My 4 Questions

[WDY]

Hi lads,
Sorry if this is posted in the wrong place.  Please move it to a better spot if desired.
I'm a new kid here in the forums and recent convert to MODDING.  Couple of questions:
1) The need to be right on the money with pin sizes when doing replacements.  For example, the 91mm knives call for a 2.5mm and 2.2mm pin size. Is it safe, good, and fair to use something a titch undersized based on availability.  2.5mm = .0984 and 3/32 (a common size for brass rod) runs .0938. That's about 5 thousandths undersize. Will that make things sloppy inside the knife? Now, one CAN get the 2.5mm material but it's pretty exotic from what I find.  Like, order it from across the pond.  Any thoughts on this?

2) Copper rod for pins.  Will copper hold up as pin stock or will it wear out prematurely? I would look cool as a peened, exposed pin, like the brass ones mentioned above.

3) Anybody worked with "stabilized wood" scales?  They're all over the knife making shops and they look amazing, if a bit too flashy for my taste. Found a guy that will do small batches and I have some really great wood material for scales.  Wanted to see what anybody's doing with this kind of stuff, how it behaves, etc. I'm coming from a fine woodworking background so the concept is really appealing.

4) What's the story with Saktory? I stumbled across their amazing SAK scales on Pinterist.  Be sure to use the DOWN ARROW to see 'em all.
(https://es.pinterest.com/saktory/victorinox-swiss-army-knives-by-saktory/?lp=true)
The website referenced on the listings doesn't go anywhere.  Like, they're out of business or ? I'm not thrilled with their selection of "art" but with such detail, one could do some cool texture or background stuff.  Bar codes, maybe?

4.5) A hearty THANKS ahead of time for helping me with this stuff.  I can't believe what an honor it is for a newbee to have access to the collective wisdom of the group.      Cheers  -Yager

[Don Pablo]

First of all, welcome! 

I don't know about the other questions, but 3/32 is too small I think. The problem is that it won't fill out the brushings.   
A better option would be to get brass rod that is slightly too big, and sand it down slowly to fit while spinning in a drill.

[Fortytwo]

I'm doing some work with stabilised birch burl right now. This is my first time but as far as sawing and the coarse sanding goes it seems to work quite like regular wood. I have not gotten to the finishing stage so I still don't know how it will polish up.

[hiraethus]

I reckon you'd get away with 3/32" rod, though you may find that the action is a bit lighter than factory.  0.12mm isn't very much, and Victorinox already use rod that is undersized for some of the tools - the backside phillips on a small Tinker or the sheepsfoot blade on a 84mm Electrician, for example.

Copper rod is probably too soft and flexible to use as a pivot, but would look pretty cool.  Maybe try copper for the pins holding the covers to the outer liners?

Not personally worked with the stabilized wood, but others have.  I've seen references to pakkawood, maybe try looking for this.

Saktory stuff is sold by http://www.swisstool.co.uk/st/Boutique/ in the UK.  I think they're the same company, but I'm not sure.  Be warned though, their customer service isn't great - at least one of our members had poor service from them and it took a lot of chasing from a local to get the problem resolved.  I have ordered from them in the past and been satisfied, but if you can find what you want elsewhere I'd recommend that first.

Welcome to the forum.

[Poncho65]

Welcome.to

I used 3/32 for both the 2.5mm and 2.2 pins of my recent mod and have found that it works well Plenty of snap in it and have had Vics with the same snap I am happy with it and if I didn't know it I would never think that it was a little undersized I did have to sand the 2.2mm sized pin down with sandpaper though and that took a bit of doing I put the pin in a drill that had a keyless chuck and held sandpaper over it until I got the desired size, checking til I got it right

Good luck with the mod and take pics

[Fortytwo]

I can report that my use of stabilised Birch has been a success and that it works almost exactly like wood but with less dependency on grain structure. I did have a tiny chip come loose where the burl grain intersected a sharp corner but even that could probably have been avoided if I hadn't been using such a coarse file to remove material.

I had no problem at all with sanding it. I was afraid that it would handle a bit like plastic and require a polish to make it look good but I just used sandpaper. I used a total of four grits of sandpaper where the coarsest was 180 that I used for rough shaping. After that I jumped fairly quickly, not actually spending much time at all with the last two (600 & 1200) since the 240 I used for finer shaping left a decent result.

Lastly I was a bit afraid of how it would take a finish but just a simple wipe with oil gave a great result.

I'll post a picture tomorrow.

[sLaughterMed]

I've had no issues ordering 2.5mm brass rod on ebay and Amazon an in my experience it isn't any more expensive than 3/32" (im in the states). You could absolutly get away with 3/32" for pivots, but like mentioned above will lighten the action a bit. 2.2mm is the really hard one to source, and there isn't really a close Imperial size. I think i've only found it on ebay.

Copper pins for pivots will almost certainly be too soft, and I don't know if you can even get it in the right size.

Good luck, and happy modding!

[Fortytwo]

Overdue but here is the picture that was promised.