All About Pocket Knives

First mod of a knife by me, a kinda Red Green approach of DIY.
Got this knife cheaply off the bay a few months back only to discover a big flaw that the seller hid in his many pics using creative camera angles. The problem that was instantly obvious once in hand was the spey blade covered nearly all of the access to the nail nick on the main blade. (see 1st pic)
Well it was cheap, and buyer beware, and all that, so I set it aside and lesson learned.
Got it out yesterday and decided to see what could be done. First I attacked the spine of the spey blade with a file and stone, that added a bit of access to main blade nail nick but not near enough. (see 2nd pic).
Next thought was to file the kick on the spey to lower it but as it was the nail nick on the spey was too low at liner to remove much and keep it useable.
So I grabbed a rattail file and cut an easy open notch for the secondary blades and then filed the spey blade kick a small amount as there wasn't' enough
of a kick to remove much with out the blade bottoming out on the spring. This combo gave me pretty decent, actually plenty, of access to get a good purchase on the main blade nail nick for opening. (see pic 3)
Next I rounded the edges a bit on the bone at the liners for a good feel in the hand and threw the whole mess in a dye bath as the color was a bit to electric for my taste. (see pics 4,5 & 6)
Blade action is very smooth, no half stops which I like. Lock up is solid with absolutely no wobble and the knife has some heft to it and seems very solid.
It's a 4" closed sleeveboard whittler pattern lock-back. Main blade tang stamped Robt. Klaas / Since 1834 on front & No. 31/Stainless on back of tang.
Not sure when or where it was made but to my novice eye I would say recent and possibly /likely China.
Thanks for looking.

sunknife wrote:First mod of a knife by me, a kinda Red Green approach of DIY.
Got this knife cheaply off the bay a few months back only to discover a big flaw that the seller hid in his many pics using creative camera angles. The problem that was instantly obvious once in hand was the spey blade covered nearly all of the access to the nail nick on the main blade. (see 1st pic)
Well it was cheap, and buyer beware, and all that, so I set it aside and lesson learned.
Got it out yesterday and decided to see what could be done. First I attacked the spine of the spey blade with a file and stone, that added a bit of access to main blade nail nick but not near enough. (see 2nd pic).
Next thought was to file the kick on the spey to lower it but as it was the nail nick on the spey was too low at liner to remove much and keep it useable.
So I grabbed a rattail file and cut an easy open notch for the secondary blades and then filed the spey blade kick a small amount as there wasn't' enough
of a kick to remove much with out the blade bottoming out on the spring. This combo gave me pretty decent, actually plenty, of access to get a good purchase on the main blade nail nick for opening. (see pic 3)
Next I rounded the edges a bit on the bone at the liners for a good feel in the hand and threw the whole mess in a dye bath as the color was a bit to electric for my taste. (see pics 4,5 & 6)
Blade action is very smooth, no half stops which I like. Lock up is solid with absolutely no wobble and the knife has some heft to it and seems very solid.
It's a 4" closed sleeveboard whittler pattern lock-back. Main blade tang stamped Robt. Klaas / Since 1834 on front & No. 31/Stainless on back of tang.
Not sure when or where it was made but to my novice eye I would say recent and possibly /likely China.
Thanks for looking.

Those are made in China. Nice modification on this one. Never thought to do that when you see those too close together.
SSk

Greg, if you hadn't of told me I would have never known that was your first mod. Great thought process and great execution.

Sharpnshinyknives wrote:

sunknife wrote:First mod of a knife by me, a kinda Red Green approach of DIY.
Got this knife cheaply off the bay a few months back only to discover a big flaw that the seller hid in his many pics using creative camera angles. The problem that was instantly obvious once in hand was the spey blade covered nearly all of the access to the nail nick on the main blade. (see 1st pic)
Well it was cheap, and buyer beware, and all that, so I set it aside and lesson learned.
Got it out yesterday and decided to see what could be done. First I attacked the spine of the spey blade with a file and stone, that added a bit of access to main blade nail nick but not near enough. (see 2nd pic).
Next thought was to file the kick on the spey to lower it but as it was the nail nick on the spey was too low at liner to remove much and keep it useable.
So I grabbed a rattail file and cut an easy open notch for the secondary blades and then filed the spey blade kick a small amount as there wasn't' enough
of a kick to remove much with out the blade bottoming out on the spring. This combo gave me pretty decent, actually plenty, of access to get a good purchase on the main blade nail nick for opening. (see pic 3)
Next I rounded the edges a bit on the bone at the liners for a good feel in the hand and threw the whole mess in a dye bath as the color was a bit to electric for my taste. (see pics 4,5 & 6)
Blade action is very smooth, no half stops which I like. Lock up is solid with absolutely no wobble and the knife has some heft to it and seems very solid.
It's a 4" closed sleeveboard whittler pattern lock-back. Main blade tang stamped Robt. Klaas / Since 1834 on front & No. 31/Stainless on back of tang.
Not sure when or where it was made but to my novice eye I would say recent and possibly /likely China.
Thanks for looking.

Those are made in China. Nice modification on this one. Never thought to do that when you see those too close together.
SSk

As I suspected, China. Thanks for the info SSK.

doglegg wrote:Greg, if you hadn't of told me I would have never known that was your first mod. Great thought process and great execution.

Thanks Floyd. It being a cheap knife I figured it was worth the risk of going up against, even with no previous experience.

Great job with the improvements.

Very nice!

The “after” color is much better.
Good work on the mods to open up the nail nicks.

That looks quite serviceable now! I also like the new color of the bone.

Great job!

Thanks for the replies David, Jeff, Tony and Glenn and I appreciate the feedback fellas.
The project went pretty well, only took maybe an hour and a half of my time. I thought I would ruin it but had to try anyway. I imagine I'll now carry and use it a few times or more.

Good job. That is a good knife, now.
In my mind any mod that makes a bad knife useable again is a good thing, unless it is a museum piece or something irreplaceable.
A pocket knife is to be carried and used, and I imagine that one will see some pocket time now!