All About Pocket Knives

Greetings, gnetlemen.

I'm new here, been lurking a while. I didn't see a dedicated introduce yourself thread or I would have said Howdy there. (Maybe I missed it?)

Anyway, I'm just an old retired coot who has accumulated a few knives over the years. I grew up in an era where most boys had pocket knives and carried them all the time. I never lost the habit and have carried one or two knives daily most of my life. I'm not a collector, just an accumulator, and I tend to accumulate working knives. I don't buy many knives to keep in the drawer or the gunsafe, I use them, sometimes pretty hard.

In any case, I have a soft spot for the old working man's knives I grew up with, particularly the Imperial and Hammer brands, but I had a few Colonials too. I have an old Colonial Toothpick that I would like to work on as a project that won't break my heart (or my wallet) if I mess it up. It's the large style, in very good shape with one exception: The scales have shrunk and are loose and one side is warped.

I think I can get to the tabs that hold the bolster covers and pry them up. It looks like if I take them off I can lift off the scales and use them as templates for a new set. But I'd like to know if I'm on the right track and have some input on what the job involves.

I know it's just an old cheapie, but it's otherwise in good shape with decent snap, tight when it's opened and very little wear and discoloration. And I love the old toothpicks. I do some hobby gunsmithing and I've made pistol grips, so I'm not completely unskilled.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Knife modding is fun and addictive. My personal opinion would be to try modding on a knife with solid bolsters, there is more work involved with stamped shell handle knives. That's not to discourage you, just speaking from experience. Sounds like either way, you know how to work with your hands.

You're on the right track in regards to lifting the tabs to expose the guts within.

Ask any questions you have, we can probably help. Oh yeah, we like pics, so make sure to take some of your journey!

Welcome to the club!

Here's a few ideas I've had pretty decent luck with.

Top to bottom-left to right,

Copper clad phenolic, yellow Diamondwood, shop made sparkle acrylic, purple heart wood, vertically cut Diamondwood, domestic cow horn and the bottom one I used the original shell handles and did a swirled paint job on them. All are fairly easy mods, but most required fully disassembling the knife and re-pinning.

WB

wow.

Those are really nice. I'd like to make this first attempt as simple as possible and also retain the original look but you've really inspired me to think bigger.

I'm not sure I want to tackle a complete disassembly and re-pinning on my first attempt.

I'm thinking I should buy a couple of junkers/parts knives to tear down just to see what's involved.

BTW, I meant to say Noob, not Noof in my post. Don't know how I made a typo like that one.

Thank you, it's a labor of love.

If you haven't already, check out some of the tutorials in the knife repair forums. Some of the best mechanics on site have done a great job of walking it through the processes involved in repairing knives.

Good luck and keep us posted,


WB