All About Pocket Knives

...do you have any tips for removing a pommel nut if it's stuck? The knife is a WWII-era Woodcraft with a bakelite pommel. I tried with a pair of needle nose plier tips but couldn't budge it. It has been wetted with penetrant.

I could have made a tool but decided to purchase the real thing just in case it offered any advantage I might need!

I've heard you can make one from a penny by putting it in a vice and hacksawing it. Use Kroil to loosen the nut.

Take a screwdriver with a wide enough bade to span the whole nut. Grind the screwdriver tip down until it is close to the same thickness as the slots in the nut. Grind or file a notch in the middle close to the same width as the diameter of the tang. I used a cut-off wheel to make a perfect square notch. If the screwdriver tip is not very close to the size of the slots in the nut it will mar the nut. These can easily be made with a little patience and work perfectly. A penny will not do unless you have a loose nut.

Yes, I also recommend soaking the nut in Kroil. Keep it wet for a couple of days, and it should come right off.

Would heating it with a heat gun, tapping with a hammer, and then leaving it overnight be of any help?

Bob

Here are 4 big heavy screwdrivers that I filed out and use for removing barrell nuts from pommels. I can put a lot of torque on these and it is needed in many cases. I clamp the knife blade in a plastic jawed vise on my bench and use plenty of downward pressure while turning. At times it can be very difficult to remove the nuts even doing it like this. Care has to be taken to not let the driver slip and scar up the nut.

Ditto, Kroil and a big screwdriver modified to fit the pommel nut perfectly. I like this one because of the nut at the base of the handle. Once, I had one that was really stuck, and I pushed down and twisted as hard as I could and my son put a wrench with an extension bar on the screwdriver's nut and it worked like magic. I like to put the knife with the handle up in a vise, add the Kroil around the tang nut so you have a little puddle there, and let it sit at least overnight. Last step - clean the tang threads with a wire wheel and the nut threads (if you are going to reuse it) before you put it back together.

Herb and Wayne have the right idea. But they are using the screwdriver tips as from the factory. I grind mine down to where the thickness of the blade closely fits the slots in the nuts and they are therefore less likely to slip and mar the nut or pommel. Don't know where they are right now for pics. If you only have a straight shaft screwdriver without the hex at the handle end to apply a wrench for more torque simply clamp a vise grip pliers on the round shaft for more turning power. Sometimes the end of the tang threads are a little mushroomed over and I use a die of the proper pitch and thread to clean it up before re-installing nut.

Well, as I said, I ordered the actual Marbles pommel nut tool in hopes it will be optimum. And I've already applied the Kroil. The tool should be here in a day or two.

My usual method if things won't come loose involves penetrating oil and tapping on the part. Then, if still stuck, the careful application of heat. Since my Woodcraft has a bakelite pommel, any application of heat will have to be pretty mild. I could try the opposite, using some liquid squirted from an inverted can of canned air to supercool the stud followed by using a soldering iron to carefully heat up just the nut.

But maybe the Marbles tool will fit the nut well enough to turn it right off...

I would "keep your powder dry" and wait for the tool, and then see what happens. Most of these that I have worked on came off with just a little bit of force on the nut after soaking in the Kroil for a while. I don't like the idea of "tapping" on these. The brass nut is quite soft and can easily get mangled up. I have one that was already so bad when I got it that I had to cut new slots in the nut in order to get some traction.

Just an update...

The pommel nut tool from Gladstone, MI showed up today. It fit the pommel nut and, with the aid of an adjustable wrench, I was able to loosen, then tighten the nut enough to eliminate the looseness in the bakelite pommel. Mission accomplished!

The knife was a gift from an elderly friend, now passed. I'm going to carry it next hunting season instead of my trusty Randall Model 8. (Please excuse the horrible iPod photo)

Looks excellent, desmobob.

1967redrider wrote: ↑Tue Dec 15, 2020 2:41 am Looks excellent, desmobob.

Thank you!

The knife is well-used and was pretty rusty when I got it. I cleaned it up enough that it doesn't make me cringe, but still shows that it lived a hard life. That darn bakelite pommel stands out like a diamond stuck in a goat's butt... the rest of the knife looks rough but the pommel still shines like new, in the photo anyway. The bakelite just doesn't age like leather and steel.