All About Pocket Knives

I got this Schrade hunter some time back. It had yellow handles that had outgassed and cracked; the liners and bolsters were corroded, but not badly. I took it apart and cleaned it up--it sat in isopropyl alcohol overnight to loosen up the gunk under the handles and in the joints. That left the blades dark, and put an interesting patina on the bolsters. I made new handles from bird's-eye maple (I think that's what it is, anyway) and re-assembled it. The blades are a little tight--and the springs are a tad weak, so they are lazy closing. Oh well...

I had to remove the fun patina on the bolsters where I pinned the knife back together, but the blades stayed dark, which is fine with me.

Looks great dude

That is beautiful! It really stands out.

Im a wood guy. I collect samples, and those scales are some fine samples. Nice job.

Alcohol shouldn't darken a blade.
Looks like it was soaked in vinegar.

Very, very knice!!!

Bill DeShivs wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 2:26 am Alcohol shouldn't darken a blade.
Looks like it was soaked in vinegar.

I agree, but this was isopropanol straight from the bottle into a Tupperware container, with the blades and frame. Granted, it was drugstore alcohol, so not 100%, but it hasn't done this to me before, except for one knife I worked on for another AAPK member. I wonder if it was something else already in the knife that the alcohol dissolved which caused the darkening. it *was* pretty gummed up.

Give us a couple pictures with the blades open. Looks great

Great choice of cover material!

wlf wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 2:52 pm Give us a couple pictures with the blades open. Looks great

Here you go. Also, one of the tang stamp, with pencil to help show up what little is left.

Awesome job! Think any Quick Release would bring some of the snap back?

Looking good, nice save!

1967redrider wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 8:37 pm Awesome job! Think any Quick Release would bring some of the snap back?

I don't have Quick Release, but I used a tiny bit of Lock Ease, which is graphite suspended in light oil. It does seem to have made it better.

Nice job, it looks good. I like Birdseye maple!

As far as the tight blades go, you may have gotten them a little bit too tight, did you use a slackner when you peened the pivot pins? One thing I do if the blades are a little tight is to take an old brass liner and put it by the tang and close the blade part way, that will give a couple c thousand spread and loosen the blade just a little bit. You don't want to do too much, but just enough so the blades will walk and talk without being too tight.

Quick Release oil is definitely worth the price, IMHO. For some reason it works better than any other oil I have tried, even those that are more expensive than Quick Release. I have even had it restore snap to knives that had no snap.