I have a Ka-bar USMC fighting knife which I purchase in 1988/89. The leather stacks on the handle has cracked up pretty badly so I decided that I would try to replace it after watching a video of a replacement attempt on youtube.
However i am still having difficulties getting the pommel off the tang. I have drilled the pommel to remove the pin but somehow it wont come off. Then I figured that perhaps I did not drill deep enough and hence i continued drilling (using a hand drill) until the drill bit went through the entire pommel. Still the tang would not come off.
On hindsight, I took a second hole at the hole which i drilled and I discover that it may not have been perfectly straight to the centre of the tang. It is kinda off centre.
What are my options at this point now that I have drilled it completely through, albeit, wrongly. Should I try to re-drill to make a bigger hole?
I managed to get the replacement leather stacks (which came without any pommel or pin)
Will be grateful for any kind of assistance.
How off center is the hole you drilled?
If it is not much, you could reuse the pommel.
Just drill it right through, carefully, with the same size drill bit as the pin.
How large is the hole you drilled?
You can use a larger pin, within reason, but may have to drill out the hole in the tang as well.
Another option would be to get the rebuild kit from Ka-Bar which has the guard, pommel and pin.
When I rebuild a knife using the original pommel, I always drill the pommel right through, then lightly countersink each side.
I use a new pin long enough to go right through, and leave enough out each side to peen it over.
(Same as the WW2 pinned versions, and the current milspec Ontario 498.)
This stops it coming out, and is also a lot easier to remove than the "Blind pin" setup which is standard.
If you need any more help,just ask.
Hope this helps.