All About Pocket Knives

Just a quick one. Leopard wood scales and simple filework. While your here, does anyone know the size of nickel pin stock I need for a camillus tl-29(bolster).

Nice. Looks a lot like the lacewood that GEC has used in the past.

Nice looking Doc. Good job on the handles.

Quote from The Wood Database:

"Leopardwood is frequently confused with Lacewood, and is sometimes referred to as such. In its vaguest sense, the term “lacewood” is used to describe any wood that displays figuring that resembles lace, (which would technically include Leopardwood). Attempts to identify a specific board macroscopically may be difficult. Two Australian species, Northern Silky Oak (Cardwellia sublimis), and Southern Silky Oak (Grevillea robusta) can both look very similar, and are sometimes sold as Australian Lacewood."

Years ago, I made a small desk clock for Linnea out of "Lacewood". Makes me wonder now if it really was "Lacewood" or something else.

terdl76 wrote: While your here, does anyone know the size of nickel pin stock I need for a camillus tl-29(bolster).

I assume the bolster come off somehow. Is the large stud of nickel silver the goes through the liner messed up so that you cannot put it through its hole and peen it back down in place?

Most of the TL-29 bolsters had a single piece of nickel silver (I call it a stud) that fit through a hole in the liner and was then peened to hold it in place. The stud was part of the original casting of the bolster. I am not an expert on metallurgy, but I believe many were cast of nickel silver - there are times I have found a void in the bolster as a result of an air pocket when it was cast.

If that stud cannot be utilized again, I have used a couple options:
1- Solder the bolster on with silver solder.

2- Drill one or two 1/16" holes through the liner and about 1/2 or 2/3 of the way into the bolster.
Then take a short piece of 1/16" brass pin stock and drive it into the holes and peen it down on the liner.
It is helpful to make a recess in the liner so the end of the pin does not rub the tang when it is assembled.
I have also found it helps to put a point on the pin before setting in place.

It doesn't lake a lot to keep them in place, the pivot pin when in place will usually hold the bolsters on if everything is straight and not warped.

In fact, I have encountered old German knives that had the bolsters held on only by the pivot pin. That makes it harder to repair, especially when they are thin cast bolsters that are hollow inside. Often those are held on by a little bit of solder, but not always.
The main problem I see with using only the pivot pin to attach the bolsters is that if the blade gets some side to side play in it the bolster on one side or another can turn out of alignment when a blade is opened or closed. It can be a real pain to fix!

Those are the 2 methods I would first try if you can't re-peen the bolster stud.
Perhaps someone else has another method of repair.

BTW - Nice work on the knife!

Thanks guys. As far as the rod size, I'm not sure what the proper term is but, it's the one that goes through both bolsters and the tang. Pivot maybe? Last time I removed the screwdriver blade and reused what was already there. Not so lucky this time. Shoot, it may be stainless, I'm not sure.

Oh, I see. You meant the pivot pin?
The pivot pin on the TL-29 is about 0.094" or 3/32".
Camillus used nickel silver pins in them originally, so that is what I use when I re-pin one.

Mr. Orvet, thank you very much!