Shrade Sharpfinger Sheath

[WalterF]

On 7/9/2025 at 6:29 PM, AEBL said:

I just redid the scales on a knife like that in purpleheart for a friend ... nice knife, great sheath.

Sounds nice, question is the pin straight through? Ground in on one side and it didn't seem to have a head.

Thank you

[AEBL]

I'm not sure if you were asking about the original pins or the ones I used. The pins originally looked like they were fat near the outside and skinnier near the inside. The handle I replaced was a plastic casting. If you get a file or a dremel tool, you can easily remove them. Another trick is to use a box cutter blade. Wriggle the tip in between the steel and the scale and give it several good whacks with a hammer (wear safety glasses) the box blade will shear the pin, and isn't hard enough to do (much) damage to the tang.

For the replacement - if you have a band saw, cut the scales a little bit thicker than you will want them to end up being (like 1/16 to 1/8 thicker, depending on how you will be finishing it).I cut the scales a bit oversize, then glue one of them on. I drill through the tang and through the scale. Then I glue the other scale on and drill all the way through.
For the pins, I got a stainless welding rod and ground it to fit the holes carefully. If you don't have a 2x72 ... that takes forever. I would really recommend German silver instead, SS welding rods are *tough*! Anyhow, handle is shaped up to 220 grit, then the pins are cut so that they go all the way through and stick out slightly on each side (I file them down so that they are cylindrical).

Then I peen the pins. I don't beat them mercilessly, but I wind up tapping them pretty solidly about 200 times apiece. This mushrooms out the metal and makes sure that I don't bend the pin over, just carefully tap straight down on your anvil / block of steel / whatever. Once the pins are good and flat to the surface, I get the file out again and flatten the pins flush with the scales and do the fine sanding with a hand sanding block. I don't use my fingers and paper, because that causes the pins to stand out since they're harder than the wood.

Even though I glue the scales on, the peened pins are really what holds the scale on.

Also, if you use purpleheart - if you spritz the wood with acetone (nail polish remover) and leave it in the sun for a few hours ... it turns a really rich shade of purple.

An old guy near me was teaching me how to re-handle things. I can share what little I know if you had more questions. However, the largest source of information on re-handling knives might be a forum like "blade forums" ... scroll down to the "Bladesmith's Q&A" section. Some of the best knife artisans in the world will answer your question, surely much better than I ever could. However, nothing teaches like hands on experience.

I'm looking to refinish pocket knives and supply nice leather sheaths for them to local folks. I get to carve leather and file steel, it's the best of both worlds.