All About Pocket Knives

There's some really nice work being done 'round here, you guys are doing great! I remember when some of you were just getting started, you've learned your lessons well grasshoppers.

Here's a few I have in the bin that I need to get busy on. Some pretty decent material to work with. I think I have all the pieces and parts I need to finish all of them. The problems range from blade fabrication/replacement/reprofiling, to rehandling. There may be a couple that I'll need to tig weld the end of the tang to get the snap back in 'em and a couple that may just need a good cleaning and adjustment to get 'em up and running.

I'd been working on the Union Cut. Co. Hobo when I shut down a couple of years ago. I had already fashioned a new primary blade for it and was in the process of making a new fork, both will be made using 1095. I have a 100 yr. old set of red stag slabs that I rescued from an old meat fork that should work...if I'm careful, they're close.

Got my work cut out for me, but looking forward to getting back into it.
Jerry will appreciate these two.

WB

Oh boy, you're going to be busy!

Very much looking forward to the progress pics ......

Great to see you're getting back to the bench WB, missed seeing your work!!

Eric

Great to see you back in the saddle Rob!
Can't wait to see what you do with all them parts.

Thanks for the words of encouragement fellas!


WB

Just curious. That scout knife you show has deteriorated handles and yet the blade etch looks factory new. What is going on there? Also I know a guy named just bob that would trade you out of that R,W, and B knife if you have more work that you can get done. Good luck on your projects. Do you do the welding yourself? I've always found that to be a deal breaker for me. The minimum charge at the local welding shop is $65. Most knives I take apart aren't worth $65 when they're done.

Hey Rob,

Glad to see you posting again. Hope life is well.

Regards, Jerry

I don't want to diss anyone, but most of these came from an ex-mechanic, I'm afraid he wasn't very good at it. It doesn't look like he did any permanent damage, but I'll have to do quite a bit of backtracking to end up with acceptable results. Like the knife Royal mentioned, a mish mash of blades,(Camillus, others?) but I have Remington blades to put back in it. As far as the Scout knife, the blade is new, but will be removed and replaced with a proper blade and the current blade also used in a Scout of the correct timeline and condition. Sometimes it can take months or even years to find the right parts for a knife, sometimes you never will. This particular batch are ones I've spent quite a bit of time tracking down the right parts to repair them, I have many more in the shop that I'm still looking. The one exception is the UCC hobo, finding parts for that one just seems highly unlikely for any reasonable amount of money. I'd love to be able to put original blades back in it and I may keep looking, but...

Bob, I'll let ya know on that R/W/B Scout. The handles are in great shape, but having to tear it all the way down is always risky with plastic slabs.

The welding, I do myself but have to go down to my brothers machine shop in Ft. Smith to do it.

Thanks Jerry, by the grace of God, life is much better now then it has been over the past couple of years.

Thanks again all,


WB

By gad, Rob. You do love a challenge.

Jerry ol' buddy, life has never been anything but. So I figured out a long time ago, I might as well make the best of it. Not that there hasn't been times when I had to ask myself, "Man, what the hell were you thinking"?


WB

I have a couple Edge Mark Explorer Professionals I would like restored. 1 is basically cherry with a cracked scale and some minor damage to one of the liners in the rear. The other is banged up and very used. Both I would like rescaled, the heavily used one I would like a full spa treatment for, the other just any spot clean-up that is possible (and the handle re-cover).

Is there anyone game that wants to help me?

Thanks in advance-- Adam

Hey Adam, for now anyway, I'm gonna stick to working on the mass of knives in my personal stash. But the really good news, is that there are a lot of excellent mechanics here on the forum that would likely be more then happy to help you out. One of them will probably weigh in, or send you a PM. You could also look through the repair/restore forums and see which one catches your eye and send them a message. As far as I'm concerned, there's not a bad one in the bunch!


WB

I started posting some of these in separate threads, but decided to post them here for the sake of before and after pics. I'll try to give a brief description of the work done on each. The majority have been fully disassembled. All are lightly cleaned, well oiled, nicely sharpened and ready for use.

Best Ever Cut. Co. 3-5/8" Equal End.

All this one needed was some minor blade reprofiling. There was a small chip in the spear blade and the clip blade was slightly blunted.
Case XX era Slim Trapper.

Pile side handle half missing, front slab broke trying to take it apart. Full rehandle and inlayed shield.

WB

This poor little guy was in really sorry shape. A well worn and ill fitted Camillus primary and the handles had been patched in several places with JB Weld.

Remington 3-1/2" Whittler. (3 backsprings)

Even though I believe most of these were fitted with spear blades originally, I found a suitable Remington clip blade that fit nicely and functions properly. I decided to rehandle it using quartersawn white oak from a 100 year old barn we tore down a few years ago. I thought they were sorta fitting for the acorn shield.
Kabar 3-7/8" Stockman.

Pile side handle missing. Both handles replaced using burled (gunstock) Walnut. I may reset the shield, but I have a second one of these to work on and may opt to use the shield on it instead.

WB

The bail had caused the rear pivot holes to "crater" I decided to go with domed pins to take care of the problem, rather then filing the bolsters down to remove the cratering.

Camillus 3-5/8" Official 4-Blade Scout.

Handles replaced with smooth Pacific Blue bone from Culpepper and the shield reset. Some shades of blue bone can look a little tacky, but this particular blue looks pretty good to me. I eliminated the bail to be a bit more pocket friendly.
Last up for now. With this one needing to be fully disassembled, I was a little worried that the handles would break during the process. I lucked out and along with new primary and can opener blades, it all went back together very nicely. I also replaced the bail, but like the idea that it's easily removed. I doubt I"ll ever carry this one, but if I did, I'd just asoon not have a bail.

Imperial unoffical 3-5/8" 4-blade "Scout".
Not sure what's next, but will post as I get 'em done.

Thanks for looking, all comments welcome,


WB

VERY nice work!

Nice work WB! Good to see you back here!

Thank you gentlemen, glad to be gettin' back on track again.


WB

I managed to finish this one up over the past few evenings. New blade and fork and a set of rosewood slabs. It's too big for EDC, but should make a nice addition to the jobsite/campin' kit.

WB

Looking good WB

Thanks Kaleb! It was a fun and challenging project.


WB