All About Pocket Knives

Last year Tony (Schradenut) emailed me with a concept for a knife he wanted me to build for him. He sent me the knife to use as the platform on which to build the custom. The build has gone on with a few changes, time out for my knee surgery, and life in general, for the better part of the year.

The knife started life as an Ulster TL-29 (made by Schrade with the Swinden Key system) and has been radically customized. There is a ton of finish work, sanding and polishing on a build like this. As Glenn, MM, Bob, WB and everyone else who has had many production knives from this era apart, finish work on internal pieces was not a priority. The inside of the springs and liners were usually never highly finished. The springs in this knife were coated with a silver paint to help protect from rust and to make it look shiny at the bottom of the blade pocket. The paint helped hide the rough edge of the liner. It has no effect on the function of the knife, but it sure effects the looks. I spent a lot of time polishing unfinished edges on this knife. I figured if it was worth doing, it was worth doing right. This is the rough edge of the kick after the Scotch Brite wheel and before sanding /polishing out the rough spots. This is the Schrade Cut Co which is the same pattern that was used later for the Schrade Walden 2OT, the very first of the Schrade Walden Old Timer line. This is the knife I uses as a pattern for Tony’s knife. This pic shows the grooving of the bolsters, a work in progress at this point. This pic shows the bolster with all three grooves in it. The dark middle line is a groove that has been cut but not polished yet. The picture was taken on a scanner and the unpolished groove did weird things with the light and made the groove look like an ink line drawn on the bolster. The wood on the handles is Panamanian Cocobolo. Tony wanted the knife patterned after the 2OT, but he wanted it to be an easy opener and for the liner lock to be moved from the screwdriver blade to the spear blade. This is where I cut the easy open notch. Now it is time to cut the bevel Tony wanted on the end of the bolster as opposed to the pinch bolster of the 2OT. To cut the bevel at a semi-consistent angle I had to design, & make a filing jig. That took me a couple days to design and build it. I used cedar door shims as wedges to hold the side of the knife fast in the jig so it would not move. After hours of polishing the knife was finally ready to be assembled permanently!
I will add the final pictures in the next post.

Here some pictures of the knife as it is now. It looks like I didn't get pics of the pile side.
I will add some later.
There is one think we are hoping to add and that is engraving to the bottom bolsters.
I am in contact with an engraver and we hope to get the bottom bolster to look like this id we can ge the right person to do a deep engraving to look like the name is stamped.

Wow,, I get it now Dale. Beautiful job you did on this one!
It looks very much like the original 22OT.

That looks totally awesome, Dale.

BTW, you beat me to it. I've had a very similar project in transition on the bench for quite a few months.

I'll post it up when it gets done, in the mean time, I'll just admire yours.

When it comes to custom conversions I notice that there seem to be a lot of TL-29's that are used, why is that? I have a nice Case Tested XX that is in pretty good shape and the only thing missing is the bale.

bladeguy58 wrote:When it comes to custom conversions I notice that there seem to be a lot of TL-29's that are used, why is that? I have a nice Case Tested XX that is in pretty good shape and the only thing missing is the bale.

The TL-29 is fairly inexpensive, plentiful, built for hard work and they can be transformed in so many different ways.
They are very versatile, unlike a stockman.
What can you make easily from a stockman beside a single blade jack?

Camillus made a lot of the TL-29s for other companies over the years, including Camillus.
If you want a bale for the Case TL-29; a Camillus bale should fit just fine.

orvet wrote:

bladeguy58 wrote:When it comes to custom conversions I notice that there seem to be a lot of TL-29's that are used, why is that? I have a nice Case Tested XX that is in pretty good shape and the only thing missing is the bale.

The TL-29 is fairly inexpensive, plentiful, built for hard work and they can be transformed in so many different ways.
They are very versatile, unlike a stockman.
What can you make easily from a stockman beside a single blade jack?

Camillus made a lot of the TL-29s for other companies over the years, including Camillus.
If you want a bale for the Case TL-29; a Camillus bale should fit just fine.

Thanks Dale you kind of confirmed what I thought. So now that you've answered that question my second one is why were there so many TL-29's made, it's like you can't go anywhere without see one made by one maker or another.

Awesome job there Dale! Very nice!

