Re: First mod - mini Farmer with scissors

[harryf3]

Here we go.
Here are my basic modding tools.


A friend has a lathe so we made two rivet tools.


The first donor is a “my first victorinox”. Dismantling
.






Making a starting hole with the awl of the soldier.



Drilling



There is a proper hole on the teflon working surface to accept the other side of the rivet.



Punching


The head of the pin appears



Taking the pin out with the pliers.



Here is the last pin. All it needes is to file the head and punch it



Here are the parts



A drawing helps so we know what goes where.



Preparing a few pins

[harryf3]

I made a test with the scales of a cheap Bantam to see how the rivet tools work.







I painted the scales with a permanent marker so I could see any little scratch.

Works great but it’s very difficult to hold the scales parallel to the ground and give precise hits with the hammer.
Those tools need a press so I decided not to use them.
I tried to use only one and put the scales on a anvil with a hole but it’s also difficult.
I had to hit strongly with the hammer and the scales were in danger. So I gave up the idea of the rivet tools.

For practice I made a Lumberjack.

[harryf3]

Dismantling the new orange Cadet.

I do not have a pillar drill so I used the hole of a small cutter as a guide. We do not want the drill to slip and hurt the alox scales.



Punching



Cadet no more. Now there is no turning back.

[harryf3]

Making an awl from the nail file.



Removing much metal with the wannabe dremel to give the basic shape of the awl.



Filing



Sharpening with a DC4



This is it. A combo awl / nail file.





Preparing the 3 brass pins with my old trusty american ball peen hammer and a vice.

[harryf3]

The discontinued small Climber with scissors arrived and we are back in business.
I’m afraid that the SAK collectors will not appreciate the dismantling of a discontinued and collectible SAK but I do need the scissors so please I need your understanding.



A fistful of parts.



Nice and neat so we know again what goes where.


A drawing is always better that a picture because two backsprings are almost identical.



Here are the drawings of the Cadet and the test-Lumberjack.



Too many parts.



The “small Climber” was well used and some  backsprings, liners and tools were dirty or scratched but  the green compound will polish them.



Like new

[harryf3]

Assembling.

First I used the scales of the Bantam to see if everything is working nice, tight and smoth and if I used the right liners.
I used a jig.
Inserting the backsprings, layers and tolls one by one.









The pliers help to open the backspring. The liners are aluminium so they are soft and it’s very easy to hurt them so I protected them with a sponge.



















Everything looks and works fine so we can now tranfer everything to the orange scales.

[harryf3]

Orange scales

I cannot use the jig anymore because I have 3 pins ready with round heads.

I found that it’s very easy to put everything in place without a jig or pliers.
All we have to do it to hold the tool, raise the tip and push the backspring at an angle at the same time. It’s really too easy.

So let’s assemble the new and final orange SAK.







Ready but not pinned.








The tape holds tight eveything in place so the knife will not explode during the pinning/riveting process.

[harryf3]

Those magical little stickers in layers of 6 or 7 will prevent the scales from the hammer.



The exposed pin must have the correct size and be even (not pointy).







Or we can use a piece of leather or an elastic tube from bicycle tyres.
I stole this great idea from mister Desax who used rubber pieces..



I made a small round hole on the vice. This will be my bucking bar.
Backup is everything when riveting.
The head will take the shape of the hole in the backing bar no matter what.
Needless to say that I covered with the stickers BOTH sides of the pin or the vice will hurt the scales.



You already know the result from the first post.



 

I could avoid a few steps of the above but this was my first MOD and it was a complicated one.
I think it’s obvious which steps were not necessary.

I hope you found this useful and interesting.
Thanks for looking
Aris, Greece

[harryf3]

A quick note.
Looks like 1.3 mm was too much for the exposed pin to form a head.
So I over-hitted with the hammer to make the knife tight  and the heads of the pins on the backside of the SAK cracked a little.
Continuous hitting creates brass-dust and cracks.

[sparky415]

Aris/Harry
Thank you very much for all the pictures  and I really like the look of those rivet tools 

Very nice work

[Doctor.Skipper]

harryf3:
Well, well done - absolutely amazing course! 
I have never seen so clear "evolution" of the knife modding.

[nuphoria]

Excellent photos essay - I vote we make it a sticky

[Gareth]

great pics mate, cheers for sharing.

[MultiMat]

harry , that is ............ just wow ......... wow  .

I would love to see a video of the final peening of the pins, that would be very cool , I have looked on Youtube with no luck.

Getting the peening just right so the tightness in the SAK is spot on has to be tricky  .

GREAT photos , GREAT project & GREAT SAK mate 

[enki_ck]

Excellent photos essay - I vote we make it a sticky

+1 and maybe add it to the main site and the SOSAK in the next newsletter too.

Great work. Inspired me to try the same.