All About Pocket Knives

Hi all, This is a 34OT I got some time ago, was advertised as " unused, as new ".
It had 1/4 inch wobble on main, 50% snap,scratched handles and bolsters, nothing like pic in ad.
But to amaze me the blades are main 95%, spey & sheepsfoot as new, just discoloured.
I reckon it was a good Swinden system one to have a go at.
As far as I could tell the reason for the blade wobble & lack of snap was the pins were 1/2 moon shape,
Wouldn't even hazard a guess how that could happen on a knife that looks like it had
minimal blade wear, never thought to get pic's of them until I had binned them.
Anyhow it now has good snap, about 95%, and no blade wobble.
One thing I learnt on this one is to drill all pin holes before sanding and shaping the scales
I drilled the centre pin hole after I got them sanded and shaped, and where the bit came thru it
sort of left a shattered exit hole. I thought I'd be able to cover it with the peening, but you
can still see the exit wound around pin with the magnifyer.
Well, I still got a lot to learn.
PS.. Looks terrible that centre pin, will have to fix that, have to put new scales on,
or just use it for a EDC..

nice gary! love those handles!

sweet resto, love the bone handles

Very cool!!

Partial quote:

PS.. will have to fix that, have to put new scales on,
or just use it for a EDC..

Why not both? You deserve a new set of handles as much as the next guy. Right? While I'm not a big fan of Swinden.....Well done!

That looks super!

Nice! Horn handles aren't they? I always drill prior to hafting, the scales lay flat against an aluminum or wood backing plate minimizing chipping around the hole and what does chip gets hafted out 99.9% of the time If we didn't make mistakes we wouldn't learn anything

Nice looking work on that knife.


JW is right;
Use a backing board to drill on or a piece of scrap micarta,
Don’t push hard on the drill,
Replace your drills frequently.

I have a parts cabinet with 2 or 3 drawers with brand new drills in them.
If you start using ivory, or any of the shells, MOP, abalone, etc, sharp new drills are a MUST!


Like Kaleb says, drill before hafting.
I glue the slabs onto the liner, drill the holes then haft.
Makes it much easier and rarely a blowout.
If you have a little chipping it is usually removed in the hafting.

Gary, I think you did a great job. The knife looks good. Keep it up! Bull

Thanks to all for your kind words.

I'll take the tuition on board and hopefully not stuff-up again.
I knew what the problem was as soon as I saw it, but live and learn.

cheers Gary.