Blade guy, I'll echo what Dale said. They are plentiful, relatively cheap to pick up, and are tough. You can take a tl-29, get it customized into a work of art, and it'll still be a heavy duty user should you decide to do so.

Plus, who doesn't love a big ol sharp spear blade?

Dale, that is a great lookin' knife!!! Schradenut ought to be happy and proud.
Treefarmer

bladeguy58 wrote: why were there so many TL-29's made, it's like you can't go anywhere without see one made by one maker or another.

The TL-29 (military designation by the way. Electricians Knife in the civilian world) was first made for the military for WWI as a Signal Corps knife. It's an inexpensive, beefy, sturdy, versatile knife so it has gained some popularity in the trades and has lasted this slightly less than 100 years.

This is just a guess but it makes sense to me so I'm going to put it here even though it's speculation. I'm going to guess WWII had a lot to do with the knife's popularity over the past 70 or so years. Guys exposed to the knife during the war came home and the building of America boomed. When they needed a knife thoughts went back to that sturdy versatile TL-29 and the word spread as non-vets discovered this handy work knife. Beat up on that theory if you like but for me, it rings true.

Thanks guys for the complements.
It was sort of a labor of love, I love the TL-29 and I love to make other knives out of them and see how far I can get from the original.
Sort of like; “Blingage for the TL-20”

royal0014 wrote:Man, that's some kinda gorgeous right there!

I hope you have an apprentice, it would be a shame for skill like yours to not be passed on...

I am self-taught. I really consider myself an apprentice, not a full journeyman.
As for having an apprentice;
I know a lot of guys got started or were pushed along the path of knife tinkering from reading what Glenn, MM, myself and others post on the forums here.
I guess in a way I/we sort of do have several apprentices.

Boy howdy, that turned out great Dale! Beautiful work!!

WB

orvet wrote:

"I hope you have an apprentice, it would be a shame for skill like yours to not be passed on"


I am self-taught. I really consider myself an apprentice, not a full journeyman.
As for having an apprentice;
I know a lot of guys got started or were pushed along the path of knife tinkering from reading what Glenn, MM, myself and others post on the forums here.
I guess in a way I/we sort of do have several apprentices.

I consider myself an apprentice of yours, Dale.

WOW !!!
Dale, that is a stupendous effort to turn my rather ordinary TL-29, into "The Jewel in the Crown".
I had high expectations when i asked you to transform my knife, utilising all the ideas i had been dreaming up over a long period, and constructing it so magnificently. The problems along the way were many, but with your rather considerable skills, were ably to overcome all adversity.
This fine knife will be sitting right beside my 2ot, as it has gained the same status.
A wonderful job Dale, for which i will be forever grateful. Many thanks,
Tony. (Your Aussie mate)

Nice work! that is one chunky little guy, and your attention to the inside of the springs is awesome. I'd like to think all of us are apprentices to each other, such is the benefit of the internet

To re-affirm what everyone else has already said, the TL-29 is awesome for mechanics. It's blank canvas that's cheap (i just grabbed a couple off auction for <$20 each), over built (and with usually good materials), in a size that is perfect for pocket carry. You can often end up with a "vintage" knife without destroying anything truly valuable. Heck, the ones I grabbed were in need of work, lest then end up in the trash or someone's junk drawer.

Looks good!

I like the grain on the wood handles

Top job Dale.I like the way you copied the 20T and made it into a easy opener .
Grant

Good lookin work Dale crank out a few more of those--!

Most impressive Dale.
You do great work as I can attest personaly with the job you did fixing my 34OT.

I like the TL-29 for all the same reasons others have stated. For me it's the robustness of the build
and the practicality of the design, never mind the availability.

The transformation you created is a work of art.
Glad I found this thread, Producer

UPDATE:

Tony was able to get the knife engraved to his satisfaction in Australia. He sent me some updated pictures that show the ULSTER engraved in the bottom bolsters of the knife.

I hope you enjoy the pics, Tony is a much better photographer than I am!

This is the before picture:

I think the ULSTER name engraved in the bolsters made a huge upgrade in the appearance of the knife!

Man, that looks great! So he found someone to do the engraving?

That looks just about perfect now!

Gorgeous work as always Dale !