Modified Case Trapper

[jmarston]

Well it happened again. I couldn't leave well enough alone.

The CaseTrapper was my first traditional love. Everything about the shape of this knife spoke to me. The ergonomic curves of the scales, the sweep of the clip. But this elegant beauty had a wart on her face.

That spey!

My goodness. The frequency in which I castrate calves versus the frequency in which I cursed the spey was polarizing. None to all the time. I tried the trapper in mini. I tried it full size. I cut down the spey to a sheepsfoot, which was nice. A vast improvement. But the lines of my sheepsfoot modification disrupted the curves of the knife. Useful, but useful in a way a minivan is useful. So the knife sat in my glovebox. Brought out on those days I had forgotten my usual blade. Or maybe lent out to a friend.

So today it rained. After working seven days a week for over a month, I needed to relax. For me, relaxing is working on these fun projects. I had been thinking for months about this mod. How much greater this knife would be as a single blade. Smooth transitions with the ability of the fingers to settle into those subtle swoops. And today was that day. I spent some time figuring out how best to do this with my limited tools. I am working out of town and living out of a camper so I am limited. Files, razor blades, a ball peen and a section of railroad track were all it took.

The spey turned ugly sheepsfoot was released from its prison. The spring and liner removed. The pins filed, re peened and flushed. This was it. The moment of truth. I grasped the reborn trapper. Fingers easily finding their place. Comfortable. Thin. Pocketable. Retaining the cutting reach and power of a full sized trapper.

WOW!

This knife feels great! It is thinner than my Peanut with a blade longer than the peanut. MMM. Daddy like. Practicality and pocketability of the slimline version while retaining the superior shape of the original.

This will be in my pocket working out and about in the bush. First impressions are great but only time will tell.

Enough words. Picture time. The last photo shows it next to my Peanut.

 

[Rich S]

Good mod. I never cared for trappers anyway. A good single blade or maybe a long single and a pen blade. I've never carried a trapper; two blades of the same length just seems useless to me. But to each his/her own. I know lots of folks like trappers; just not for me.
Rich

 

[JohnDF]

I like it a lot!
I've wanted a single blade Case Trapper for a while. Bought a Backpocket, but it doesn't even come close to the graceful lines of the Case Trapper. I'm glad I'm not alone in wanting this knife. Nice job on the mod.

 

[kvaughn]

Nice job! I have got to liking a single clip blade a lot. I carry a GEC 48 most days. Really rides light in the pocket.--KV

 

[Lansky1]

Nice job - really like the slim-ness of it. I would love to do that to a small Case gun stock & just have one spear blade (gladfully eliminating the little tiny pen blade which I have no use for) ...

I do alot of blade mods, but never have taken a knife apart. Main fear is getting it done & it'll have too much play & wobble ... or worse ... be too tight & not snap. How did you manage to get the blade fitted so it opens & closes properly without any of these issues (just curious how difficult that is) ? If I'm not wearing out my welcome, would you mind telling me how you separated the knife with limited tools & did you replace the pins or just re-use the originals ?

Thx very much for your help ...

John

 

[Hickory n steel]

Well it happened again. I couldn't leave well enough alone.

The CaseTrapper was my first traditional love. Everything about the shape of this knife spoke to me. The ergonomic curves of the scales, the sweep of the clip. But this elegant beauty had a wart on her face.

That spey!

My goodness. The frequency in which I castrate calves versus the frequency in which I cursed the spey was polarizing. None to all the time. I tried the trapper in mini. I tried it full size. I cut down the spey to a sheepsfoot, which was nice. A vast improvement. But the lines of my sheepsfoot modification disrupted the curves of the knife. Useful, but useful in a way a minivan is useful. So the knife sat in my glovebox. Brought out on those days I had forgotten my usual blade. Or maybe lent out to a friend.

So today it rained. After working seven days a week for over a month, I needed to relax. For me, relaxing is working on these fun projects. I had been thinking for months about this mod. How much greater this knife would be as a single blade. Smooth transitions with the ability of the fingers to settle into those subtle swoops. And today was that day. I spent some time figuring out how best to do this with my limited tools. I am working out of town and living out of a camper so I am limited. Files, razor blades, a ball peen and a section of railroad track were all it took.

