Spirit One-Hander

[J-sews]

I'm taking the plunge; one way or another my Spirit is going to get a one-hand knife blade. Ideally, I'd like it to come out looking like the picture below. (We'll see how well THAT fantasy works out!  )

[J-sews]

Tonight I took the first steps. I drilled and tapped the blade pivot pin for a #4-40 torx screw, then shaved the head off the rivet. After pushing the now-headless pin out, all the blades in that handle came free.

[J-sews]

I've got a long way to go still on this project. (I haven't even made the new knife blade yet.) One thing to consider is which blade to get rid of? The new OH blade will be a "long" tool, of which there are only four of on a regular Spirit. From the factory, there is:

serrated knife blade
saw blade
scissors
file blade

It's a matter of personal preference and use, but I chose to do away with the saw blade. Not only does it never get used on my Spirit, but it also occupies the spot I want the new OH blade to go in. (so it will function properly with the right hand.)

But as (bad) luck would have it, there is a problem.  :angry: The plier-head bracket inside the Spirit is not symmetrical. There is a small ledge that sticks out, which allows the saw blade to rest against when closed. (There is also one in the other handle for the file blade to rest against.)

Argh! I need to remove this ledge from the bracket in order to put in a full-length knife blade. The only way to do this is by drilling out and removing the rivet on the plier head end also.

Bare with me, this project is going to take a while....

[Grant Lamontagne]

Wow- it really looks like you have your work cut out for you... no pun intended!

I know a lot of people are going to be watching to see how this one turns out!

Def

[Tom Munch]

Wow, Bob.  I'd never noticed that little stop sticking up before.  Maybe the blade tip can curve up enough to clear that?

Tom

[Garnett]

Bob, good work on starting the mod! Can't wait to see the end result.

From considering the mod myself (albeit completely without any of the necessary skill to put the thing into practice) my observations were:

For ease of one-handed opening, the blade would need to go either where the woodsaw is or the file.

I had just assumed the blade would replace the main serrated sheepsfoot blade, and so I envisaged removing that blade, and moving the file across to take its place (filing a new nail nick in the other side of the file at the same time, so that it could still be opened, despite being "flipped")

I also like the idea of the hole in the blade as the opening method rather than having a thumbstud, but I thought a thumbstud might be best since this would mean little or no filing of the casing (which, I wondered, might cause a weakness) and would mean the new blade wouldn't stick out so far when the tool was closed....

I agree with you that that ledge should be filed down (so that it matches the other side of the plier-head bracket).

Good luck with the mod!

[knife-man]

Looks like a great Mod.

Where are you borrowing the blade from or do you made blades as well?

[Dunc]

People have talked about doing this for ages and bob has gone for it  :grin:  Well done mate I wish you the best of luck with this .

Dunc

[J-sews]

Thanks for the support fellas. I'll keep you up to date on my progress.

Looks like a great Mod.

Where are you borrowing the blade from or do you made blades as well?

I've never made a knife blade before. I've obtained a piece of ATS34 barstock from Texas Knife Supply. The piece is long enough to make two or three blades from, just in case the first one gets screwed up.   

When the time comes, I might need some advice on finishing the blade. Are your consultation fees reasonably priced? 

[knife-man]

Thanks for the support fellas. I'll keep you up to date on my progress.

Looks like a great Mod.

Where are you borrowing the blade from or do you made blades as well?

I've never made a knife blade before. I've obtained a piece of ATS34 barstock from Texas Knife Supply. The piece is long enough to make two or three blades from, just in case the first one gets screwed up.   

When the time comes, I might need some advice on finishing the blade. Are your consultation fees reasonably priced? 

Will Texas Knife supply heat treat it for you? If not you may encounter some difficulties. My consultation fee's are extortionately priced. But as yourworking on such a important and special project I will let you have some freebies.

Nip over to here www.britishblades.com if you get a chance .. absolute goldmine of knife making .. they even have some multi tool's knocking around

[J-sews]

Thanks knife-man!
(I am fortunate in having a heat treat facility just down the road from our shop. They owe me a few favors.)

~Bob

[supratentorial]

Wow!    I can't wait to see the next update!

