All About Pocket Knives

Recently on ebay I saw the knife in the picture below: From the description & bad pics I was able to determine it was a Camillus 4 Line TL-29 with bone handles.
Since I am such a fan of Rogers bone I decided to make a single blade jack.

I looked for a 4 line TL-29 blade but I didn't have one without tearing up a good knife, and I had a #27 blade.
I got it put together & decided it needed to be an easy opener.

Here are the results:
Here is this knife compared to a standard Camillus 4 line military jack.
As you can see the former TL-29 is 3-3/4" compared to the 3-3/8" jack.
3/8" may not seem like much but when you have big hands, it is a lot.

Looks really good!

Just a sidebar: One the military-issue E-O, if you increase the size of the E-O notch just a bit--maybe 1/8" wider and about 1/16" deeper--it gets much easier for arthritic hands to open. After a couple of tests on some E-O basket cases, I modified an original military issue E-O for a friend of mine. He was afraid he was going to have to give it up after carrying it since '42. It looks a bit strange on the shorter frame, but I bet on a TL-29 conversion, no one would notice.

I sure enjoyed the pics. Great job on the knife.

Very nice Orvet... I think I bid on that knife too....... I'm glad you won it because I was just gonna throw it in a box

Nice conversion Dale Love them boney handles

Ummm. Daddy like, but then is there anyone who doesn't just love old Rogers Bone handles.

Ooh baby! That is looking good now, Dale.

That thing looks totally original. Great job!

coffeecup wrote:Looks really good!

Just a sidebar: One the military-issue E-O, if you increase the size of the E-O notch just a bit--maybe 1/8" wider and about 1/16" deeper--it gets much easier for arthritic hands to open. After a couple of tests on some E-O basket cases, I modified an original military issue E-O for a friend of mine. He was afraid he was going to have to give it up after carrying it since '42. It looks a bit strange on the shorter frame, but I bet on a TL-29 conversion, no one would notice.

Good point Jim, I considered that when I cut the EO notch.
I cut the notch with a 1/2" sanding drum..... I think I have a 3/4" sanding drum that would do the deed.


Thanks guys for your complements, but I didn't do that much and it is pretty hard to strike out with Rogers' bone.

The most difficult part was being careful so that the pin crack in the mark side didn't open up.
But with an application of super thin Zap CA glue it worked nicely, but it dries very quickly.
http://www.megahobby.com/14ozzapcapinkbyzapagap.aspx

I've been looking for a place to post this one and this looks like as good a place as any. This old 4 line had the small blade broken in half, so I decided to make it a single bladed knife which turns out to be the same idea Dale had. This one measures 3 3/8" also.

That looks great Bob!



After reading Jim's suggestion I opened up the easy open cutout about 1/8" on the TL-29 mod knife I made.
It does make it a bit easier to open.

Here are the pics:
BEFORE: AFTER: It is not a huge difference, but it does make it easier to open since the blade is brand new and has a lot of snap and a harder pull than the old worn blade.

Thanks for the suggestion Jim!

That's another great save there!

That bone is just too nice, Bob.

Nice work as usual.

Elvis wrote:I've been looking for a place to post this one and this looks like as good a place as any. This old 4 line had the small blade broken in half, so I decided to make it a single bladed knife which turns out to be the same idea Dale had. This one measures 3 3/8" also.

100_2824.jpg

That's not the knife I left over there when I visited is it? In a small cloth bag with three other bone handled knifes.

[quote="tjmurphy] That's not the knife I left over there when I visited is it? In a small cloth bag with three other bone handled knifes. [/quote]

Maybe. I just stumbled on it out in the shop. I do have another one that needs work too. Is this the same model as the one I gave you? And do you remember what the others were? Were we swapping that day? I'm doing good to remember yesterday Tom. Help me out here.

Just pulling your chain Bob, don't worry about it. When we gonna do Skyline again??

Oops, meant to say that the knife I got from you was an Imperial EO

It's amazing how little difference there is between the two, don't you think? And Skyline is right where we left it Tom. I'm ready when you are.

Nice work (as always) Dale! I think I'll leave this one original on the EO notch though. I can almost pry hubcaps off with my fingernails, so this one is a piece of cake to open for me as it is. And I'm with everyone else concerning the bone on these. Downright beautiful!

You're right Bob, looks like they could have come from the same factory on the same day. And that Rogers bone, I've not seen anything to duplicate it's beauty.

BTW Bob, what does your wife collect?

Mostly Case Tiny Toothpicks and Baby Butterbeans although she's been known to raid my collection for the occasional exotic handled small knife.