Bolsters advice

[craggus2000]

The next major sak mod I'm planning is hopefully going to have a set of brass bolsters.

To that end I thought this thread could be dedicated to giving general advice for making/installing bolsters on sak mods...

I do have a couple of specific questions though 

What's the best type of solder and technique for soldering brass bolsters to brass liners? Would normal solder for plumbing be good enough or better with silver solder?

When drilling pivot holes through the bolster should I counter sink them slightly (similar to the collars on 91mm SAKs) to aid with peening and security or is a straight hole plenty good enough?

Any other advice welcome and appreciated!!

[craggus2000]

Anybody?

[magentus]

Your question is directed to a tiny subsection of the modding community craggus  I hope there's an answer on its way for you but very few people have attempted this particular mod .

I can't wait to see what you do 

[AimlessWanderer]

I've planned on doing something similar, but haven't started yet, as life issues keep getting in the way.

I'll be aiming to get the scale tools in to, and won't be soldering, in case the solder finds its way into the voids, and buggering up the use of scale tools. Traditionally, the holes for the pivots were drilled with tapered bits, so when peening, there was no risk of pull through. I think countersinking them might work, but I'd be tempted to try counterboring with the next drill size, for a little less extreme step.

[craggus2000]

Your question is directed to a tiny subsection of the modding community craggus  I hope there's an answer on its way for you but very few people have attempted this particular mod .

I can't wait to see what you do 

True, I should have realised that. Wasn't meant to sound impatient! I'll wait and see...

[craggus2000]

Traditionally, the holes for the pivots were drilled with tapered bits, so when peening, there was no risk of pull through. I think countersinking them might work, but I'd be tempted to try counterboring with the next drill size, for a little less extreme step.

Good point, counterboring sounds like a good idea 

[lichan]

Did you see this thread, a few below yours? https://forum.multitool.org/index.php?topic=55599.0

[craggus2000]

Yep, it was partly that thread that influenced some of my ideas 

[Sparky415]

I used plumbers solder when I did this knife Crag
I will be trying silver solder on other projects in the future

[craggus2000]

I used plumbers solder

How did you find it? Has the knife held up well?

[Sparky415]

It's not had a huge amount of use but I don't see why it would fail
after all copper pipes in a house hold up well 

[Fortytwo]

I have a similar mod planned and I did pick up some silver solder, mostly because I was in a store that sold it and it's not actually that expensive. I don't think it will make much difference in strength but I believe it is supposed to be less visible (thinner?).

[craggus2000]

I've got some silver solder arriving today, so hopefully will get some time tonight to try it out! 

[Sparky415]

 

[zoidberg]

It's awesome that you were able to score such a beautiful example of Scott's work Def! 

Here is some documentation that you might want:

This is the detailed documentation that accompanied my Soldier mod: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ek1jwjycl7orc44/Old_School_Victorinox_Soldier.pdf?dl=0

This is a snapshot of his website from  the Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20100513043649/http://knifecooperative.com/

Pics of my '05 Knifecoop Oldschool Soldier:

(Image removed from quote.)

(Image removed from quote.)

https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,76781.0.html

[Jspiggle]

Ive been working on some bolstered 58mm scales. Just used regular plumbing solder to solder the bolsters to the brass liners but one fell off as I was filing so I superglued it back temporarily and it seemed to hold up just as well as the solder did to the shaping =O!!

Knowing that Im going to pin through the bolsters anyway I was planning on leaving that one bolster glued and relying mostly on the pins. Also planning on opening the very top of the 1.6mm holes up to 2mm and sanding the pins flush afterwards so I will let you know how that goes.

Right now though I cant decide if I want to put a bolster groove in or not so its just going to sit on my desk for a while unless some of you can help me decide. Yea or nay to the bolster groove?

[Don Pablo]

I don't know about a bolster groove, but those are some fine craftsmanship!

[Fuzzbucket]

Ive been working on some bolstered 58mm scales. Just used regular plumbing solder to solder the bolsters to the brass liners but one fell off as I was filing so I superglued it back temporarily and it seemed to hold up just as well as the solder did to the shaping =O!!

