Slip joint disassembly questions, WIP pics

shipwright

shipwright

Joined
May 3, 2015
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Hi all, first time posting in this forum. I'm taking apart and modifying a Schatt & Morgan single blade gunstock as a first project before I get into making my first knife from scratch. The knife has bolsters at both ends, and I think I'd like to save and reuse the ones at the pivot end. My question is what's the best way to get the pivot pin out without damaging the bolster? I can see the faint outline of the pin, but I don't know how much these are peened and I don't want to bugger up the hole and brass liner by just driving it out. So how's it done? All the rest of the pins I can just grind down and punch out, as I won't be saving the covers or head bolsters. Thanks for any advice.
 
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Hey Ben! How's that gunstock folder holding up?

I'd center-punch the pin as close to center as possible, and start with a drill bit about half the size of the pin's outline. Drill down roughly the thickness of the bolster, and gradually increase your bit size until the peened area pops loose. You should then be able to punch the remaining pin out of the back. Try to keep the knife as square to the drill bit as possible.
 
Thanks Andrew! The Big Gun Jack is awesome, been carrying for work most days. It's holding a better edge than most of my other 1095 knives I have. Carries well for such a big knife.

How much are the holes for the pivot reamed open for peining, and at what angle? I've done about a million copper rivets in building boats, but I think that's a little different application. Usually we just cut a 82* countersink and peen the rod until it fills that.
 
Awesome! Very glad to hear that.

I honestly don't know how Schatt and Morgon does their pins, but ether it's likely either a light counter sink similar to what you mention, or a slight taper through the majority of the bolster using something like a tapered pin reamer (this is how I do my peened pins), which I believe is typically something close to a 10 degree taper. Either way, if you slowly sneak up on the diameter, you should be ok. Once you've drilled out most of the peen, the head will likely break loose and pull out with the drill bit. This is my typical experience when drilling out pins.

The key is to punch it as close to center as possible, and let the drill bits do the work.
 
Cool, thanks for your help. You videos have been very helpful as well. I'm gearing up to make my own blades for the woodworking tools I make, and plan on doing some knives with that equipment too.
 
shipwright said:
Cool, thanks for your help. You videos have been very helpful as well. I'm gearing up to make my own blades for the woodworking tools I make, and plan on doing some knives with that equipment too.
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I look forward to seeing some of your work! Woodworking has been something I've really wanted to get back into, as my dad had a halfway decent woodshop when I was growing up, and it was really my first introduction into tools and building things. I've often thought about making some planes, or chisels or something, but just haven't gotten around to coming up with anything yet. Maybe eventually...
 
I insert a utility knife blade between the liner and tang and with a soft mallet tap the other end to slice through the pin. The knife is perpendicular to the blade and you need a solid surface to back up the blade.
Then drive the remainder of the pin from the inside out.
 
William's suggestion is a very good one!
Another method is to punch one side until the rear protrudes. File the protrusion off and punch from the rear. File the protrusion off from that side.
Each time you do this, you are filing more of the head off. Eventually, after a few turns, you can punch the pin out.
 
I decided to go ahead and do the re-grind first, since that was the part i was most nervous about messing up. This knife was badly in need of a re-grind. It's a small 3 9/16" knife, but has .139" blade stock! On top of that, it's a low saber grind and was left insanely thick behind the edge. In these pics you can see how wide the edge bevel was once i put a 30 degree edge on. This thing was a splitting wedge, and not really useful as a pocket knife. The blade was way over-polished too, blending the grind and swedges into a melted blob. It also had way too many S&M logos all over the damn thing. Besides that though, it's a well made knife. ATS-34 steel and nice fit and finish. I thought the unique blade was cool, and i got it cheap, so i figured it would make a good project. Here's how it started out:

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And here's the reground blade. It's not perfect, but i'm very happy with it considering it's only my second time doing this. First one was a broad, ffg leaf shaped spyderco that was much easier by comparison. This one nearly got away from me a few times, but i think it finished up pretty nice. There was so much material to remove, i think it was basically like starting a new blade. Took me 4 hours, most of that with 40g belts. I'm using a 2x42 Jet belt/disc sander which i know is not ideal, but it is a fairly nice and powerful machine. I took it down to damn near zero, and FFG. That should help it slice a little better, even though it's still crazy thick stock. Finished at 220g, I dragged it over some fine scotch brite after the pics and it looks really nice, thats how i'll leave it.

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Then i took it apart. I did drill out the pivot pin and it worked really well. I ground one side of all the other pins off and punched them out. I couldn't get the last pin out for the life of me, so i did use the utility blade trick, and it worked like a charm!

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Next step is to order up new pins, remove the end cap bolster, and get on with making new covers. I decided to make my own Denim 'micarta' out of a worn out pair of Levi's that i've been wearing to work for years. Cut some strips, buttered up both sides of each layer with West epoxy until they were saturated, and clamped them between two pieces of thick marine plywood covered in plastic. I alternated light and dark sides of the denim in the stack, so hopefully that will look cool when they get contoured.

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Thats as far as i got today, I'll update with more pics as it comes back together. Thanks for the advise, i'm sure i'll have many more questions in the future.
 
Shoot Ben, nice progress--I am definitely looking forward to seeing where you end up at. I love it when folks jump in and find success!!

Good on ya brother!!
 
Thanks Fish, I've always been one to try and make whatever I am into. We'll see how this one comes out!

Some new pics of today's progress. Took the cured denim out of its clamps, and squared up the edges. The glue up came out way better than I expected, no voids or bubbles, and a really consistent thickness. I cut the covers out, and contoured a scrap piece just to see how it looks. I think these are going to very good looking, and they feel nice too. I removed the end cap bolster, squared up the front one, and lapped everything on 80 grit paper before glueing the covers on.

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NICE! Really looking forward to seeing this project. Thanks for sharing.
 
Got the covers flushed up and drilled all my holes through. Decided I could work in a lanyard tube as well. I'll just have to grind a spot for it into the back spring. Put in the small pins through the covers and peened them on the inside. That's it for today, still waiting on my pin and tube stock before I can put it together, but I got a little preview of how it looks.

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Thanks Randy, I'm going to try some coffee bag burlap next.


Another question for you guys. Do you contour each side before you final assemble the knife? Most of the pins are close to center, so I won't be taking off that much material, but the center backspring pin is close to the edge, and I don't think I could peen it deep enough to still hold on after shaping. Seems like it would be a little harder to peen everything once the sides are rounded, but maybe that's how it's done?
 
I finish all the sides before peening (especially with ivory this prevents smearing grit around the holes)....yes, if you have the chance try to avoid having too much sloped surface where you have the hole, but sometimes it is unavoidable.
First i suggest you to peen one head of the pin (i use a spare drillpress chuck to hold the pin, wrapped in paper to avoid marring with the jaws)...peen the head with the adequate slope, then insert in the knife and carefully peen the opposite head. This way you only have to fight with one head, trust me it will be easier.

When tapering the hole do it so you have enough tapered rim all around the pin's hole regardless the slope

You are doing a great job and you have a really clean, organized working area!!! :thumbup::thumbup:
 
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