All About Pocket Knives

Hi Guys,
I am here to pick your brains again.

When attaching a brass bolsters to brass liners, is soldering a correct way to go. If so, can I soft solder them and still attain good retention.Ie that they are not likely to fall off at some point?

Thanks
Ozwelder

The way I do it... (now this isn't the gospel)
I solder the bolster to the liner AND put a pin thru it. That way, my poor soldering practices don't show up so bad by having a bolster fall of.

Now that's me. The real knife repairers / builders will be along shortly.

Mike

If nickel silver bolsters that I have made I do not shape the bolsters until they are soldered on the liners. The bolsters being slightly over sized and overlapping the edge of the pre drilled liners allows for a good full solder and also allows for some room for error should the bolster slip a bit during the soldering. I cut a small piece of silver solder and then hammer flatten it to a very thin slice. Next vise grip clamp this thin slice of solder between the bolster and liner before heating the solder to melting temperature with a propane torch. Now the bolster is ready for drilling and then shaping before being pinned to assemble the knife.

Like most everything else I do this is a I self taught method and it seems to work okay for me. I'm sure there are other ways to skin this cat.

Yes, solder them. Soft solder is generally fine and what most manufacturers have used in the past (when not pinned) or a lower temp silver solder. I solder blanks to pre drilled liners, grind to shape, transfer that hole through the bolster while it's still flat, then bevel and contour everything.

This helped me;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQEQkz4TjVU

That's a good video.
A friend showed me that way once.... he called it "tinning both pieces"....then they stick together real good!
Sho' nuff works!