Swinguards? What to look for?

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arlen
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Swinguards? What to look for?

Post by arlen »

I am about to delve into a few swingguards. Please educate me about these knives. Any bits of wisdom are welcome. Do the guards have a tendency to rattle? Should they always position 90° to the handle and blade? After the blade is flipped into position, how is the blade released to be folded? Who are the makers to avoid? Does this mechanism originate in Italy?
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arlen
Tom19176
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Re: Swinguards? What to look for?

Post by Tom19176 »

They are lock backs and the release to close them is on the bottom back spring. There are some fake 9" AKC ones out there so be careful. Franks B reported makes all the 11" ones no matter what the tang stamp says. They have recently gone up in price. Rick is selling one on SD that is nice and I think there wre a few offered here with wood handles.....Blade Play ( now grindworks)has the best selection...https://www.grindworx.com/cat--Swinguards--64
Tom19176
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Re: Swinguards? What to look for?

Post by Tom19176 »

They are on this site:

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=25561
Last edited by Tom19176 on Sun Jun 10, 2018 9:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
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JimBrown257
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Re: Swinguards? What to look for?

Post by JimBrown257 »

I have wondered about this too: who came up with the first swingguard knife? Was it an English knife?

As for the rattling of the guards, if you are lucky they will sit tight but some of them are a bit loose.
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arlen
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Re: Swinguards? What to look for?

Post by arlen »

As a casual observer of this type of mechanism, it would appear that the rattling guard would be the number one area of concern of manufacturers of the swinguard type of stiletto. My professional career has been in the field of mechanical engineering and I am intrigued with how the knife makers might have dealt a simple solution to the problem of firmly seating a moving object.
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arlen
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arlen
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Re: Swinguards? What to look for?

Post by arlen »

Here is a picture of a new Frank Beltrame as advertised on a knife wholesale website (The Knife Distributor). Note the guard. This dampens my ardor to collect this stiletto variation.
http://theknifedistributor.3dcartstores ... _9105.html

Image
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arlen
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natcherly
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Re: Swinguards? What to look for?

Post by natcherly »

Getting the swing guards to align properly requires care and precision. If you are off by only a whisker, you get the result shown in that picture.

Also, I can't believe that a serious dealer would make the mistake of showing the knife with floating guards. What a maroon, as Bugs would say....
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arlen
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Re: Swinguards? What to look for?

Post by arlen »

I am very concerned that the QA department of F Beltrame would let this part be shipped, and that the production worker who assembled it would have placed it in the "good" pile. To fix the knife pictured above would most likely require a disassembly and replacement of the blade and guard, or maybe the bolster. The salvage cost would be less than the loss of profits from my F Beltrame knife purchases.
Do the knife makers warranty their knives?
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arlen
sammy the blade
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Re: Swinguards? What to look for?

Post by sammy the blade »

I think they warranty them but they would have you send it back but your replacement knife may be worse. You should check the auctions, you can at least ask questions about the knife your interested in.
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gravknife
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Re: Swinguards? What to look for?

Post by gravknife »

Arlen

Swinguards are a great addition to any collection.

Why not see if anybody here has a perfect example to sell on the "Buy and Sell forum" ,or put it as a wants list and people here will look out for one in the condition you specify,with flush guards.

I don't have many swinguard knives but I can tell you one thing for sure....Once you hear the acoustics of a swinguard as it opens then you will definitely want another.

Good luck in your search for these knives,you won't be disappointed ,you will just want to upgrade,or buy another

All the best

gravknife
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natcherly
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Re: Swinguards? What to look for?

Post by natcherly »

arlen wrote:I am very concerned that the QA department of F Beltrame would let this part be shipped, and that the production worker who assembled it would have placed it in the "good" pile. To fix the knife pictured above would most likely require a disassembly and replacement of the blade and guard, or maybe the bolster. The salvage cost would be less than the loss of profits from my F Beltrame knife purchases.
Do the knife makers warranty their knives?
Italian knife makers are not famous for their QC. If you ask any dealer, they will tell you that there have been a surprisingly large number of less than perfect knives that come out of the shops over there. It may be getting better, but as I only buy a very few knives anymore, others will have to chime in on this.
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JimBrown257
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Re: Swinguards? What to look for?

Post by JimBrown257 »

natcherly wrote: I can't believe that a serious dealer would make the mistake of showing the knife with floating guards.
I would guess they pictured it like that so the buyer would be prepared for the very loose guards they would be getting,
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JimBrown257
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Re: Swinguards? What to look for?

Post by JimBrown257 »

When I make swing guards, I purposefully drill the guard's hole a little too high so I can file a little off the bottom, check it, file off a little more...until they sit perfectly tight against the top of the bolster.

And if I have some that are too high, I take the guards off and plug the holes with a NS pin (or steel if the guards are steel). Then I make the front guard the back guard and back guard the front guard. Then I redrill the hole a little higher up. Here is a set where I did this and the plugged hole is still kind of visible.
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natcherly
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Re: Swinguards? What to look for?

Post by natcherly »

JimBrown257 wrote:
natcherly wrote: I can't believe that a serious dealer would make the mistake of showing the knife with floating guards.
I would guess they pictured it like that so the buyer would be prepared for the very loose guards they would be getting,
You are probably right! This is really pathetic. On Rizzies I expect loose guards, but not on these. Frank B has gone way down hill if they ship stuff like that.

I like your explanation of how you handle making sure the guards fit. Good work!
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JimBrown257
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Re: Swinguards? What to look for?

Post by JimBrown257 »

There's actually a more simple thing you can do to get a little better fitting guards than the plugging method I mentioned. If you drill the hole through the blade to be bigger, but make it lower, then drill the hole in the guards bigger, but make them higher, the guards will be a little lower when you re-attach them. Of course, you need to be sure the guards don't rest right up on the handle (when closed) at first. If so the bigger holes might cause the guards to prevent the knife from closing all the way.
Frank B has gone way down hill if they ship stuff like that.
I also just noticed the hole for the button is unusually large. Something might be up with that knife.
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