What do we know about BO/BC?

[kugr]

So... I picked up a bo/bc, couldn't beat the price. But now that it's in hand, it seems off. Steel liners and steel pins. The only things I need to do to it are, make a new spring, and figure out how to make a button... haha

So... anything henky?

Edit- added more pictures.

[Corvus]

Steel liners, crimped steel 'pagoda' bolsters, and steel pins were typical on these. They were most likely made in the early '60s by Marino Farfalli and Figli in Maniago. "Farfalli" is butterfly in Italian and some of these knives have a butterfly stamp with "M F & F M" inside. I have a similar version with the wasp body and no upper scale pins, but yours is particularly nice, IMO. If you fold the blade around halfway and look right next to the bolster, you can see the second sear pin hole that holds the blade open. Mine has rock-solid lockup.

[JulesVane]

Looks like it will be a really nice knife, and I admire you wanting to get into fixing it. All I know about them is the opening and closing part lol.

[JimBrown257]

I would try to get a better look at the blade. As for the button, look for one that fell off another knife. It shouldn't be hard to find one that fits. I'm pretty sure those ones all had NS buttons.

Another thing is that you always need to be careful with knives missing the spring. You might put the spring in it and find it doesn't stay closed.

[kugr]

Corvus, thank you for the info! This one has a great lock up, the sear holes look great, no wallowing (sp?) at all.
The blade has been sharpened, but still looks great.
Even if it didn't stay closed, I wouldn't care. It will sit open, on display.
Fellas, for what I spent on this... $50, I'd say it's worth it, whatever it's flaws might be.

Parts, parts, parts... sadly I don't have alot of spare parts. The ones I do have are from modern pieces... the one piece button. I've only been at the collecting game a short while, and the repairing/restoring game even less. Speaking of that, I did just finish putting my Kerper back together.. dare I say it, the pin peening turned out pretty good for the first time... hahaha, I'll post some pics later

[JimBrown257]

The sear hole on the blade might be good but the sear or the liner could be worn down. If you have the knife there you should be able to check by closing the blade and seeing how far you are able to pull it open.

One important thing about bo/c blades: on one of your picklocks, you sanded the tang back to make it more even with the edge of the blade (that was you that did that, right?). On a bo/c you need to be very careful about doing that. You don't want to do anything to the tang at the very bottom. If you sand that part back, it will make it so the sear can drop down when the blade is half way open and it will really mess up your knife. Anything under the pivot hole on the blade must not be sanded back.

As for the button, I probably have one. What is the diameter of the hole on the scale?

[kugr]

Wasn't me who did that, only time I put sand paper to blade is 3000grit lightly removing scratches. I quite possibly took a picture of a knife I picked up that someone did that.
When the blade is closed, I can pull it up just enough to where it should sit under pressure.
Believe me, when I come up with something that might require a major alteration, I'll be asking before attempting. The last thing I want to do is screw up a perfectly good knife... cheap knock offs... yeah, I'll destroy it to learn...

[whippersnapper]

Looks like it has a button to me? Is it broke inside?

[JimBrown257]

Wasn't me who did that,

That's right; I was thinking of someone else who did that recently.

[JimBrown257]

Looks like it has a button to me? Is it broke inside?

That's just the little hump at the end of the rocker on which the button fits.

[Corvus]

Is it just a trick of the light or has the blade been sharpened down around 10-15% and buffed out? It looks narrow compared to the tang and a bit soft around the edges in a few of the pics, but it's hard to tell.

[kugr]

Here are the measurements of the blade. Starting at the tang nearest the bolster, and spreading apprx a 1/4 -1/2" increments... .4835", just before tang, .4680, tang meets blade, .4350, .4140, .4000, right at bayonet, .3425...

Yeah, sharpened, but one of the better jobs I've seen.. it is sad, but oh well

[Corvus]

Actually, I think it's great that whoever originally owned it used it as a reliable piece of cutlery and very carefully re-sharpened it to use again. It looks like someone really loved that knife and took great care of it. So many of these old knives look carelessly abused.

[john]

Very nice knife, considering it’s age it’s in excellent condition. The scales, swedge blade, derby style bolsters, etc. it’s awesome. It’s worth repairing.

[JimBrown257]

You can make a blade like that appear much fuller if you sand the tang back here then make the blade lean forward a little.