All About Pocket Knives

There's a knife I may buy that has a bad back scale. If I were to get the back scale replaced, would the knife have to be taken apart (potentially damaging the front scale) or can the offending scale be removed and replaced without damaging the rest of the knife? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

EDIT: The knife is a slip joint, an equal-end moose pattern. The scales are ivory. I would want to replace the damaged back scale with pearl or some other material since I don't have any ivory. The knife itself is fine. The only issue is the back scale is warped and shows separation from the liner. Sorry, but no pictures are available at this time.

A bit more info on the knife, scale material etc and a pic or 2 would be helpful.

I am assuming this is a traditional slip joint of some sort (?)

Short answer ... it 'can' be done BUT it ain't easy and the likely-hood of damaging something else is very high.
It's about as difficult as finding an honest politician.

Most likely (depending on the scale material) both would need to be replaced anyway to get a reasonable match.

There are some very clever dudes in this sub forum I'm sure they will chime in sometime soon.

Derek

Thanks for replying, Derek. I'll add this to my original post but these are the specs on the knife:

It is a slip joint. A moose pattern specifically. The scales are ivory. I would want to leave the front scale alone but replace the back scale with pearl or something else since I don't have any ivory.

It is possible to take the knife apart without damaging the existing covers, but as other have said, it is very risky. It is also feasible to just glue a piece of whatever material on the back liner, but it would not be pinned, and therefore more likely to come off at some point. Also, if you're really good, you can attach and pin cover material without taking the knife apart.

Good information from Glenn as always.

Every knife is different and what might work on one knife could fail miserably on the next. Pictures would help but even after having the knife in hand repairs are sometimes a gamble at best.

If the knife was mine I would want to replace the broken handle with similar grained ivory as a first option.

Thanks, guys. This was really helpful. But it seems this post is moot now. The seller has decided to try to put new scales on the knife, so looks like the decision is out of my hands. Hopefully it works out. If not then I guess I'll just be passing on the knife.

I think you'd have to take the knife apart if it's a slip joint because you'd have to remove the center pin. The best way to do this without damaging the other side would be to remove one of the blades to relieve the tension on the spring. If there are two springs then you'd have to remove both blades. It's possible to try to push the center pin through with the blades still in, but the tension from the springs usually binds the pin so well that there's a BIG risk of cracking the good cover in the process, both from trying to hammer the pin through and from the springs torquing the covers as you hammer and pull.

Eric