Diamond Edge Hunter gets armor!

[Reverand]

I rehandled this Imperial Diamond Edge folding hunter in Armadillo for a customer. Also drilled a lanyard hole in the knife at his request. Upon disassembly I was surprised to find that this knife was Swinden-keyed, so it was either made by Schrade on contract, or it was made after Schrade bought Imperial.
I think that it turned out nice, and I hope that the owner is satisfied with it.
As usual, the video should be up within a couple of weeks.

[treefarmer]

Rev, before I read your post, I noticed the knife and the new handles, and immediately thought armadillo. The reason I suppose was yesterday evening we were walking around one of our ponds and there was a piece of an armadillo shell in the path. It was bleached white by the sun. They sure have an interesting pattern.
The armadillo handles really set that folding hunter off!
Question, did you find the shell to be durable?
Treefarmer

[glennbad]

The Armadillo makes for a neat pattern on the knife, and the large size of that DE let's it show the pattern off. Nice!

[OLDE CUTLER]

I rehandled this Imperial Diamond Edge folding hunter in Armadillo for a customer. Also drilled a lanyard hole in the knife at his request. Upon disassembly I was surprised to find that this knife was Swinden-keyed, so it was either made by Schrade on contract, or it was made after Schrade bought Imperial.
I think that it turned out nice, and I hope that the owner is satisfied with it.
As usual, the video should be up within a couple of weeks.

I have never seen or handled armadillo. Is the material hard like bone or more rubbery? How thick is it?

[eveled]

Looks great, I also am intrigued by the Armadillo handle.

[Jeffinn]

I’ve never seen armadillo on a knife handle before! Nice job with a unique handle material.
Jeff

[Nev52]

Very nice job. Very unique handles. I know I would be happy to own it.

[ThatWeirdKnifeGuy]

I rehandled this Imperial Diamond Edge folding hunter in Armadillo for a customer. Also drilled a lanyard hole in the knife at his request. Upon disassembly I was surprised to find that this knife was Swinden-keyed, so it was either made by Schrade on contract, or it was made after Schrade bought Imperial.
I think that it turned out nice, and I hope that the owner is satisfied with it.
As usual, the video should be up within a couple of weeks.

Looks super cool

While digging through decade old posts here, I discovered that the Diamond Edge and Frontier series from Imperial were actually made at their factory in Rhode Island utilizing their own in house Swinden set up. Which is of course contrary to the prevailing theory that only the Schrade factory had the Swinden set up.

[Dinadan]

I rehandled this Imperial Diamond Edge folding hunter in Armadillo for a customer. Also drilled a lanyard hole in the knife at his request. Upon disassembly I was surprised to find that this knife was Swinden-keyed, so it was either made by Schrade on contract, or it was made after Schrade bought Imperial.
I think that it turned out nice, and I hope that the owner is satisfied with it.
As usual, the video should be up within a couple of weeks.

That is a very cool looking knife, Reverand. Very regional to our area, too.

As a fellow Alabamian, I expect that you are aware of the Armadillo leprosy connection. When I was young I often caught Armadillos in our woods. Now that leprosy transmission from Armadillo to human has been pretty well proven, even in Florida as well as South America, I have a bit of an aversion to touching them.

[Reverand]

Rev, before I read your post, I noticed the knife and the new handles, and immediately thought armadillo. The reason I suppose was yesterday evening we were walking around one of our ponds and there was a piece of an armadillo shell in the path. It was bleached white by the sun. They sure have an interesting pattern.
The armadillo handles really set that folding hunter off!
Question, did you find the shell to be durable?
Treefarmer

Very durable. It is a lot like working bone, only slightly less brittle. Imagine a layer of thick interlocking fingernails glued down onto rawhide.

[Reverand]

I rehandled this Imperial Diamond Edge folding hunter in Armadillo for a customer. Also drilled a lanyard hole in the knife at his request. Upon disassembly I was surprised to find that this knife was Swinden-keyed, so it was either made by Schrade on contract, or it was made after Schrade bought Imperial.
I think that it turned out nice, and I hope that the owner is satisfied with it.
As usual, the video should be up within a couple of weeks.

I have never seen or handled armadillo. Is the material hard like bone or more rubbery? How thick is it?

It is maybe 3/16" thick. The pieces become a little more flexible after soaking a while in hot water. I soak them for about 30 minutes, then clamp them between two boards to dry for a few days to flatten them more. When dry they work a lot like bone.

[Reverand]

I rehandled this Imperial Diamond Edge folding hunter in Armadillo for a customer. Also drilled a lanyard hole in the knife at his request. Upon disassembly I was surprised to find that this knife was Swinden-keyed, so it was either made by Schrade on contract, or it was made after Schrade bought Imperial.
I think that it turned out nice, and I hope that the owner is satisfied with it.
As usual, the video should be up within a couple of weeks.

That is a very cool looking knife, Reverand. Very regional to our area, too.

As a fellow Alabamian, I expect that you are aware of the Armadillo leprosy connection. When I was young I often caught Armadillos in our woods. Now that leprosy transmission from Armadillo to human has been pretty well proven, even in Florida as well as South America, I have a bit of an aversion to touching them.

Yes, I have read that. My Dad kills a few every year, and he skinned out 3 of them before I warned him. Thankfully he did not contract leprosy, but I wish he had worn rubber gloves! If I can catch the one that keeps digging up my yard, I will make handles out of him, too!