All About Pocket Knives

Hello everybody I am new to this forum and the knife hobby I am trying to put some new handles on a tl 29 and am having a small problem. I bought some bone scales from culpepper and am having trouble getting them to stay on the brass liner, I have sanded them flat and tried gluing them down with gorilla glue and they came loose 2 days later so I put them in some rice to try and dry the oil or dye out of them and tried again same result any help would be great and Thanks Robert (sandmak)

Hi Robert & welcome to the community.

Without taking it apart and re-pinning the handles I would suggest a good 3 ton epoxy. You may want to check out the knife repair section:

http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kni ... m.php?f=37

Lots of good tips there. Show us some pictures.

The mods may end up moving this to another part of the forum, but fear not.

Anyway, regarding your question, you need to make sure that you rough up both the liner and the bone with coarse sandpaper so that the glue has something to hold onto.

Also, I recommend cleaning those surfaces with alcohol before gluing things up. The bone can be a little oily from the dye and other natural substances in it.

I concur about 2 part epoxy as opposed to superglue/gorilla glue.

Glenn

Glenn said it.
I use 99% isopropyl alcohol to clean with. I just bought a pint at the pharmacy, it was $1.59 and one of the purest cleaners I have found and leaves NO residue like lacquer thinner does.

Use a good 2 part epoxy and I always pin the handles just to be sure.
Heat & cold can cause most glues to fail.

Thanks so much guys . I will get me some alcohol and some 2 part epoxy and give it a whirl got to be better than what I'm doing now. will post some pics of the finished product if it 's not to embarrassing. Thanks again for all your help. p.s. this pocket knife hobby is kind of addicting.

OK be gentle these are the first 2 I have ever even tried. I got a lot more sanding and polishing to go the yellow handled 1 is and old Imperial 2 blade Barlow I got from the flea market for a whopping $2.00 with no handles and the other is a M.Klein & Sons electricians knife I got back when I first got in the trade in 1990 and it was an older knife than as it came from my old journeyman and I don't have any idea how long he had it before me couldn't have been long it was in great shape when I got it, used it till one of the handles broke that didn't take long and been a drawer ever since. tell me what you think and any pointers would be great (I got a thick skin) Robert (sandmak)

For your first try, I think you did very well!

Now to the gentle critique. Never be afraid to take that bone down some. That yellow one has a good shape, but the covers seem a little thick. You could thin it down some, or even taper things to give it a more round shape so it fits better in the hand.

The green one looks good. Some people like that "fat" look on the covers, but I have never been too much of a fan. If that is the look you are going for, then it worked. If not, then don't be afraid to thin that down some. I see you tapered the jigging around the bolsters. That is what I am talking about. Let the jigging guide how "fat" you want the covers to be, then you can taper them to the bolsters like you did. Hope that makes some sense, and I hope I didn't offend you with my critique. I'm by no means an expert.

BTW, I like that you pinned everything.

Glenn

Glenn said it all. Very good for your first try!

Wayne

I agree very good for a first attempt!
They look great mechanically; thickness and contours are something you have to develop an eye for, IMO.
You can thin the bone quite a bit and what I like about taking the bone down is the colors that develop an the different depths and the variations of color that show up where the bone changes density.

Great first mods!

Thanks guys , I will post pics of the finished product in few days after a whole lot of sanding and polishing. I gotta get some tools. Both of these have decent snap on opening however they both need to be pushed closed not like before I took them apart any ideas? Thanks as always ( I think I'm doomed woke up thinking about these darn knives) Robert (sandmak)

Were they opening and closing properly during assembly? I mean when you had everything peened but not finished. Did you use a slackener when peening the pivot/blade pin?

Make sure your knife blades operate smoothly before you finish them. You can tweak the fit of everything while the pins are still peened and proud. If you try to do that after finishing, your pins will sink below the bolster.

Hope that helps.

say it ain't so I took a file to the bone on the barlow and it caught the pin and split my pretty yellow bone . Too hard to fast first time that was no good , oh well live and learn hope my learning curve improves this could get costly. Just have to try again. laughing and crying, Robert (sandmak)

That sucks Robert...

even as bad as that was, it was 5 times worse for me last weekend. Everything I touched I destroyed. And I've been doing this for a while. We all have our good and bad days, don't get discouraged.

glennbad wrote:That sucks Robert...

even as bad as that was, it was 5 times worse for me last weekend. Everything I touched I destroyed. And I've been doing this for a while. We all have our good and bad days, don't get discouraged.

Ya' mean I ain't the only one?
There are days I know if I go into the shop all I will do is make mistakes that will take me days to undo!

Somedays it is just better to read a book and stay away from the shop!

orvet wrote:
Somedays it is just better to read a book and stay away from the shop!

Sad, but true...

And I thought it was just me.

Yep, nothing makes your day like spending a half hour, perfectly fitting up a $12 set of slabs, only to strike that dang handle pin one last lick and splitting the slab clean to the bolster!! I reckon it comes with the territory, but it's ALMOST enough to drive a feller to drink!!!
Hang in there sandmak, it looks like you're coming along fine to me.

WB

If a guy don't break a set or two of handles when learning, he is probably not learning as much as he could!

With that criteria Dale, I should be on the knife mechanics Board of Education!!
It's been quite awhile since I busted a slab. (knock on wood...bone...whatever) I've been putting off doing a couple of knives in MOP & Abalone, talk about preasure! I have a feeling that's going to be a whole new ballgame. Busting a set of those slabs is not an option!!

WB

Only my 2¢ worth. There are alternative choices to bone handles rather than Culpepper. If you have a knife that is going to be a keeper nice bone handles may be worth the $. but if you're experimenting and learning how things work the pen blanks are about $3 each and will make 2 sets of handles and places like SMKW have blue, green, red, and plain bone slabs for $4 a set on closeout. That way when you break one it isn't near as costly. Wait until you've found an antler, spent considerable time drying, cutting, stabilizing and then split it open. Makes you want to say a lot of non Sunday School words.

I feel your pain on the ones what go wrong and have to be re-done. It happens. I just finished an old Schrade Folding Hunter yesterday and everything went like clockwork. No glue, just pins. Normally for me that is not the case. I usually use Weldwood Contact Cement to hold the scales in place for drilling the holes and then I pien them as though theres no glue at all on them. If a mistake is made, a little heat will let you take them off again with minimal hassle (before the pins), and a touch of acetone will clean both surfaces ready for the next try. That's just my 2 cents, but like the other guys said Robert, for some first tries, you're doing great.

Thank you all I feel ok about this one and hope the learning curve levels out one day until than I will be glad for all your help and keep right on trying as once I get the bug for something I'm no quitter Thank one and all look forward to many more discussions and not making me feel like a buffoon. Robert(sandmak)

Keep trying, practice makes perfect!