Walk before you run or just run like mad and buy a box of band aides?

[TheDude]

I've mainly modded LM's cause there easy. Most of the time changing everything back cause it didn't look quite how I had envisioned it. Only thing I have done to a SAK is changed the scales.
I'd like to combine two 111mm SAK's to made my (almost) perfect tool. The whole peening thing looks really hard, and I like the look of torx screws, but there is a big part of me that wants to remove the scales and epoxy 4 layers together whilst blind folded. A I better off trying something it with the old beater first?

[hiraethus]

Peening is pretty easy, as long as you're covering your tracks with plastic scales.   It's when you leave the heads exposed, like on an Alox knife that you need to be good (and careful) at it.  As long as you're accurate with your initial marking and drilling to remove the old peened part of the pins everything else should go smoothly.  Here's what I suggested to another first time SAK modder:

I'm still getting a feel for this, but here's what I've learnt:

• Be very careful with marking and punching the centre of the rivets before you drill, particularly if you're drilling the 2.2 mm pins with a 2.5mm drill.  Filing a small flat on the curved rivet heads before marking can help.  You can correct for an off-centre mark by angling the drill over a bit.
• Work with the corkscrew side uppermost
• A support block for the knife is very useful - I use a piece of ABS sheet but I've seen old chopping boards used too.  Drill holes in it for the bushes to drop into so the outer liner sits flush against it.
• Don't drill too deep.
• You can pull the brass bushes off a drilled rivet with a pair of side cutters - get under the barb so you don't damage the sharp edge.
• DON'T DROP THE BUSHES!  They take forever to find in a pile of brass swarf.
• Punch the pins out from the side you've drilled rather than pull them.  You're less likely to bend them that way
• Lay out the parts as you separate the layers, and take a photo of the lot so you know what goes where.
• File a little chamfer on the end of the rivet before you start to build your knife - makes everything go back together much more easily.
• When peening, you can snip the unwanted length off the rivet after you've built the knife.  You want about 0.5mm sticking up above the top of the bush to form the rivet head.  File the end of the pin a bit to give you a flat surface to work down from.
• Keep checking the snap and feel of the knife as you peen.  You can always make it tighter, but it's very difficult to loosen the rivets if you go too far.  Do not ask me how I know this.
• Measure twice, cut once.  Grasshopper.

Post pics so we can see what you're doing.

[TheDude]

Thanks

[PTRSAK]

It is DEFINITELY a good idea to get a couple of beaters to practice on.
eBay is a good source for cheapies especially when you don't really care how "sharpened" the blades etc are.

[eddie1115]

What I did to start out was get some cheapies from ebay that were 3+ layers.  Disassembled and reassembled them a layer thinner so I could use the same pins.  I got a 4 - knife lot for $4 shipped, easy way to get my feet wet.