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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on November 3, 2013 at 19:40

Anthony,

Not that I am aware of but I did ask a friend that has recently done a lot of research on Bowies, lets see if he has any thoughts.  A picture may be helpful

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Cocuzzo on November 3, 2013 at 21:12

Jan,

 

Thanks for your replay. Sorry for the poor quality pictures, but hopfully these will help.

 

ACC

Attachments:

• Hoffritz 4.JPG, 3.2 MB

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In MemoriamPermalink Reply by D ale on November 3, 2013 at 23:22

I had one of those as a kid. Respectable blade steel as I recall.

And ..... mine never locked in either. In fact .. I remember wondering WHY it didn't. That lead to it's dis-assembly .. long before I was capable of any hope of re-assembly.

It's a std lever-lock mechanism. The sear pin drops into a machined cavity @ the base of the blade .. about a 1/2" removed from the pivot point .. preventing future rotation. There was no machined cavity present in the blade corresponding to the closed position. 

Please check that info. I could not re-assemble the knife at the time & eventually lost the parts. I haven't seen that knife in 45 yrs.

Bill DeShivs would know for certain and offers repair services.

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Cocuzzo on November 4, 2013 at 2:37

D ale,

Thank you for the reply.

Now you have me thinking. When I first purchased the knife (used), I was in my teens, and really didn't use it very much, so it sat in a drawer for a year or two. Around that time, I was working with gentleman who was into his 'Buck' knives and would spend every lunch hour sharpening/honing them as well knives of other co-oworkers. I brought the my knife into him for a sharpening and he somehow managed to break the lever-lock mechanism. Being young, I didn't know where to turn to have it repaired, so I asked my Dad's friend who was an 'old world' master blacksmith to see if he could possible fix it. He did manage to repair it so it locked in the open position, but not while in the closed position. The spring tension on the thumb lever was not quite the same either...not as tight/strong. I was dissapointed to say the least, so back into the drawer it went for basically 26 years as I had other knives that I could use for while hiking and camping. I took a good look at the knife last night, and thought that it didn't make any sense. If the lever-lock mechanism drops into a corresponding cavity to keep it open, it should 'drop' right into another in the closed position. A assumed that there may be an obstruction that is preventing in from locking, or it may be slightly out of alignment. After reading your comments, I now wonder if it ever locked in the closed position (?-!!!), I may have just assumed that it did as I was unfamiliar with the knife at that time.  

If someone out there who knows more about this lever-lock feature could comment, it would be great.

Looking forward to a response!

ACC

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In MemoriamPermalink Reply by D ale on November 4, 2013 at 22:12

Anthony,

I've an internal view of a lever-lock design posted here.  A side view of the lever-lock spring and sear pin section are visible .. as are the machined slots @ the base of the blade. The 3-sided slot corresponds to the OUT position. The 4-sided rectangular slot is for the IN position.

This pic displays the lever-lock spring & sear pin section in a more recognizable view. 

This pic shows the spring / sear pin section separated from the lever.

This pic shows an unmodified lever-lock & the one I was modifying. The lower one that I modified has been assembled without the blade in this picture ...and... the sear pin is visible inside the frame .. where the blade should be. This is the position the sear pin will be in when it has dropped into the machined slot of the blade .. in the open / shut positions.

Hope the visuals assist in gaining an understanding of the lever-lock mechanism.

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