Forum kit knife assembly

Post by **Bill DeShivs** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 12:49 am

While I'm thinking about it.....
Make sure you trial assemble your knife before putting it together. These knives can be imprecisely made. If the backspring sits high in the opened position, carefully file down the top of the blade tang. One or two strokes should do it. The spring should be even with the liners in both the closed and opened positions.
Do not try to make the kick spring stronger by bending it.
If you are leaving the lever spring exposed, make sure you polish the spring cover before pinning the assembly down.
Are the bolsters attached to the liners on these kits? If so, they are spot-welded on. Sometimes they have a tendency to break loose. This can be avoided by soldering them in place with cheap, silver-bearing solder. Clean the liners with carburetor, or brake parts, cleaner. Then wash in hot, soapy water. Dry. Make sure you use the flux! I prefer Stay Clean brand. Heat until the solder flows, and then stop. Don't overheat. The bolsters will have to be sanded and polished after soldering.
Do not pin the lever assembly in place until you have finished polishing the bolsters. The lever side front bolster can not be polished properly with the lever assembly in place.
Bill

Doc Rocket · Post by **Doc Rocket** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 2:38 pm

Hay Bill, thanks for the rundown on pitfalls of this kit. I'm sure you have saved us a grief and frustration with your timely hints.

mr_edge · Post by **mr_edge** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 9:42 pm

I've owned several of these knives and they all had the high backspring that Bill is speaking of. When I tore one apart I was able to correct this by doing exactly as Bill instructed. He's right, it only takes a few passes with the file...very little effort to correct a most annoyng problem.

Doc Rocket · Post by **Doc Rocket** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 9:51 pm

Is there an advantage to leaving the lever spring exposed?

mr_edge · Post by **mr_edge** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 10:13 pm

Doc Rocket wrote:Is there an advantage to leaving the lever spring exposed?

Looks pretty damned cool.

Post by **Bill DeShivs** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 12:41 am

The only advantage is that the scales can be made much thinner.
Bill

mr_edge · Post by **mr_edge** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 6:19 pm

Well my kits showed up today. They look great!! They made it easier on us than I had thought...the lever assembly comes already pinned to the liners, bolsters are indeed spot welded. Blades are swedged and unstamped, and completely unsharpened. I pinned both mine together and they both seem to fit very nicely together. Neither sit high in the closed or open position at the top of the spine, but will require filing down on the outside of the backspring toward the bottom.
Thanx again Mr. Bigg. I appreciate you getting these in my hands....my only regret is not buying more than 2!
Let the games begin!!!!

mrbigg · Post by **mrbigg** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 11:42 pm

mr_edge wrote:Well my kits showed up today. They look great!! They made it easier on us than I had thought...the lever assembly comes already pinned to the liners, bolsters are indeed spot welded. Blades are swedged and unstamped, and completely unsharpened. I pinned both mine together and they both seem to fit very nicely together. Neither sit high in the closed or open position at the top of the spine, but will require filing down on the outside of the backspring toward the bottom.
Thanx again Mr. Bigg. I appreciate you getting these in my hands....my only regret is not buying more than 2!
Let the games begin!!!!

do i hear "contest"? who can make the best looking kit knife?

bring it on buddy

Doc Rocket · Post by **Doc Rocket** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 12:07 am

My kit also arrived. Now the tough part, try to figure out a great design for a personal knife. Decisons decisions, work on the knife divorce the wife?

mrbigg · Post by **mrbigg** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 12:11 am

Doc Rocket wrote:My kit also arrived. Now the tough part, try to figure out a great design for a personal knife. Decisons decisions, work on the knife divorce the wife?

sounds like an easy decision

mr_edge · Post by **mr_edge** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 12:56 am

mrbigg wrote:
mr_edge wrote:Well my kits showed up today. They look great!! They made it easier on us than I had thought...the lever assembly comes already pinned to the liners, bolsters are indeed spot welded. Blades are swedged and unstamped, and completely unsharpened. I pinned both mine together and they both seem to fit very nicely together. Neither sit high in the closed or open position at the top of the spine, but will require filing down on the outside of the backspring toward the bottom.
Thanx again Mr. Bigg. I appreciate you getting these in my hands....my only regret is not buying more than 2!
Let the games begin!!!!
do i hear "contest"? who can make the best looking kit knife?
bring it on buddy

We'll just see won't we now!

When will you be ready to post one?

mrbigg · Post by **mrbigg** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 1:26 am

6 months

rapidboy1 · Post by **rapidboy1** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 7:14 pm

Ok so i have had my first kit disaster.
I had some Lapis Lazuli rec stone and i glued it onto some white spacer material.
I clamped the whole thing up overnight to let the expoxy set and next day they seemed fine.
I went to get the scales from my desk last night and one had split in half.

I guess i must have caused a crack by clamping them to tightly.
Probably better it happened now than when i was peening the last pin

I was then going to rip up some timber for scale material and my bandsaw seized up.
So instead of kit building im stripping the saw to replace the bearings !!!

Might leave it untill next week to start as everything i touch seem so screw up at the moment.

What are you guy's using for scale material ???

rapidboy1 · Post by **rapidboy1** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 10:32 pm

Bill DeShivs wrote:Make sure you trial assemble your knife before putting it together. These knives can be imprecisely made. If the backspring sits high in the opened position, carefully file down the top of the blade tang. One or two strokes should do it. The spring should be even with the liners in both the closed and opened positions.
Are the bolsters attached to the liners on these kits? If so, they are spot-welded on. Sometimes they have a tendency to break loose. This can be avoided by soldering them in place with cheap, silver-bearing solder. The lever side front bolster can not be polished properly with the lever assembly in place.
Bill

Bill ,the kits are pretty good.
The backsprings on mine all sit as they should but the spring does extend past the rear bolster a little so i will file it down but i will do that after i pin it together.

The bolsters are already attached but i have had them come loose before on other kits.
Can i use ordinary electrical solder for these ??
The levers are already polished and peened in place so we will just have to polish around them but the bolsters are pretty good to start with

rb

Post by **Bill DeShivs** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 10:46 pm

RB
Thanks for the pics! Electrical solder will not work with stainless. The solder needs to have about 4% silver content, and you must use flux.
The backspring can be filed down from the inside or outside. Make sure the center backspring pin is a snug fit, or you could end up with blade play.
Bill

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Forum kit knife assembly

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