All About Pocket Knives

I’m working on an old Kabar T33 fishing knife. It was in pretty bad shape due to some celluloid out-gassing. I’d like to make some new brass liners for it which brings me to this request.
I have an old table top Craftsman band saw but it actually runs a bit too fast for metal work. I could probably track down a few bi-metal blades for it but I thought it might be easier (and I’m all about easy at my age!) to make a request here since I rarely make new liners.
Is there someone here that would be willing to cut out a few brass liners for me? I can pay you a reasonable fee or perhaps send a modded pocket knife your way for your efforts. I’d supply the brass sheets scribed with the outline of the liners and of course I’d pay for the shipping both ways.
Thanks.
Jeff

I have encountered the same problem when making liners. I'm not sure how thick the liners on that Kabar are but when I need to cut new liners I use sheet brass, usually about .040".

My method for making liners:
I bought a set of aviation snaps, one for left turn, one for right turn and one for straight cuts at Harbor freight. They are pretty decent considering how cheap they were. Using layout fluid I scribe the outline of the old liner on to the new sheet of brass and then cut the new liner out using the aviation snaps. I usually stay well away from the line, probably at least a quarter inch or more. This gives me plenty of room if I have a small slip or if there is some crinkling of the brass sheet. I can lay it on a flat surface and remove the wrinkles.
After I have the liner rough cut from the brass sheet and have any wrinkles smooth out, usually with a small hammer or weight, then using the disk sander on my 1 x 42 Delta I finished taking the cutout down almost to my scribe lines, which I like to leave just slightly oversize. I like to do the final shaping when it's assembled if possible, but the one you're working on is a real monster from that perspective. Between the disk sander and and the 1 X 42 belt sander it doesn't take me long to get the liners cut down to size from a sheet of brass stock.

It took me a couple times to figure that out but with that method I can do pretty accurate replacement liners. Like everything it's easier with practice.
If you have a Dremel with a cut off wheel that is also useful sometimes.

Thanks Dale! I hadn’t considered cutting the liners with hand cutters. I’ll have to look in the old tool box and see what cutters I have available.
Jeff

A jeweler's saw is a much easier method for cutting out liners.

I have used a hack saw, but it is slow. A jewelers saw works better. Still, you can do a lot without expensive tools.

I ended up using my old Craftsmsn benchtop bandsaw. The fine tooth wood cutting blade worked just fine when cutting brass sheet stock.
Using a jewelers saw is a time consuming task and I can’t imagine that being a valid procedure. But to each their own I guess.
Some folks modify knives using nothing more than hand tools. I’m not one of those people. I use a combination of power tools, hand tools and elbow grease to modify knives. To each their own!
Jeff

Last week my bandsaw went down. I had to order three new tires for it and wait for them to get here. The very next step in the knife I was working on was to trim the excess bone off of the handle slabs. I dug out the old Jewelers saw and in no time at all I had them trimed down. I don't think I actually spent more than about 5 minutes using the Jewelers saw itself!
I had forgotten how efficient it was.

I got my new polyurethane tires for my tri-wheel Delta so I'm back in business with the bandsaw, but the Jewelers saw is a fast and efficient alternative!

Jeffinn-
I repair knives commercially. Why would I suggest a jeweler's saw if it were not a viable tool to cut liners?
They can be cut efficiently and fairly quickly, if you know what you're doing.
If you can imagine that.

Or a Coping Saw which is quite similar to a Jewelers Saw only the throat width isn't adjustable. Coping saw is about half the price to buy, or less.

orvet wrote:Last week my bandsaw went down. I had to order three new tires for it and wait for them to get here. The very next step in the knife I was working on was to trim the excess bone off of the handle slabs. I dug out the old Jewelers saw and in no time at all I had them trimed down. I don't think I actually spent more than about 5 minutes using the Jewelers saw itself!
I had forgotten how efficient it was.

I got my new polyurethane tires for my tri-wheel Delta so I'm back in business with the bandsaw, but the Jewelers saw is a fast and efficient alternative!

Thanks Dale.
It’s possible that the blade I was using was a bit too fine for the brass material being cut. I’ll have to order up some coarser blades so I have them handy when needed.
Jeff

jerryd6818 wrote:Or a Coping Saw which is quite similar to a Jewelers Saw only the throat width isn't adjustable. Coping saw is about half the price to buy, or less.

Thanks Jerry.
I didn’t think about the coping saw. I have one somewhere out in my toolbox so I’ll have to see if I can find it.

Coping saws are a good choice and offer different blade choices.
You can get a variety of blades for this jewelers saw.
I like this little saw. Easy to get blades down to extremely fine.