The spey turned ugly sheepsfoot was released from its prison. The spring and liner removed. The pins filed, re peened and flushed. This was it. The moment of truth. I grasped the reborn trapper. Fingers easily finding their place. Comfortable. Thin. Pocketable. Retaining the cutting reach and power of a full sized trapper.

WOW!

This knife feels great! It is thinner than my Peanut with a blade longer than the peanut. MMM. Daddy like. Practicality and pocketability of the slimline version while retaining the superior shape of the original.

This will be in my pocket working out and about in the bush. First impressions are great but only time will tell.

Enough words. Picture time. The last photo shows it next to my Peanut.

Awesome work.
I don't like having both blades of equal length on a two blade knife, so to shorten a blade or in your case remove one is the way to go.
I've always wondered why Case doesn't make a regular single blade trapper, slimline trappers but not regular trappers for some reason.

 

[jmarston]

Nice job - really like the slim-ness of it. I would love to do that to a small Case gun stock & just have one spear blade (gladfully eliminating the little tiny pen blade which I have no use for) ...

I do alot of blade mods, but never have taken a knife apart. Main fear is getting it done & it'll have too much play & wobble ... or worse ... be too tight & not snap. How did you manage to get the blade fitted so it opens & closes properly without any of these issues (just curious how difficult that is) ? If I'm not wearing out my welcome, would you mind telling me how you separated the knife with limited tools & did you replace the pins or just re-use the originals ?

Thx very much for your help ...

John

Hey John. I am no expert. I too have modified many blades but this was my first disassembly.

My process went as follows. This allowed me to reuse the factory pins.

Insert utility blade between the blade tang and liner. Tap utility blade lightly to begin separating the liner and tang. You should start to see the pins sink into the bolster. Do the same at the opposite end as well as the centre spring pin.

Choose a direction to tap the pins out. This allows you to only fully remove the pins from one scale. Use a small punch or nail to gently tap the pins out until you are able to remove the scale.

Pull the scale off, remove the blade and spring. Inspect scale for any burrs. Take this chance to clean it from any swarf and smooth any damage taken from drifting the pins out. This will allow you to minimize gaps upon reassembly. Clean the other scale, the remaining blade and spring as well. File down any burrs.

Chamfer the heads of the pins with a file.this helps with reassembly. Make sure everything is clean!

Slide the scale back over the pins.this may take some effort to get everything to line up as the spring is applying pressure to the pivot pin. Get everything seated nicely.

You will need a thin piece of steel to slip between the blade tang and liners. A feeler gauge would work. I used a safety razor blade. I couldnt give an exact measurement but less than 0.010". This allows you to peen your pivot pin without getting it too tight. Trim your pins to 1/16" or so above the bolsters with a coarse file. Carefully not to gouge the bolster as that will lead to more work later. I started with the end opposite the pivot. Peening the pin to fill the slightly tapered hole in the bolster. Do the same on the centre pin but be very gentle as too tight could crack your scale covers. Do the same with the pivot pin with your shim placed between the blade tang and the liner.

Pull your shim out. Your knife should now function like a regular knife, with blade play. Now you must peen your pivot pin. This process is delicate and slow as you want to check every few taps for your progress so as to not over peen. Peen, check blade play and function, peen, check. Peen, check. You will get to a point where there is little to no perceptible blade play but the knife functions smoothly. Stop.

Check the knife over for any final peening touches. You can now file the pins flush with the bolsters. Again, be careful not to gouge the bolsters. Finish with a single cut file. Use sandpaper in increasing grit then buff.

This was my process. There are good threads out there by people much more skilled than I. I took some from them and made some up and I went. I really like this process as it allows you to reuse the pins.

Now what else in my collections needs modding...

 

[Lansky1]

JMarston - thanks a whole lot for taking the time to outline your procedure. I'll print this for reference. Seems like the key is to realize it takes alot of time and care in the reassembly to get the knife to run correctly without play but still snaps shut. Really appreciate your help - I think I'll give it a try ...

John

 

[screened porch]

Useful, but useful in a way a minivan is useful.

I don't have a problem with the two long blades. If I want a long and a short, I might as well go to my first and oldest standby, a stockman, and have a spare short.
Very nice result with the single blade.