working of the parser for cutting the shield hole and the pinning of the scales and shield was one the most skill demanding tasks. In the the 1800s, a prospective cutler typically apprenticed for at least 7 years before he was ready to perform the final assembly of a pocket knife. s-k

hey smiling knife, my pleasure. i got to dig around in my books. the difference in spelling is probabably parser was maybe americanized to parsa. are your references british?

Hey Johnnie, do you mind telling me what book that is that you scanned?

not at all. it's from ben kelley jr.
"the complete book of pocketknife repair" a cutlers manual.
published by krause publications, inc. in 1995

i buy every book i find on knives.

Thanks Johnnie

Hi everyone, yes my sources are English so that might explain the spelling difference. Thanks again. s-k