Help- I don’t love my bolts.

[Pattree]

I bought this nameless knife at a car boot sale some years back.
I’m pretty sure someone has been throwing it into some sort of target and the loveless bolts have stretched loose. It’s perfectly serviceable as a roping knife once I’ve taken up the backlash but it’s irritating.

Anyone know how to tighten an established bolt.

Failing that what is the cleanest way to remove the bolts with a view to replacing/re-fixing the handle - something I don’t really want to waste time on for this tool.

 

[Broch]

I think you'll have difficulty tightening the bolts without scoring an ugly groove in them TBH. If it was my knife, and I wasn't too fussed about appearance, I'd treat them as rivets rather than bolts (assuming they are brass or copper). The tidiest way to tighten them would be in a press (or a vice). If you drill a small hole, just 2mm diam. and 1mm deep, dead centre on each side of a bolt, then use two ball bearings larger than the bolt diam. and use a press to compress them, you should get enough re-shaping of the bolts to tighten them - that depends on how loose they are of course. OK, you do end up with a 'dished' shape but that's better IMO than a groove for a screwdriver. Then repeat for the other bolt. It is possible to do this in a vice but you need to get the ball bearings to stay in place

If the press doesn't work, you could try to replace the bolts by drilling them out and if that fails (because you got the diameter wrong and have lost the shoulder or the drill was off centre) replace the handle - nothing is lost; it just depends on how much time you want to spend on it

I am sure some of the more experienced knife craftsmen on the forum will have better ideas

 

[C_Claycomb]

I would rather try to glue shim material between handle and blade than try to tighten bolts, which I do not believe will be possible for you. You would need to grind/cut slots in the blots, deep enough to get a screw driver to bite. That would be a Dremel and cutting wheel type job, and it will not be pretty.

 

[cbrdave]

Failing the above ideas, I have peened them gently before with a bit of cloth between the punch and bolt head, took a bit of time and patience but did the job, I obviously had to sand the handle and the peened head a little.

 

[Stew]

Are you sure those are loveless bolts? My bet is cutlers rivets.

Do you have a close up shot of the heads on both sides?

 

[Marcus2]

On the website for Currey Ltd it stated brass rivets.

 

[Kadushu]

You could try drilling 2 holes in each head as an alternative to a slot, a la Bradford knives. Probably very tricky.

 

[Stew]

You could try drilling 2 holes in each head as an alternative to a slot, a la Bradford knives. Probably very tricky.

View attachment 86099

If they’re rivets, I wouldn’t…..

A bit of tippy-tappy instead.

 

[crosslandkelly]

If they are bolts, you could try a small 'Easyout' bolt extractor.

 

[grainweevil]

If they're bolts then in theory you can glue (with two part epoxy) a nut onto the head and apply the appropriate spanner to that.

 

[Pattree]

Ah! Thanks people.
First - on research - they aren’t loveless bolts as there are definitely no bull’s eyes.

I’ll hit them with a punch for a while and if it doesn’t work I’ll try drilling which probably means I’ll fit new handles.

If all fails I might make a rope handle - it seems appropriate somehow. If some descendant then tries to throw it into the garage door it won’t spring the scales.

Thanks for sharing expertise.

 

[Pattree]

Thanks everyone.

Are you sure those are loveless bolts? My bet is cutlers rivets.

Absolutely right @Stew

When in doubt - good stout clout.

Job done.

If they come loose again for any reason I’ll drill them out and replace with bolts and adhesive but for the amount I use the tool these days - it’ll do.

 

[Jared]

A drill press and a rotary broach kit could cut square, hex or torx head onto them if they are bolts.