All About Pocket Knives

This is what an S702 looks like as it comes from the factory (except for the shrunken handles). They have a Rope blade and a can opener. I do believe this model was used after WW II as a life raft knife.

The knife I actually worked on was a bit more used than the one shown here. The handles were partially gone, the back spring of the can opener was broken and half was missing. The whole knife seemed flimsy to me with it’s short bolsters and the thin liners and thin handles.

I decided I would remake the knife into a proper and usable rope knife, and hopefully make it a bit prettier in the process.


I removed the broken spring and the can opener blade when I took this knife apart. I also removed the tiny bolsters because they did not give it enough strength for such a long blade. So I made new thicker & longer bolsters and soldered them on to the liners. I added water buffalo horn handles, which are mostly black with a few flecks of white in them. I put rope file work on the backspring and crowning on the nickel silver bolsters. Then I remounted the lanyard loop.
Rescue & Repair of a Camco #S702 Life Raft/Rope Knife
What do you think?

Nice save on that one! Too bad you weren't in charge there when they were putting them together the first time. They might still be in business.

Excellent Dale!!

That thing is properly pimped out now!

Nice job slimmin her down.

Glenn

Dale, I am awestruck at the beauty and workmanship of your knifework as always! You have a great talent and are very gifted.

Rocky

Love it, Dale! Very nicely done!
If it hasn't been done in the past, could you do a tutorial on soldering bolsters to liners? I havn't tried that yet and would be interested in how it's done.

Thanks, WB

nice job dale...

am i the only one in the us without a rope knife?

Thanks guys for your appreciative comments. This knife gave me a couple ideas I want to play with as well.

whitebuffalo58 wrote:Love it, Dale! Very nicely done!
If it hasn't been done in the past, could you do a tutorial on soldering bolsters to liners? I havn't tried that yet and would be interested in how it's done.

Thanks, WB

I have a TL-29 I am going to lengthen the bolsters on. I will try and get some pics and make a tutorial on the process.
I am not the most experienced person when it comes to soldering, so there was some trial & error involved, but the process is not super difficult. Be sure to use silver soldier. That is the only one I have found that works.

That is just outstanding. Makes me want to practice more. I was looking at silver solder and I see there are 2 choices. 98% tin and 2% silver or 96% tin and 4% silver. Would either of these work?

Beautiful job Dale, but I can see our priorities differ. You removed the most useful blade. A guy needs something for those bottles that don't have the "screw-off" caps?

Bob, I use the 4% along with Stay-Clean Flux. Best combination I've found so far.

just bob wrote:That is just outstanding. Makes me want to practice more. I was looking at silver solder and I see there are 2 choices. 98% tin and 2% silver or 96% tin and 4% silver. Would either of these work?

I use Stay-Brite until I ran out of it. I finished up with a 2% silver soldier. I didn’t notice a difference in how they worked.

Okay, so not everyone is a beer drinker. Dale (or anyone else that knows), I've used and still have some of what they call "hard" silver solder. It feels more like wire, but it works. The higher temps it requires are a problem in some cases, but I was curious if you knew the difference and what applications it might be best for. Since I've been using the 4%, I haven't used the hard solder for anything.