Knowing that Im going to pin through the bolsters anyway I was planning on leaving that one bolster glued and relying mostly on the pins. Also planning on opening the very top of the 1.6mm holes up to 2mm and sanding the pins flush afterwards so I will let you know how that goes.

Right now though I cant decide if I want to put a bolster groove in or not so its just going to sit on my desk for a while unless some of you can help me decide. Yea or nay to the bolster groove?

(Image removed from quote.)

Simples... you should do what pleases your eye the most. 

Excellent skills by the way! 

[Sparky415]

I don't know about a bolster groove, but those are some fine craftsmanship!

+1 I'm with the Don   

[lichan]

Grooves.

[Rapidray]

I want one of each! 

[Jspiggle]

Might have to make another at some point then  , Im out of horn tho so lets try ebony next 

[Jspiggle]

Just finished up my bolstered SAK mod, you can check it out on my thread https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,82530.0.html

Two of my bolsters broke off, one glued and one soldered, while I was assembling the knife however the pinning is holding everything together perfectly due to tight tolerances in the brass and horn. Also Drilling the tops of the holes out to 2mm worked perfectly with the 1.6mm brass rods

[WDY]

Hi, guys.  I'm jumping in here a little late but for what it's worth...
I've gone through a similar barrier with SAKS and a love for pocket knives in general that leads me to the more traditional methods of building "folders". The next logical step has been bolsters.
I've had good luck with silver solder and good FLUX which I think is the key, here. The solder flows at a really low temp and slides in right under the bolster which is lightly clamped to the brass liner. Am using nickle silver for that process. I got a kit from Amazon with the solder and the flux.

My son has a machine shop/welding business and knows all the fab. guys in the area. One of his suppliers has a water-jet business and he cut me some excellent SAK liners out of .040 brass sheet. A 12"X12" sheet was about $75 to do and it yielded lots of perfectly cut 91 & 84mm liners. (Don't remember how many but the whole sheet was used with little waste..maybe 20 of each size) The trick is, give him the aluminum ones to copy. Not perfectly smooth and you still gotta drill the holes but it's so nice to have a pile of precut brass liners to work with.

Another cool machine shop trick is to make integrated bolsters with liners out of brass or aluminum stock. This uses, for example, a 3/16" thick strip of brass, 1" wide, 4" long. Plenty big for a single SAK scale. An easy process for a milling machine is to start 1/2" in from the end and cut out a  section of the strip 1/8" deep, 2.5" long, and the full width. You end up with a piece with a plateau, a long cutout valley, and another plateau.  Scale material goes into the valley and the plateaus become the bolsters when rounded over. Look at the side of a Buck knife to see what I mean. Same technique. Pix show examples of soldered and integrated bolsters. I will try to do a JPG of this kind of thing. It's pretty easy and pretty cheap to do.

For the pins I use brass and always do a tiny little countersink using a Dremmel bit spun in my fingers. This is a many sided V type bit that I use gently to get just the smallest penetration. Like, maybe 10-20% of the way through the scale. Then if you're using domed pins or flush ones (sanded smooth) you still have that mechanical lock-down of the swollen pin head in the hole.

Pix below - All are 84mm SAKS
 first is a soldered nickle silver bolster
 second is integral aluminum bolster (double ended)
 third is integral brass bolster (double ended)

Cheers

[PitCarver]

Ive been working on some bolstered 58mm scales. Just used regular plumbing solder to solder the bolsters to the brass liners but one fell off as I was filing so I superglued it back temporarily and it seemed to hold up just as well as the solder did to the shaping =O!!

Knowing that Im going to pin through the bolsters anyway I was planning on leaving that one bolster glued and relying mostly on the pins. Also planning on opening the very top of the 1.6mm holes up to 2mm and sanding the pins flush afterwards so I will let you know how that goes.

Right now though I cant decide if I want to put a bolster groove in or not so its just going to sit on my desk for a while unless some of you can help me decide. Yea or nay to the bolster groove?

(Image removed from quote.)

Gotta say those ringed bolsters look mighty nice.