All About Pocket Knives

Any conversation regarding Dale Swinden's invention belongs here, among other places. I will start it with some trivia. The early 882Y and 835Y stockman knives had yellow celluloid covers and pinned blade pivots. Later, when they went to Delrin and Swinden construction, they kept the 'birdseye' rivet look, but they were fake. Look at this very nice example and you can see that the 'pins' do not line up with the blade pivot point!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/195019176795?s ... 1438.l2649

How do I handle Swindens with some wobble?

That is some very interesting information, Cal.

Thank you.

cody6268 wrote: ↑Wed May 11, 2022 7:15 pm How do I handle Swindens with some wobble?

Not sure there’s any cures aside from what’s in Kaleb’s video. viewtopic.php?f=38&t=30562&p=283955&hil ... en#p283955

Someone may know another approach but he says near the beginning of the video blade wobble is the Achilles Heel of the Swinden design. Drilling and inserting pins fixes the problem.

Ken

cody6268 wrote: ↑Wed May 11, 2022 7:15 pm How do I handle Swindens with some wobble?

You'd have to take the knife apart and, using a wide punch, tap the keyhole so that it bends in just a bit. A little trial and error should tighten it up. Then just twist it back together and put in a new center pin.

There were quite a few knives made during some period that I don't recall where the springs were a good deal wider than the tangs. A couple of thousandths is fine but this was more like 9 or 10 thousandths. This would result in wobble during heavy use as the only point holding the blade tight was at the top edge of the bolster. Just a bit of twist might loosen it up enough to cause some wobble. A lot of folks mistakenly blame this on the Swinden construction when in fact it was a parts oversight. This went on for some time before it was caught with the biggest victim being the 34OT.

If this is the case with yours it can still be tightened but you'd probably have to give up a bit of walk and talk.

Eric

Mumbleypeg wrote: ↑Wed May 11, 2022 7:51 pm

Someone may know another approach but he says near the beginning of the video blade wobble is the Achilles Heel of the Swinden design. Drilling and inserting pins fixes the problem.

Ken

Yep, that is the only fault I see with swinden construction.
Personally, whenever I break into a swinden knife, I go back with pins at the pivot end.

Just my $.02 worth.

tongueriver wrote: ↑Wed May 11, 2022 6:42 pm Any conversation regarding Dale Swinden's invention belongs here, among other places. I will start it with some trivia. The early 882Y and 835Y stockman knives had yellow celluloid covers and pinned blade pivots. Later, when they went to Delrin and Swinden construction, they kept the 'birdseye' rivet look, but they were fake. Look at this very nice example and you can see that the 'pins' do not line up with the blade pivot point!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/195019176795?s ... 1438.l2649
882Y.jpg

TRiver, I have a Walden 835Y that has celluloid and pinned pivots. Here is a picture of it for comparison purposes. Thanks for the info!

Nice knife and nice pic! Set your alarm to check it at least twice a day for gassing. Those 835Ys are some of the most notorious.

tongueriver wrote: ↑Sat May 14, 2022 2:36 am Nice knife and nice pic! Set your alarm to check it at least twice a day for gassing. Those 835Ys are some of the most notorious.

I know what you mean. So far so good on this one. It's in a Glass display box, and has been good for about 7 years now... Did they ever do any with Delrin and pinned pivots? This one really looks like delrin. I need to do the smell test I guess..

I can't tell from here. They might have. ?