Mutt and Jeff (Case 31 and 33) Dressed Up in Stag

[herbva]

This pair (originally a 2231 and 3233) remind me of the cartoon characters Mutt and Jeff (big and little). I really prefer to work on larger knives, and as a result, the little 3233 has been sitting in my "on-deck" box for a long time. Anyway, the 33 had yellow delrin scales with big rocker pin cracks on both sides and the 31 had the slick black composition scales that were dinged and scratched up, but the blades looked like new. (I know, go figure.) When I was rummaging through my supply of stag slabs, I ran across a couple of small scraps of "popcorn" stag and remembered the 33. Now I just need to figure out how to do a better job of repining the old shield next time.

[1967redrider]

Awesome duo, Herb! They look great.

[dlr110]

Very nice Herb!

[Reverand]

Not that is some fat stag! I love the way that they turned out!

This may not help much, but I try to remove pinned shields by drilling the pins on the inside of the liners, and leave the original pins in the shield. After I rehandle the slabs, I drill new holes from the liner side, stick the pins in those holes, then mark and inlet the shield. The old pins are not long enough to go all the way through the liners, but when I epoxy it in place the epoxy goes all the way through, and I really don't see it coming loose again.
I guess that you can say that I "half pin" them back into place with what is left of the original pins.
It certainly helps hold the shield in place while I marking it to inlet.

[Dan In MI]

They look great, Herb! And I certainly couldn't get a shield pinned on that well.

[Nev52]

Looks great Herb!! The shield looks great too.
Nev

[herbva]

Not that is some fat stag! I love the way that they turned out!

This may not help much, but I try to remove pinned shields by drilling the pins on the inside of the liners, and leave the original pins in the shield. After I rehandle the slabs, I drill new holes from the liner side, stick the pins in those holes, then mark and inlet the shield. The old pins are not long enough to go all the way through the liners, but when I epoxy it in place the epoxy goes all the way through, and I really don't see it coming loose again.
I guess that you can say that I "half pin" them back into place with what is left of the original pins.
It certainly helps hold the shield in place while I marking it to inlet.

Thanks Reverand. I've actually used that technique a few times myself and it does work quite well. So, after all of this time struggling to make the pin heads disappear on old-fashioned pinned shields I think I found something. The burrs with abrasive heads in the picture came with my rotary tool and I've never used them for much. I think it may have been divine intervention, but the idea to use them for this purpose just popped into my head. I used the tip of the orange one to grind off the pin heads and then polished the shield with a very small buffing wheel and tripoli compound. It worked like a charm, but the only catch is next time I need to go a little easier and be a lot more careful with that burr. As you can see, I dug a slight depression in the right side of the shield before I even knew what was happening. Oh well, live and learn!

[Reverand]

Wow that looks great! That slight depression in the shield will only bother you, trust me! Few others would even notice it.

[Madmarco]

Beautiful knives Herb!

[cudgee]

Great work, is that thick knarly stag hard to work with ???

[herbva]

Great work, is that thick knarly stag hard to work with ???

Cudgee, with stag there are a few "nuances" that you have to learn how to deal with because of the highly uneven surface that you are working with. For me, figuring out how to get the rocker pin heads slightly countersunk so that they aren't sticking way out was a challenge, but I eventually figured it out. And, as you can see above, I'm still a bit challenged when it comes to doing a good job of inlaying and pinning the old shield back on. But, I think I've figured out a method of dealing with that too. Cheers mate!