All About Pocket Knives

I picked up this Catt for my next endeavor. It will be quite ambitious. All 3 blades are in servisable condition. The biggest thing is finding out if this originally came with MOP. As it has bone now. Decent snap on all blades. They are not loose.

I will get the blades cleaned and polished up first. I will document my journey.

Tom

Nice Bones On That One ( Know What I Mean ) I Have done a few Whittler , You will Find There All Back Spring ! Go Easy On The Liners .. Cant Wait to See It Fix Up I Like Them Catt , Sep WharnClips Good Luck to you . Pearl Ya Say ? Oh My .

Got everything apart and started rough cleaning to see what I have to work with. Blades and springs look really good. The liners will need a bit of loving.

After getting everything apart, it is obvious that it has been re-scaled. The pins were copper.

Tomorrow I will work on the liners and get the deep gouges out of the bolsters. I may start cleaning the blades. I will leave the tangs alone as much as possible. As the stamping is super light.

When I rescale I will epoxy the MOP on so O do not have to do any unnecessary drilling and pinning.

Anyhow, here are a few shots.

Can’t wait to see it finished.
That wharny is fantabulous.

I agree, the Warnie looks great with the shape of the knife. Dog leg or serpentine.

I received my MOP and am just waiting for a jewelers saw blades and nickel silver rod to arrive from Jantz. I had to buy extra stuff to justify the high shipping. Not bad I guess. Now have some stock and tools for future knife projects.

The MOP I bought of of EBay. 2 slabs 2.7mm thick by 22x90 mm. That size barely fits to get both scales from one slab. So hopefully I can have an extra slab for another knife. I opted for the high grade MOP as to avoid imperfections when I finish shape.

I marked the back side of the slab to cut. With any luck I will receive the supplies tomorrow.

Now I need advise on the blades. I only removed active rust and went to 600 wet dry. I did not want to over sand the blades. Do you all think I should go full boat and try to get them as close to factory as possible? Keep in mind I carry and use all of my knives.
Thanks
Tom

Coming along nicely! Now to your question. My opinion, leave them "used", only removing the active rust and nothing more. It's not a new knife, so why make the blades new? That being said, it's your knife.

glennbad wrote:Coming along nicely! Now to your question. My opinion, leave them "used", only removing the active rust and nothing more. It's not a new knife, so why make the blades new? That being said, it's your knife.

That is the way I was leaning. It’s not like I plan on selling them.

I am getting excited about working with MOP. I will be taking my time and being especially careful.

I think you're off to a great start.
I have one question, because I have not seen you mention it; do you have a respirator to wear while cutting and sanding the MOP?
The dust is toxic and many people are allergic to it. I understand their allergic reactions can be quite severe.

The work itself looks great and I am with you and Glenn on not polishing the blades.
It's looking good!

orvet wrote: I think you're off to a great start.
I have one question, because I have not seen you mention it; do you have a respirator to wear while cutting and sanding the MOP?
The dust is toxic and many people are allergic to it. I understand their allergic reactions can be quite severe.

The work itself looks great and I am with you and Glenn on not polishing the blades.
It's looking good!

I do have a respirator and I do all of my work outside.
I found out about the Toxic dust looking through the forum, researching how to work with MOP.

Thank you for your concern.

Tom

Pearl dust is not toxic. It's abrasive if you breathe it into your lungs.
Pearl is simple calcium carbonate.
TUMS is calcium carbonate.

Twhite wrote:
I do have a respirator and I do all of my work outside.
I found out about the Toxic dust looking through the forum, researching how to work with MOP.

Thank you for your concern.

Tom

I think you are wise to be cautious about the MOP dust.
Something as hard as MOP needs to be cut and sanded cautiously.

Better SAFE than SORRY.....

Mike

Short update. I received my saw, blades and rod late this afternoon. I only had time to rough cut the scales. Tomorrow if I have time, I will fit to length and bond.

Here it is all done. I will give this a grade of C The bolsters were very messed up. I will work wth that some more. The holes for the pins in the bolsters were way out of round. So it is a crappy looking pin job. On the plus side. I am very happy with the way the MOP turned out.

I can chalk this up to a bit more experience. I would not hesitate to work with MOP again.

Very nice! All you have to do, is look back at that original picture...and know you've given her a great makeover!!!!!

Great show there with the MOP TWhite. Like seeing the mods and craftsmanship. Looks pretty good to me, even the pin job. Thanks for showing. That's great.

Looks great from here!

Outstanding work Tom! I would be happy with that if it were my first attempt with MOP.
Personally, I would consider it successful if I didn't break the first pair of scales!

That is one beautiful knife! I normally don’t care for MOP (I am weird, I know), but that knife is making me re-evaluate that. It really looks right!

Thanks guys for the complements. I am liking this outcome more each day. I have been carrying it for several days now. The blades are nice and sharp and come in handy. When I bust it out to use it, people have noticed it and I get to show them before and after.

I worked on the bolsters more and got them more presentable.

I am serching eBay and will be going hunting for my next project. I wish I got into knives 40years ago. At least I will have something to keep me busy when I retire In 10 years or so, God willing

Nice work, Tom. I’ve got an old Catt I need to do this on. Funny how different hobbies overlap.

Drygulch wrote:Nice work, Tom. I’ve got an old Catt I need to do this on. Funny how different hobbies overlap.

How the heck are you? Yes it is funny, there is at least one other TSD guy here also. I have only been here a few months. It is a pretty cool Forum with tons of knowledge floating around.

WOW.....
Looks great... NICE work!