All About Pocket Knives

It seems like every time I post a knife that I've customized I forget to take before pictures or I can't find the ones that I took.

I took a whole bunch of pictures this time I and I named the picture with the task I was doing. There are some gaps, but it goes up to the test fitting with the pins.

It looks like I'm only going to get 8 pictures post so it's going to take me 4 posts to show all the pictures.

Post #2

Post #3

Post #4



At this point I got pretty busy and forgot to take any more pictures.
So these next pictures are the are what the knife looks like when I was finished and shipped it back to geocash.
I hope the steps are not too confusing. The whole process of taking pictures and posting them are pretty time-consuming it takes about four times as long to do the work and you've got several hours work at it in the pictures and labeling them. It's no wonder a lot of people just show the finished product not all the steps in between.

If you have questions about the process, I would be happy to answer your questions. I view this is kind of an aid for guys who are starting working on knives or who are thinking about in on knives. There wasn't anyone to ask when I started doing this. Someone said about one of my early pieces, "that kind of looks like Herman Williams work." I said "Who is Herman Williams?" When I found out who Herman Williams was and I compared his work against my early work; I realized how nice the person was being my early stuff did not at all compared to Herman's work!

I hope you enjoy enjoy the pictures.
I will try to answer any questions I can about the process.

Beautiful!

Made that Buck a real "looker"!!! Congrats Geocash!!!!
I haven't tried this method of pin removal...yet.
So...when you're cutting the pins, with the razor...you're actually hitting the end of the knife?

Very interesting to see the work process.
Finished product looks great!

Purdy Nice Dale

Doc B wrote:Made that Buck a real "looker"!!! Congrats Geocash!!!!
I haven't tried this method of pin removal...yet.
So...when you're cutting the pins, with the razor...you're actually hitting the end of the knife?

Yes, here is the hammer I use. As you can tell the end of the knife is considerably harder than the end of the hammer. I've been using the same hammer since I've started working on knives in 2005 or 2006. It was the only soft face hammer I had then and it's still doing the job.


Thanks guys for all the kind comments.

orvet wrote:

Doc B wrote:Made that Buck a real "looker"!!! Congrats Geocash!!!!
I haven't tried this method of pin removal...yet.
So...when you're cutting the pins, with the razor...you're actually hitting the end of the knife?

Yes, here is the hammer I use. As you can tell the end of the knife is considerably harder than the end of the hammer. I've been using the same hammer since I've started working on knives in 2005 or 2006. It was the only soft face hammer I had then and it's still doing the job.


Thanks guys for all the kind comments.

Nice pic tutorial, Dale! Thanks for taking the time to take pics of the steps. Like you, I am always in the zone, and never remember to take WIP pics.

Nice recover, BTW!

Another beautiful job Dale.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the feedback!
I'm glad the pictures are helpful.

Thanks for the great post Dale! I always appreciate it when you take the time to post pictures of your process.
In the one photo where you’re tapping out the pins on the handle, you have the knife laying on a block with some holes drilled in it. What is that block made of?

That is a block of micarta. I use it because the micarta is softer than nickel silver so it does not mar the knife.
I also use micarta to build jigs around the shop, it is quite useful!

Okay, thanks! I’ll have to pick up a few pieces of that for my bench area.

So do those tapered readers come in different sizes? And do you remember where you got that one from?

They do coming in different sizesl
I prefer to have one that will go down to about .050 and up to .180.
The actual reamer is the piece that is held by the handle, and the handle was purchased separately. I got both from eBay.

Thanks again!

This was my father's knife, until 2005, which means something to me. I think it was made by Camillus & I like that. I just got it back yesterday & I really appreciate the work Dale did. Seeing my knife inside & out & what he did is an unexpected privilege. I understand why it looks & feels like new. And Dale's mark on the master blade is another trigger to help me recall some of these things when I carry it. (I found the antler yesterday, too, at the edge of my yard.

Hi Dale, I have another question.
When you sand the pivot pin down after installation and polish the bolster, what keeps it from pulling out during use? I’ve had one or two knives where I got the pivot pin flush and polished the bolsters only to find later that the pin is working it’s way out.
Am I not peening the pin enough?
Thanks.
Jeff

Jeff, go back to the first page of this topic and in my third post at the very bottom of that third post the last two pictures show the tapered reamer. You need to put enough taper in the hole so you don't sand it off. It doesn't need to be really deep, however if you're using a screw countersink the angle may be too wide and you could possibly sand off the taper you have put in it. If you a get reamer like mine it should get deep enough that you don't have to worry about sanding the taper out.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

geocash wrote:This was my father's knife, until 2005, which means something to me. I think it was made by Camillus & I like that. I just got it back yesterday & I really appreciate the work Dale did. Seeing my knife inside & out & what he did is an unexpected privilege. I understand why it looks & feels like new. And Dale's mark on the master blade is another trigger to help me recall some of these things when I carry it. (I found the antler yesterday, too, at the edge of my yard.Buck 301a.jpgBuck301b.jpg

That special knife sure turned out good. Happy for you geocash.

orvet wrote:Jeff, go back to the first page of this topic and in my third post at the very bottom of that third post the last two pictures show the tapered reamer. You need to put enough taper in the hole so you don't sand it off. It doesn't need to be really deep, however if you're using a screw countersink the angle may be too wide and you could possibly sand off the taper you have put in it. If you a get reamer like mine it should get deep enough that you don't have to worry about sanding the taper out.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Thank you sir!
I just received a new tapered reamer today. I’ll try that on my next knife.
Jeff