All About Pocket Knives

I saw this 6 OT that had a bad case of melted scales. It looked like it had some good bones so I bought it. Sure 'nuff, the blade looks unused. It didn't open or close very good due to some sticky crap on the inside. Well, I went in and took it apart and cleaned it up.

This is as it was when it arrived in my hands... I am posting the following pics to let others see how I took it apart.... I hope this helps you....
I drilled out the bolster pivot pin and the lever lock pivot pin...... Then out came the blade and lock lever..... The lanyard hole liner at the rear was holding the scales together so I took a hack saw and cut the hole liner..... After this... the scales came off the liners...... Then I was able to punch the lanyard hole liner out and the scales came off easily.... There was a set of 2 rivets that held the inner liners together and also held the blade lock springs in. After I ground and filed these down I could punch them out and the liners and springs came apart. Then came clean-up.... I have all the metal all clean and ready for the new scales....
This is the result of the first cleaning of the blade.... I think I will probably clean it a little better before I call it done. Well, looks like I ran out of picture space....
See continuation below.

I searched around a bit and settled on this for my scale material. I like me some BLOOD RED stag bone scales.....
I just ordered this material so I will be a few days before I can get back on the finish of this project. To be continued.....

Looking good! Where did you find those scales?

What a fun project! It'd drive me nuts waiting for the scales to come it. Looks great so far. Are you gonna inlet the Old Timer shield?

Great job of cleaning them up so far Mike!
I'm watching with great interest Mike to see how you handle the lanyard tube.
I think the first one did was 2008. I had the same trouble getting the knife apart that you had.
I had nice big slabs of stag picked out so it made me think a little bit to figure out how to get the lanyard tube in the new handles.
I don't want to spoil your fun. Let's just say was a learning experience.

I'm curious about the scales also, it doesn't look like anything I've seen from Culpepper.
I can't tell looking at the two pieces, especially with one being partially finished, whether it is a repeated pattern or a truly random pattern.

I'll be set here in the gallery with some popcorn watching the show!
You got a good round of applause for the for the opening act, I can't wait to see the Second Act, it's looking really good!

Doc B wrote:Where did you find those scales?

I got them from Midwest Knifemakers Supply..... (or maybe USAknifemakers?? seems they have 2 names)
https://usaknifemaker.com/stag-bone-blo ... cales.html

They were the only source I could find that had the size I needed in the color I wanted. Culpepper was my first choice but everytime I found a color and style I liked, the size was too small for my needs.

Byrd wrote:Are you gonna inlet the Old Timer shield?

Yep, I want that shield on my knife because I guess I was an Old Timer Collector first. SO, I just can't have an official Old Timer without an OT shield. I have learned a lot about inletting shields in bone from others here on the forum. I have a Foredom rotary tool so I am going to "give it a go".

orvet wrote: I'm watching with great interest Mike to see how you handle the lanyard tube.

I'm curious about the scales also, it doesn't look like anything I've seen from Culpepper.
I can't tell looking at the two pieces, especially with one being partially finished, whether it is a repeated pattern or a truly random pattern.

Well, I hate to disappoint you Dale but.... my plan from the start was to eliminate the lanyard hole all together. I am not a big fan of then anyway so I saw my chance to let this one go away. I could see how there could be a degree of difficulty to getting another one fitted. I think I could get the hole drilled but getting another liner to fit like the old one is something I don't care to try.....LOL

The scales are supposed to be "stag bone" by description SO..... I suppose they jigged them. The thing that really drew me to these scales after the color was I could see from the one that was partially finished that the dye was really deep reaching. I didn't want white to come up before I could get the finished shape and thickness. SO.... whether or not that come to fruition will soon be seen.

OK... now that you know I am not going to put the lanyard tube back in.... do you want to re-live your painful memories of the experience you had back in '08?

Mike

Looking good so far! Tip for the future, usually those lanyard tubes are not held in horribly solid, so I can usually tap them out with the back end of a punch or appropriately sized bolt/screw.

glennbad wrote:Looking good so far! Tip for the future, usually those lanyard tubes are not held in horribly solid, so I can usually tap them out with the back end of a punch or appropriately sized bolt/screw.

Thanks for that tip!
I really didn't want to save it BUT if I did .... I noticed this one was flared out (or belled) at both ends. I figured you would have to (somehow) shrink the bell on one end to get it out in one piece.
I would imagine the tube was belled only at one end originally so the cutler could insert it into the handle. Then maybe use something like an eyelet tool to put a finish flare on the straight end to secure it into the hole.
(just me thinking out loud)

Meridian_Mike wrote:

glennbad wrote:Looking good so far! Tip for the future, usually those lanyard tubes are not held in horribly solid, so I can usually tap them out with the back end of a punch or appropriately sized bolt/screw.

Thanks for that tip!
I really didn't want to save it BUT if I did .... I noticed this one was flared out (or belled) at both ends. I figured you would have to (somehow) shrink the bell on one end to get it out in one piece.
I would imagine the tube was belled only at one end originally so the cutler could insert it into the handle. Then maybe use something like an eyelet tool to put a finish flare on the straight end to secure it into the hole.
(just me thinking out loud)

Glenn is right, you can often drive them out, but of course you don’t know that on the first when you do one.

