All About Pocket Knives

Having seen those old scout knives with a compass mounted in the handle I fancy giving it a try.

My question is how were they mounted so that the carbon blades didn't interfere with it's performance

Sounds like an interesting idea, but I think it's why most survival knives/kits A: have the compass either glued in the aluminum/brass pommel, or B: stored separately, either in a hollow handle or in a pouch on the sheath. And, for the most part, I don't think the compasses were really that good/reliable anyway, and the compass thing was mostly a gimmick.

The cobalt alloy "steel" David Boye uses in his rigging knives is intentionally non-magnetic. But, I don't think it actually has any iron in it.

Do you think Brass liners would offer protection?

I read something about those years back and had wondered about it until then. If I remember correctly, you had to have the knife blade in a particular position to cause the compass to read correctly, and then like Cody said, they weren't a very good compass to bet your life on. I have a few around here someplace and I did get one to sort of work. I have no idea where any of them are at the moment. ____Dave

I have one of those old Cattaraugus scouts and the compass is dead as a door nail, regardless of how you position the blades. I think they just lose their magnetism over time. Not sure if you could fix that . . .

KA-BAR made some big coke bottle folding hunters with celluloid scales with a compass in them. Some of these KA-BARs (but not all of them) have "Open blade to use compass" stamped into the celluloid. I am also sure that the cheap little compasses would not be very accurate or hol their magnetism over time being so close to the steel.

1967redrider wrote: ↑Wed Dec 25, 2019 5:00 pm I have one of those old Cattaraugus scouts and the compass is dead as a door nail, regardless of how you position the blades. I think they just lose their magnetism over time. Not sure if you could fix that . . .

this is what I wondered

I fancied sticking a county comms Thumb Tac Compass in an old jack knife that needs new scales for a bit of fun but I wanted it to work

I suppose its small enought to replace it for a shield if it does break

I would try it. Sounds like a fun project!