What tools did you use to remove the pin?  Just a drill or did you need a mill or lathe?

[knife-man]

what's the size of the pins? just out of interest.

[J-sews]

what's the size of the pins? just out of interest.

The pin diameter is 4mm, with the head being about 5mm.

[J-sews]

What tools did you use to remove the pin?  Just a drill or did you need a mill or lathe?

I used a drill press for the job. It is a several-step process:

First (while the rivet was still firmly in place) I drilled and tapped a #4-40 threaded hole right down the center of the rivet.

Next I used a 3/16" drill bit to remove the head of the rivet, by carefully "kissing" it with the spinning drill bit until it was just below flush.

The headless rivet was still stuck tight in the handle, so I had to insert a #4-40 screw into the previously threaded hole, then tap on it with a hammer until it came out the other side.

Now that I've done this for the third time, it only takes about 10 minutes. Oh, and by the way, here is a picture of the handle bracket referred to earlier. The little ledge of metal sticking out acts as a "stop" for the saw blade. It needs to be removed in order for the new knife blade to be full length.

[J-sews]

No progress made on the new OH knife blade yet, but here's a picture of all the pieces. I guess I had not realized before that each one of the Spirit's handles are actually made up of four seperate pieces.

left side plate
right side plate
plier pivot bracket
individual backspring plate

(the backspring plate is riveted to the left sideplate, so they are not seperated in the picture below)

[Grant Lamontagne]

Gosh, it's kind of like watching the surgery channel, only more grusome!

Def

[Raukodur]

Any further developments Bob?

[J-sews]

The only news so far is bad news. 
The entire stack of blades is engineered to precisely fit within the handle of the Spirit, and there are several different blade thicknesses in the stack. I had not noticed before that the Spirit saw blade is about half a millimeter thinner than the knife blade.

So, if I proceed with my original plan of replacing the saw blade with a new one-hand blade, it will need to be somewhat thinner than the factory sheepsfoot serrated blade.  (If that makes sense.)

[knife-man]

The only news so far is bad news. 
The entire stack of blades is engineered to precisely fit within the handle of the Spirit, and there are several different blade thicknesses in the stack. I had not noticed before that the Spirit saw blade is about half a millimeter thinner than the knife blade.

So, if I proceed with my original plan of replacing the saw blade with a new one-hand blade, it will need to be somewhat thinner than the factory sheepsfoot serrated blade.  (If that makes sense.)

I though you were making a blade?

[J-sews]

I am! (Well, at least I plan to.)

Hmmm, maybe the post above was not clear? The dilemma is that I wish to make my new one-hand knife 2.5mm thick, same as the original Spirit blade.

But I wish to put it in the position occupied by the saw blade, which is only 2mm thick.

The matter is further complicated by those individual backsprings. Each one is cut to width precisely to match its corresponding blade. And as you can see in the photo below, the thickness varies from blade to blade.

[J-sews]

....The dilemma is that I wish to make my new one-hand knife 2.5mm thick, same as the original Spirit blade.

But I wish to put it in the position occupied by the saw blade, which is only 2mm thick........

Which, as it now occurs to me, explains why on the Spirit S model they replaced the scissors (also 2.5mm thick) with the spear point knife instead of the file blade or the saw.

[prime77]

I guess all this just shows how well engineered and thought out the Spirit is to have each individual implement made to different specifications.

[J-sews]

I guess all this just shows how well engineered and thought out the Spirit is to have each individual implement made to different specifications.

Right at the moment, I have a different, less polite opinion of them........

[Raukodur]

lol  :grin:

[knife-man]

can you not just make the blade 2mm thick?

I don't think you will notice the .5mm performance wise

[J-sews]

can you not just make the blade 2mm thick?

I don't think you will notice the .5mm performance wise

I think that is my only option. Hopefully the thinner blade will not be a problem. I suppose there is only one way to find out....

[Icheatpeople]

good luck, that should work.

hope to get my first swiss tool this summer and look what i could do.

[Raukodur]

posting just to keep the thread alive so any new members know this is a recent project.

Hope Bob has the time to work on this, and doesnt run into too many difficulties, I know everyone is eagerly awaiting any developments.

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

i,d be very interested in seeing how this one pans out!