The first one I did I mingle, literally, through it and got the lanyard tube out. When I reassembled it I used a heavier piece of brass tubing. When I used to plumb equipment with hydraulic lines I used a lot of copper tubing with flared fittings. I have a flaring tool or two in my toolbox so I flared the end of the new piece of brass tubing it and had a bit of problem flaring it out on the other side because there was nothing for the yoke to grab while I use the cone to flare the tubing. I ended up pinning it with hand-peened pins and cleaning the tubing as well.
There, I relived the pain. It wasn't my most polished piece, but it kind of worked because it was a scarred gnarly piece of stag and they in peened rivets and lanyard tube kind of went with that scarred stag, or at least that's what I told myself.

On my next one I actually found some thinner brass tubing and I held the end together with just the flared tubing. It was easier to flare the thinner tubing and I jury-rigged to work around to get some pressure on the call to flare the end of the second side.
The second one actually came out looking more polished with Amber horn, red liners beneath the horn and a strip of fossil ivory next to the bolster. I did sweat on that one as I recall trying to get the flaring strong and tight enough to be in together. It was a learning experience.


Keep up the good work Mike, you're on the right track!

Well, I didn't get a lot of shop time in this weekend. We had a constant reminder that there was a tropical disturbance about 200 miles south of us.

I did get a chance to get out there yesterday afternoon for a few minutes.
Here is my progress......

I got the scales cut to the rough shape on my band saw. Then I started to fit the scale to the bolster since there is a tab that fits in under the bolster at the front. I did a lot of filing to get this first one to fit. Then on the second one I thought I would try a different method. I got out my Exacto saw and cut the edge straight down to where the tab thickness should be and then cut in from the end. Then with minimal filing, I got #2 to fit. Then came the glue-up. This is only a 5 minute epoxy SO, I am not going to be depending on it to hold the scales on. I am going to add a pin where to old lanyard hole was. (I don't care for lanyard holes).... I did a little bit of filing and sanding on a scrap to see what this scales material was going to look like when finished. Looks pretty good.

The one complaint I have is that this scale material was not the thickness I expected. The old material is 3/16" thick.... so I figured 1/4" would be what I need to be able to finish the handles out like I wanted. Well... one of them seems to be even less than the 3/16" of the original. Now, the 3/16" is true at the TOP of the ridges. SO... the grooves are much less than 3/16".... I guess since I got lemons, I will have to make some lemonade.

More to come.

Oooh, this is getting good!

Except for the thickness issue...that piece of bone looks even nicer than the previous example photos! I really like it!

OK.... here goes....
Part 2 of my 6 OT repair....

I got the sales cut to the rough shape and fit to the bolsters to my satisfaction. Then I glue them on.... The inside surface of the scales were cleaned up and ready for reassembly...... I drilled my holes from the inside with a bit that matched the holes in the liners. Then, I found a nickel pivot rod that was the size of the holes.... I put the springs in, the lever and blade for a mock up fit..... The hole on this side was a LOT bigger that the hole on the opposite side so I started peening here first so the brass rod would fill the hole..... After the pins were tightened in, then came the shaping and thinning of the scales. A lot of filing and sanding got the scales to this point. Then it was time to put in the shield.

So here she is....
My referb of this 6 OT...

Before..... After..... Pile side..... I am NOT happy with the scales I got from......... Midwest Knifemakers Supply..... (or maybe USAknifemakers?? seems they have 2 names)
The dying process was not as thorough as I would expect and the thickness check / control was poor.

Thanks for looking everyone!

Sweet! 100% better than you original meltdown. Too bad about the poor dye hid in the bone, but that's part of the character of the knife now. I like it better without the lanyard hold. You did good!

Byrd wrote:Sweet! 100% better than you original meltdown. Too bad about the poor dye hid in the bone, but that's part of the character of the knife now. I like it better without the lanyard hold. You did good!

Thanks so much....
I am so OCD that it bothers me that both sides are not the same. I would have been happy if both sides would have looked like the pile side. OH WELL..... onward!

I don't like lanyard holes so mine had to go. I know it doesn't have all the characteristics of a 6 OT but the scales aren't original either.... LOL... (Justification...LOL)

I'm voting that looks pretty darn good!!! Nice job on the fit and finish. I still like the bone. All you have to do is look where she started!!!!

Mike I have enjoyed both your progress as a knife mechanic and it shown in the completion of the knife. Before and after are amazing and fabulous.
If you were totally satisfied with it then there would be not as much motivation to start the next one. Can't wait to see the next one.

Thanks guys!
It was a fun restoration. And YES.... I am looking for another candidate right now.

Looks great Mike! That sucks when you get a knife done and find that the dyed material is not quite what you were hoping for.

I use Culpepper for all my bone and stag. They aren't the cheapest out there, but the quality is there 98% of the time. Those materials are natural, they don't always take dyes evenly, but Culpepper is pretty consistent.

Keep up the good work!

glennbad wrote:Looks great Mike! That sucks when you get a knife done and find that the dyed material is not quite what you were hoping for.

I use Culpepper for all my bone and stag. They aren't the cheapest out there, but the quality is there 98% of the time. Those materials are natural, they don't always take dyes evenly, but Culpepper is pretty consistent.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks!

Yep, I think I am going to go with Culpepper next time. Only problem this time was they didn't have a piece big enough for this project in the color I wanted.

Great job!
And if the scales bother you too badly, just put a decent price tag on it and you won't have to look at it for long!!!

Outstanding work! That knife turned out great!

You can probably even the handle color up with some potassium permanganate or even some leather dye.

Awesome job bro!!