Milwaukee Fastback Utility Knife Upgrade!

I really like my Milwaukee utility knife but it isn't quite perfect. So I decided to do a couple of small upgrades on it so it better suites my needs.

The clip on the knife is set for right hand tip up. I'm a lefty and I like to carry my knife clip down so that was one upgrade. Also, we have a couple of utility knives around the house and mine keeps wandering off so I decided to make it unique and buff the body out to a mirror shine.

The only parts that are new is the new clip I installed on the knife and the 3 2.5 mm replacement screws that are used to hold the body together.

Tools wise - where there were a few

Two T10x4 torx wrenches to remove the pivot screws

Proper drill size to drill out the three screws that hold the body together

I used a 4-40 tap and drill & 4-40 screws to attach the new handle.

Misc plyers, channel lock plyers, belt sander, sand paper - 60,100,200,400 grit, buffing wheel to polish

I actually did this before disassembly. Up to you if you want to do it before or after disassembly. I figured it this bombed I wouldn't need to continue~

So I didn't use the clip in the supplies section. I had a older crap knife that had a clip that would work. Because of the amount of real-estate there is to mount the clip I used one with two vertical holes. It fit nicely at the back of the knife.

I marked where the two holes needed to be, center punched them and drilled them with a No# 43 drill. That area of the handle is hollow but thick enough that there would be plenty of threads when tapped.

Once drilled, I carefully ran the tap into each of the holes. I used some 3 in 1 oil for tapping fluid.

Once done, I test fit the clip by screwing in two 4-40 screws, their 3/8" long.

Clip was tight, fit in in my pocket great, so I figured I would continue on with making it bright and shiny.

This knife REALLY doesn't want to come apart. Really.

ALL of the torx screws are lock-tighted in. The Phillips screw holding for the clip on, comes out easily - because you can replace the clip. The rest, nope...

None of the three torx screws that hold the body together would come out. I stripped them almost immediately trying to remove them. Fortunately the two T10X4 screws that hold the pivot in came out - but not without a fight. Got lucky there.

So since they were stripped they had to be drilled out. I picked a drill size that just fit in the hole.

When drilling, I went j u s t far enough so the head of the socket screw was gone. This takes a very gentle touch. If you go to far and drill through, you won't be able to use that screw - which isn't good~

Once drilled, and after I've removed the one or two torx screws that hold the pivot in place. I gently pried the knife in half. The

If you can only get one torx screw out on the pivot, that's ok, you can still disassemble the knife.

So, after you gently pry the knife in half, the pivot piece will be stuck in one side of the handle. Ok this is hack, but it works, The pivot is hardened steel so it can be gripped really good with a pair of channel locks. When doing that, gently use one of the torx wrenches and calmly try to remove the other screw. If you can't not a big deal, you polish away and just work around it.

For the three screws you drilled the heads out, I used a small pair of vice grips, griped on to each of the screws - real tight - and gently unscrewed them. Hopefully you will get all three out.

From there, take a picture of how the knife goes together, noting that the spare blade holder has a small flat spring.

Gather all of the pieces together in a plastic bag or container so you don't lose track of them.

You may or may not have to do this, it will depend on the size of the head of the 2.5m socket screw you are using.

If you have to drill them bigger to fit the head, make sure you don't use a drill size that is too big. Drill the new holes to the same depth as the holes you used to drill out the heads.

If you have a bead blaster - more power to you. I don't so I used some paint remover to get as much of the paint off as I could. Whatever they painted it with is pretty good stuff. I'm happy it wasn't powder coated.

Once the paint is removed, I chose to use a belt sander to flatten out the sides and back side of handle pieces. Their pretty thick so you can remove a couple of mms of material if you choose.

I decided I wanted the knife with a polished finish so I basically hand sanded the sides and back, starting with 100 grit sand paper, then 200, then 400. If polishing, it pays to get to at least 400 before polishing. For the curves in the handles I just hand sanded it until smooth.

I used my Harbor Freight polisher for the work. Since I had taken the time to get it clean with 400 grit sandpaper it cleaned up pretty quick. The pictures of the finished work is about a week old. I use this knife everyday for work and other projects so it was already scratched back up by the time I took the pictures.

Fun project - except for the disassembly.