Hibbard, Spencer, & Bartlett easy open jack restoration

[rexstubbins]

Found my next project today HSB Easy open Jack. 1st post as found.

2nd post will be the progress I made today.

[rexstubbins]

Here's the progress that I made today. Chose this knife because the black plastic handles were falling off and I can't stand knives with plastic handles. Gonna put some bone on.

Had a single slab lying around. Hopefully I can make 2 scales from 1 slab.

It's going to be a tight fit but I think it will work.

Handles roughed out.

The old plastic handles were held by liner tabs that some companies used. It made attaching the handles fast & easy but they don't hold very well over time. I'm going to pin the new handles.

The shield was held in with bent tabs as well. It looks like the just pressed the shield into the plastic and the tabs held it in place. I'm going to pin the shield so I put the handle & the shield back on the liner so I could position it for 1/16" diameter holdes.

Filed the tabs off of the shield.

Bent the liner tabs to be flush with the liner so they're not in the way of the new scales.

Temporally attached one scale to the liner so I can haft to the liner. That's as far as I got today. Hopefully I'll have time to work on it more tomorrow.

[singin46]

I think it's gonna look great rex! Should be quite a looker when completed.

[Shearer]

Very interesting. I like you knife restoration and how you go about them.
Grant

[rexstubbins]

I think it's gonna look great rex! Should be quite a looker when completed.

Thanks singin. Here's the inspiration. I'm shootin' for handles that look like this. I'm going to do some tests on some scrap bone to see if I can do it.

[singin46]

It's always good to have a model to look to for inspiration.

[orvet]

From the looks of the prong construction, (the method of attaching the handles), I would say that knife was made for HS&B by Camillus. the shape looks right too for a Camillus pattern.

I can't wait to see how it comes out!

[glennbad]

This is gonna be a good one...

[rexstubbins]

Didn't get much done this weekend as far as knife stuff. Had to replace my hot water heater.

Did do some test jigging.

Made some coffee using vinegar. (Note: Do this in the garage. I've learned some things about my wife that tells me the garage is a better place to do stuff like this.)

Put said test jigged bone in aforementioned coffee vinaigrette and evacuated all air. Man did this bubble. I'm wondering if it bubbled so much because the coffee was still hot?

[rexstubbins]

Here 'tis after a nights soak:

Cut it in half to see how far it penetrated. Looks like it is only on the surface. It's strange. There was a kind of filmy buildup on the outside that may have inhibited it from soaking in. That's why I'm testing different things. I do like the color though.

[rexstubbins]

More progress today.

Shield side fitted and roughed in.

Scales hafted close to liners.

Penciled in the outline for the shield.

Gouged out the area for the shield.

Jigged the scales and another test piece.

Put the test piece in Fiebing's golden oak stain. I did not pre-soak this time because I want to see how they turn out without the pre-soak.

[rexstubbins]

Test piece out of the golden oak and played around with red dye and mahogany. I'm happy with the results of the golden oak and mahogany side of the test piece. I think my next project I'll play around with the red dye.

I think Dimitri asked on my last project if the dye penetrated completely. I cut the test piece and you can see that the dye penetrates pretty good.

I think I'm getting better at this as I experiment.

[IMBand]

Looks like another great project, really appreciate the detail in your restoration threads and all the pics. The jigging looks like it came out beautiful......awesome work!!

IM

[singin46]

Yes, it's lookin mighty good there Rex! Please keep us updated all the way thru.

[rexstubbins]

Well. Here we are again. Almost disappointing because the journey is half the fun.

Here's what went on today:

After about a 6 hour soak in the golden oak. If you look closely you can see the start of a crack from where the handle pin will be to the edge on the one without the shield.

I put some super glue on the back side to help stabilize the crack. I also put some in other places where I thought they might crack.

Handles and shield pinned to the liners. We're in the home stretch.

[rexstubbins]

And now the result. I'm pretty happy with it. Not as Amber/Yellow as I wanted but I'm getting closer to what I'm looking for.

[Cutty]

I think it turned out fantastic, awesome work

[singin46]

Yes sir! Great work and even though you experienced a crack that is now hopefully stabilized, you still have a knife to be proud of right there.

[0078]

Great job, that's a nice looking knife.

[orvet]

That looks great Doug!
Nice work and pretty good seat if the pants dye job too!

[glennbad]

Looks awesome!

[bonehead]

Nice work! Can't wait to see your next one..... BH

[Miller Bro's]

It looks very good, nice work!

[jerryd6818]

Turned out great. You're getting very good at this. Before you know it, you'll be going Pro.