I’m not trying to be negative. I think it would be cool to have this recreated but I see several problems.
There are the manufacturing challenges, the materials and possibly the design as it relates to the materials represented.
Yes bending this precisely would require it to be under load even when the blade wasn’t installed. Bent in a shape that is beyond the other side will allow without a blade installed. This could be achieved crimping the bent “U” shape after its initial bend was achieved. Not ideal and would require precision. I’m not getting into the actual knife assembly issues I anticipate.
The materials. This isn’t simply a piece of round bar steel bent into shape. This is a spring steel. Otherwise it wouldn’t work as a spring for very long. If you bend normal steel will not want to return to its original state. Regular steel will get weaker and weaker. Very noticeable on a graph. The size of the steel and the quality bares a huge factor in this. I’m not even getting into the fact that this original knife wouldn’t have the same blade steel and frame steel as a modern knife.
The design. The slot cut into the handle material makes it quite weak. Look at the handle material diameter alone. Now cut 30% out of the diameter of the rod at its thickest point, the middle. That might equate to 40 or 45% loss of material? I don’t feel like actually doing the math but it’s not good. Ok so now that material is essentially that much thinner. That now creates a situation where the spring function will naturally want to bend at the easiest most flexible point. That is where the handle material transition from thick to thin where the slot is cut. The nature of the square cut slot naturally creates stress risers. Essentially the 90 degree angle of the slot cuts on each side will want to crack. This will happen very fast and in a short period of time you will see it developing. Remember in this design the knife is under load 100% of the time. So that spring is working all the time. In this design that will be the failure point where the slot cut meets the uncut portion. I also see other problems or areas of concern in the design. The offset hole in the blade suggests there is likely going to be stability concerns with any kind of twisting or side loading. The two halves are connected only by the blade contact. This cannot be too tight or it will not move but the looser they fit the sloppier the knife is and the sloppier the blade pin will become over time. This metal to metal contact may be common in knives I don’t know but you would really want one side to be a softer material so as to not bind and offer lower friction. Also in other knife designs I could almost guarantee they weren’t at either end of an unsupported rod unlike this design. There is nothing keeping the two sides of this rod together except for this loose contact. Think of a twisting motion you’d do to a U bent piece of round material. Maybe a clothes hanger or something for example. It has very little stability when this type of force is applied. Now remove the 40-45% of it’s diameter over a large percentage of it’s length like the slot cut does.
I think this design would require a full research and development phase. = expensive, smart, skilled workers. When this design was made originally made it was a kind of a trial and error era. These days with legal liabilities and brand quality concerns being at the forefront of companies minds it’s a different time. All publicity isn’t always good publicity if you don’t properly develop and test every design.
Yes these issues certainly might be able to be overcome but how true to the original design would the knife be? For instance making it out of square stock would make it significantly stronger. That’s really not the same knife then is it? Is a collector going to want to spend top dollar for that deviation to the design? I could be entirely wrong also. Maybe they don’t care about this knife potentially standing up to a life of use like all of their other products. No one even questions the shortcomings of an old tool of any type because the expectation is different.
This is all just my interpretation and my views based on my own experiences. I’m not meaning to influence anyones opinion. I may simply have completely different expectations than anyone else.
