All About Pocket Knives

Mike (XXCaseXX) sent me this Case 5392 to rehandle. The stag scales that were on the knife were falling off so I thought I would put some new stag on it. I cut it apart and cleaned it up a bit. It has nickle/silver liners and bolsters and is going to look pretty cool when its done!I kept eyeballing some Elk that I had and thought Mike might like it better. I had already started cutting the stag, but the Elk kept talking to me. So I sent him PM and asked if he would like some Elk instead of the stag So we made the decision to go with the Elk. This is going to look coool! I still need to thin and shape the Elk and that's going to take some time. We had a lot of bad weather roll through here and I have some clean up to do. I'll be back with an update after I get a chance to get back in the shop!

Hey Randy! Glad to see you back at it. Can't wait to see how it comes out.

Randy, I am excited to see how this turns out. Post more pics soon!

Well.. When I read the title of this thread and saw it was stag handle I thought.. WHAT?? Is he out of his mind?? Then continued to read and saw the stag had issues.. OK.. Elk will be awesome.. I myself would like the blades/bolsters satin finished.. With that Elk I think it would be a KOOL looking knife.. JMO!! John

jmh58 wrote: Then continued to read and saw the stag had issues..

Hi John:

Here's a picture of the handle part that had issues. It was so worn down the pin broke in half, it had a crack, and it was warped pretty bad. It would not lay flush with the liner. It most likely could not have been repaired due to the amount worn off from decades of use. (Click on the image to get a closer look).

________
Mike

Darn Mike.. That's a shame as that stag really had a personality... Like I stated.. The Elk is gonna look sweet!!! John

Thanks Greg! These days I take a lot more time with my knife work due to chronic pain issues. And of of course Mike is not in any hurry, and so I plan on taking enough time working on it to make sure that it comes out fantastic! I love working with antler of any kind. So I thought I would post some pics detailing the fitting the handles to the scales. So of the thumb nails came out turned on their sides, but click the picture and they come out just fine!
Here is a pic of the Elk antler that I cut my slabs from.


Cutting the slabs down to size.

Using my 4 inch belt sander to thin the slabs down to the proper thickness.

Marking the slabs so I can cut them to fit between the bolsters. I leave them a little bit longer than necessary to insure a good fit to the bolsters. After I cut outside the lines I will hand fit the slabs to the bolsters to insure that there wont be a gap between the Elk and the bolsters.

Thats all for today. I have other things to attend to but I will be back in a a day or so with another update. Thanks to all for the good words!

#goldpan wrote: After I cut outside the lines I will hand fit the slabs to the bolsters to insure that there wont be a gap between the Elk and the bolsters.

Thanks Randy. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the attention to detail. Fit and finish are the things that separate the guys that know what they're doing, and those who don't.

___________
Mike

Coming along nicely!

Thanks fellas! Well I have been busy working on keeping the car on the road. Changed a bunch of sensors and gave her a tune up. Now it seems like the catalytic converter has gone bad.... Anyway its time for an update. I'm in the process of fitting the Elk between the bolsters.
This side is ready to seal, glue and pin. It not easy to see in the pics but the slab fits snugly between the bolsters and there are no gaps at either bolster or under the slab. The liner is straight and all of this tells me it ready for the next stage!
In the first pic here you can look at the right hand side and see that there is a gap under the slab. With everything else looking right it tells me that I need to take a little bit more off to make it ready for fitting and attaching! Need to be carful at this point as its too easy to remove too much. All of these car repairs has made the fingers stiff and the neck and shoulders feel it as well. So after letting things settle down I'll be back to show how I attach and shape the slabs! Hope you all had a great Easter!

This is like the serial at the old picture show. To be continued. It is fun to keep up with. Can't wait to see the finished product.

doglegg wrote:This is like the serial at the old picture show. To be continued. It is fun to keep up with. Can't wait to see the finished product.

He is workin' it and workin' us.

That looks great. You're doing a good job. Ever try this method of laying out a handle? If the bolsters aren't square the calipers can get you into trouble. You can pick up a slant with the playing cards.


viewtopic.php?f=37&t=35714&p=334961&hilit=card#p334961

I'm familiar with the playing card method Bob. Just never had the need to use it, although its a fantastic way to get an off parallel bolsters fitted! Okay so far so good. This where I am for now.
The Elk slabs have been sealed with Zap thin CA. This stuff penetrates good and will help protect both the underside of the Elk and insure a good bond to the scale.
In this pic the handles have been glued and clamped. I let everything sit overnight before doing any other work to them.
Here I have clamped the liner/handle to my drill fixture. By clamping the scale side to bottom of my fixture I know that the drill will make a perpendicular 90 degree hole for the handle pins.
In order to have the handle pins heads fit tight I use a drill bit in a hand vice to chamfer the holes. I do both the scale side and the handle material.
This how the chamfer looks on the underside of the scale.
Now I have the pins in place and ready to fit and peen!

I am feeling a bit under the weather so I'm not going to do the peening today. Dont want to crack Mikes new handles! After I peen the Elk to the scales I am going to fit the shield and pin it in place. I'll make sure to get plenty of pics of this. I have tried a few different methods for transferring the shield shape and have for now settled on making a temporary template for this. More later! Stay tuned to the continuing saga!

Amazing bro!!!

It keeps getting more interesting. Patience on display.

Moving along slowly : The Elk has been pinned into place and is ready to start prepping the shield inlay.
After drilling the pin holes for the shield I set the shield in place.
Next using painter's tape i make a template for inlaying the shield.
Using an X-acto knife I cut around the shield forming a template.
Everythings ready now to cut the oval for inlaying the shield. I'll be using a die grinder to this. I'll be back after thats done with pictures of the finished shield. After that its time to shape the handles and start reassembly! Stay tuned!

Is it possible to show the die grinder in use? Or at least a picture of the die grinder.

edge213 wrote:Is it possible to show the die grinder in use? Or at least a picture of the die grinder.

You bet David! I should have some pictures soon as I plan on working on this some more this morning before moving on to other chores.

Here are some pictures of the die grinder. The maker refers to it as a flex shaft grinder. The thing that I like about it is the foot control. Its variable speed as well as the on/off switch. Leaves my hands free to concentrate on the work!
This is the flex shaft I used to use. Attached to my Dremel its nice, but as nice as the other one!


You see here how I use it. I smoothed out the area for the shield. I dont want to sink it into the handle as it makes finishing the shield more difficult.

I'll have more later! Stay tuned

Alright were in the back stretch. Here are the pics of the mock up. Now that I have everything where it all works its time to do the final tune up. Polish the internal surfaces to reduce friction. Do the final blade adjustments. The master blade is a bit tip high so I'll polish the kick on that one to get a better fit. A word of caution for anyone wanting to do the same thing. Take the kick down a little bit a time. It doesn't take much to make a big difference.
This is going to be the last knife I do for a while. My granddaughter is having "room mate" issues at the university so after I'm done with Mikes knife I am going to start taking the shop apart to convert it back into a bedroom. She is a good kid. Works full time and goes to school full time. Life is too short for such distractions. At first I was going to make the room for her. But I'm going to make the bedroom for me. At least I can keep enough space for working on my own projects, and I have a bunch! Mike I hope you like the way your knife is starting to look! It going to change a little bit as the finishing touches are done. The next time I post it will be the finished knife.

Awesome as always! Randy you do great work my friend.

Koooollll!!! I am getting excited!! And on the edge of my seat!!!! John

I just went back and looked at the before picture. Unbelievable! Great looking job.

I can't believe I just found this thread. Were there any pics of the hafting/ scale to bolster fitting? Watching and learning...