New Bolt Knobs

[Eoddave27]

I have a Savage Mkii and I really don’t care for the bolt knob but haven’t had any luck finding a replacement without sending it out and having it threaded. I decided I would take some of my mold making materials and see what I could do. I took a bolt that had a knob that I liked and made a mold of it using a flexible urethane. From there I used an extra bolt handle I had for a Ruger American. I ground down the the ball and centered it in the mold I made then poured a metal filled urethane resin around it. It resin I used is typically used to make tooling so it is some tough stuff. I used a black pigment to color the resin too so I don’t have to worry about the paint getting scratched off. All and all I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. Especially considering I made it with materials laying around the shop.


Here I made a mold of the knob I like.

This is the knob I didn’t care for. I used a metal bandsaw and a grinder to grind it down.

Here is the new knob I cast using resin installed.

 

[JoeB]

Nice work . Every time I see a thread like this it reminds me I need to purchase a small bench lathe. The problem with that is the next tool will be a mill.

 

[Eoddave27]

I actually didn’t use any tools to make the knob. Just urethane mold and casting materials. I have tons of the stuff in my shop and once the mold is don’t it takes no time at all. I’ll admit that I do have the tools to do about anything and can’t imagine being without them.

 

[JoeB]

Retired tool maker here. For 40+ years I had access to an entire machine shop now any thing I want done it is either buy the machine or find a local shop. As far as farming it out other peoples work can be bad for my blood pressure. Pride in workmanship is not what it used to be.