Another project

AimlessWanderer · **on:** September 02, 2015, 03:04:45 PM

Years ago before ebay UK stopped selling knives, I bought some knife parts for a Stockman which came out of one of the Sheffield factories. Possibly defects, or possibly parts from discontinued products. Upon offering the parts up to each other it became clear these were a mismatch, or at least the parts were made oversize and needed a fair amount of effort to turn these into a working item.

The pin holes are surprisingly small, but they are so close to the edge I daren't risk opening them up. I'd like to see if I can turn this into something functional. I'm not expecting it to be a thing of beauty, just a pocket knife that I know I've brought to life

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #1 on:** September 02, 2015, 03:06:26 PM

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #2 on:** September 02, 2015, 08:25:21 PM

The blades and springs are coated in some thick rust preventative, and I've decided to leave that on fir the time being while I do the roughing out work.

My suspicions of a mismatched set are becoming stronger. The springs and blades are drilled 2mm, but the scales and liners weren't, so I've had to open those out. It was quite obvious which springs were for which blades, but not obvious as to which way round the spring for the spey and sheepsfoot went, or which end they sat on.

I tried building it up with the blades in the closed position, so the excess spring length didn't cause a problem. Once I'd figured out which way everything needs to sit, I had to force the backspring down to get the spey blade in, and with the other end of the spring resting on the pin (not the tang of the sheepsfoot) the tension was already similar to that of a victorinox knife. If I were to force the spring down to get the sheepsfoot in, I suspec the backspring would be grossly over tensioned. Not ony would that make this a real nail breaker but I'd be worried for those poor little 2mm pins.

This is going to take more work than I first thought!

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #3 on:** September 02, 2015, 08:57:14 PM

After discovering how much extra work I've got on the two blade spring, I decided to put together the clip blade side to see what that looked like.

Both the blade and spring are oversize, but at least the nail nick is accessible. This means I need to be very careful on stock removal if I want to take a bit of tension out of the spring, and I ought to adjust the spring rather than the tang. I also need to rework the tip of the blade so that it not only fits, but also so the tip is covered when the blade is closed. I was hoping to increas the curve as sweep the blade up a bit more, but it looks like I need to drop the clip angle a bit as well/instead

Sparky415 · **Reply #4 on:** September 02, 2015, 09:01:36 PM

Watching with interest Al

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #5 on:** September 02, 2015, 09:37:08 PM

Just don't watch too carefully in case it all goes horribly wrong

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #6 on:** September 03, 2015, 02:10:48 PM

Main blade and mating backspring now roughed out, and scales roughed out. This isn't going to pretty, but I'm still hopeful it's going to be functional

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #7 on:** September 03, 2015, 02:22:10 PM

Not quite there, but looking more promising...

zoidberg · **Reply #8 on:** September 03, 2015, 02:24:05 PM

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #9 on:** September 03, 2015, 02:44:24 PM

Getting to the point now where the gunk on the blades and springs isn't helping, so they're soaking in a bath of meths. I'll try to get them cleaned up so I can see what's hiding beneath.

While they're soaking, I think I'll have a quick cuppa, then have a go at finishing off the Wenger mod

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #10 on:** September 03, 2015, 03:05:08 PM

...... unless of course it starts raining again

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #11 on:** September 03, 2015, 03:19:20 PM

And underneath the gunk I find the "as heat treated" surface ...

No blasting cabinet...
No buffing wheel...

*sigh*

This might take a while....

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #12 on:** September 03, 2015, 03:56:39 PM

After 30 mins of elbow grease, the result is a kind of worn BO look. The edges are also stamped, and will need going over more aggressively.

I'm now thinking that as these are carbon steel blades, is there really any need to try and take them to a 100% clean finish, just so that I can try and put a patina on them

Let's go for the "aged" look instead

sawman · **Reply #13 on:** September 03, 2015, 04:07:29 PM

Those blades are VERY cool. Definitely a worthy project I hope you'll see thru

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #14 on:** September 03, 2015, 04:48:07 PM

Thanks Steve

I hope to have this in working order before the end of the weekend.

All blades and springs have now been cleaned up to an "aged" finish, so now I can actually start working on getting them to interact properly, and also finish off the profile on the large clip blade

sawman · **Reply #15 on:** September 03, 2015, 04:52:13 PM

It looks like you'll have a nice double folder when all finished. I do have some concern about the longevity of the backsprings however. It's hard not to process that black coating as rust...

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #16 on:** September 03, 2015, 05:03:45 PM

YOU SMURFING IDIOT, ALAN!!!!!

I got all enthusiastic and just ground about 5mm off the wrong end of the second spring!

This project will now be a single blade folder

sawman · **Reply #17 on:** September 03, 2015, 05:05:04 PM

Quote from: 50ft-trad on September 03, 2015, 05:03:45 PM

YOU SMURFING IDIOT, ALAN!!!!!

I got all enthusiastic and just ground about 5mm off the wrong end of the second spring!

This project will now be a single blade folder

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #18 on:** September 03, 2015, 05:46:12 PM

The way the blanks were made, the centre pin is noticeably offset, but the springs were drilled centrally albeit with an assymetrical form. I built it up and marked it out, but I fit the smaller blade on the other end in the open position. If I had fitted it in the closed position, I'd have noticed that the kick overshot the contact point because the spring was on backwards.

I now have to decide whether to go the "easy" route and make this a single blade folder, or whether to try something VERY risky to salvage it, which might scrap everything if it doesn't work

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #19 on:** September 03, 2015, 05:47:25 PM

Time for a beer I think...

dks · **Reply #20 on:** September 03, 2015, 09:22:41 PM

just make mini fixed blades - no need for springs

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #21 on:** September 03, 2015, 10:04:24 PM

That would be MUCH easier

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #22 on:** September 04, 2015, 12:34:50 AM

I've just remembered that I've got a Sheepsfoot Douk Douk knife that I don't really get along with. It's larger than this project, has a carbon steel blade, with carbon steel backspring, and just offering the smurfed up backspring to the tang of the Douk Douk.... they seem to be stamped from the same thickness plate

This might be worth more investigation, as even if I can't make a replacement spring for the original blades, I might be able to make a two blade folder with the original clip blade and spring, and a reduced Douk Douk sheepsfoot and spring.

This project isn't over yet

sawman · **Reply #23 on:** September 04, 2015, 02:51:23 AM

dks · **Reply #24 on:** September 04, 2015, 06:43:25 AM

What I do with any broken etc. blades is just make friction folders (Higonokami/opinel style)

Provided you can find material for the handle (plastic, sheet metal, wood...) and are able to drill a hole in the blade, for the pivot pin if needed, it is easy.