I joined the forum back in May. My first post was about restoring a Camco Camp Knife that I have had since I was a Boy Scout. My second post was about a Camillus 64 that I had when I was in high school. I damaged the spey blade and sharpened the awl on the 64 (both my stupidity). The plastic handles on both knives had shrunk and cracked. Attached are photos of the Camp Knife after I had removed the damaged handles. I didn't take any photos of the 64.
- Camco Camp Knife with handles removed
- Camco Camp Knife with handles removed
I found a cheap 64 that had a good spey blade and awl. I decided to practice on the cheap 64 first before I tackled my 64 and Camp Knife. After taking both the cheap 64 and my 64 apart, I swapped the spey blades and awls. I then reassembled the cheap 64 replacing the plastic handles with bone handles. It turned out pretty well, but I did make some mistakes (thanks to those who suggested doing a practice knife first).
Next I added Rough Rider black jigged bone handles and then reassembled my 64 and then the Camp Knife. I took a shortcut on the Camp Knife by only removing the rocker pin and two springs in order to put the handles on. Both knives went back together fairly easily after some of you offered some tips on compressing the springs and putting the rocker pins in. While I was sanding the black jigged bone handles, some of the black dye came off around the edges and around the jigs. I kind of like the look, so I think I'm going to leave them like that even though the original handles were black.
Here are some photos. I didn't take any of the practice knife.
- Restored Camillus 64 and Camco Camp Knife
- Restored Camillus 64 and Camco Camp Knife
Thank you to all who gave great advise and encouragement. I'm not going to make this a fulltime hobby, but at least I feel comfortable now taking a knife apart, cleaning it up, and reassembling it.
Jerry Johnson
