Page 1 of 1

3 "new" schrades

Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 2:43 am
by Darksev
new to me :) I've been in a bit of a slump lately, and I took some time off from knives, as nothing was going right. I finally finished up the last of this set of three, so I thought I'd post them with a bit of "history"

After my long and frustrating search for a carbon bladed 5OT, I finally found an early OTG with what I needed. I had some great looking super curly mango lined up for this, but it was not to be. Something must have gone horribly wrong in the stabilization, because when I was working with it (After I glued up the handles, of course) it just flaked apart, almost like a piece of fish would ::shrug:: :lol: I couldn't even pop it off the frame, I ended up having to grind it off. Anyways, I went with "plan B" which was some stab. Bocote I had. Handrubbed the blade to 600 grit as well.l I'm trying out some more complicated filework, what do you guys think?

The second knife is another little 3OT. I had some small stag tapers that really would not have fit much else, and I had a frame, lockbar, and one of 2 needed springs lying around from another project. I got me a parts knife and built this little guy. First thing I did, of course, with some REALLY NICE looking handles, was tap one of pins to hard and crack the stag in an un-repairable manner ::dang:: The only bit of stag I had left was pretty damn featureless. no cool texture or anything :cry: I decided to break up the vast expanse of white with my very first attempt at a shield inlay. It's the original Old Timer shield flipped around backwards ::tounge:: In hindsight, I should have thinned it out even more, and just gone with the smooth interior antler, rather than leave the little bits of texture that there was.

The last knife is a 104OT, stripped of it's linerlock, and converted to straight pins, instead of the swinden key. Not an easy undertaking, and my first try at doing such a thing. Also got some very tiny new filework and some stab. blackwood handles. Sometimes it's the really small knives I take the most pride in doing, there's not alot of room to really express yourself, so every little bit counts. I'm actually only one customized knife now from completing my display with all of my granddad's "EDC" knives (worn, patina'd, well loved and all mine) and my new/old stock customized version along side them. ::ds::

Didn't mean to write a book, but anyways, thanks for looking as always :)

Image

Image

Re: 3 "new" schrades

Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 3:17 am
by philco
Most Impressive! ::tu::

Very classy and professional looking customs. Nice Job!

It's hard to imagine the curly mango would have looked any better than the bocote does.

Your filework is excellent.

Phil

Re: 3 "new" schrades

Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 3:26 am
by hot tempered steel
Nice looking work Darksev. A definate improvement over the green and brown sawcut delrin handles. I like 'em. ::tu::
H.T.S.

Re: 3 "new" schrades

Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 4:52 am
by jonet143
adam, as usual...... ::tu:: ::tu:: ::tu::

Re: 3 "new" schrades

Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 7:24 am
by orvet
Bokote always looks good. I think you really have to try hard to mess up Bokote.

I disagree with you on the 3OT, I think the texture looks great as opposes to smooth.

Nice work. Keep at it! ::tu:: ::tu::

Dale

Re: 3 "new" schrades

Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 7:38 am
by gmusic
Very nice Adam!

I like the little 30T.

Re: 3 "new" schrades

Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 2:19 pm
by muskrat man
they are all nice but wow I just love that little 3OT I love it. the 5OTG ain't bad either :wink:

Re: 3 "new" schrades

Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 6:04 pm
by justold52
my display with all of my granddad's "EDC"

I am sure your DAD and GRAND-DAD would be VERY proud of your display.

GEEEEE I woulder how many of us here would like it if our sons or grand-sons take an intrest like you did... ::tu:: :mrgreen:

Re: 3 "new" schrades

Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 6:25 pm
by Hukk
Some folks just dip wood in minwax and call it stabilized. I have some very nice spalted Mango that I sent to WSSI about 1 year ago - and it looks great. As far as I'm concerned only the polymer (more than one monomer) acrylic process used by WSSI and K&G qualify to be called stabilized. There are a few others that use this process.

Here is a couple blocks from WSSI - I have a box of it.

Your knives look great by the way! ::tu:: ::tu:: ::tu::

There are a couple sellers on eBay selling bad stabilized woods!

Re: 3 "new" schrades

Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 7:13 pm
by pmike5869
Sorry to disagree with you but I think the little bits of texture on the stag look great! A truly handsome piece.

Re: 3 "new" schrades

Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 10:12 pm
by Darksev
I stick with a few sellers on Ebay I know are reputable, I think this may just have been a little bit of me and a little bit of the weaker wood. I do all my shaping with files by hand, and this particular block just could not take the strain and flaked at the curls. it cut just fine, it was the shaping that killed it. The parts that came off were literally cone shaped.

As far as my grandad(s), I'd like to think they would appreciate what I've done. for the most part, I've left their knives as they left them. I had one Camillus TL29 that I sent off to Kaleb for his touch before I started working myself, and a Schrade my dad insisted I work on. The rest sit neatly next to their customized siblings :) The last one on my list would be a 70's Case 6265SAB. I just have not had the urge to pick one of those up quite yet. You only get one chance to "finish" a collection like that, I want to wait until I have something really special in mind.

Thanks for the comments all!

Re: 3 "new" schrades

Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:18 am
by muskrat man
Hukk wrote:
There are a couple sellers on eBay selling bad stabilized woods!

I have bought quite a bit of "stabalized" wood off ebay, get it and it is shiny on the surface but once you grind into it it is like any other wood. ::td:: I used some afzelia today got the same results. the only good stabalized wood I've used so far came from alpha knife supply and I've used a set from K&G that was real nice.

Re: 3 "new" schrades

Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 3:01 am
by Hukk
Good looking knives! ::tu:: ::tu::

Properly stabilized wood should not be able to flaked and will never take stain because the wood is plastic like or plasticized. The wood blocks I happened to have pictures of had to be stabilized because I could easily dent it with a fingernail - very soft and there were parts I threw out because gaps would be created during the processing. Alpha Knife Supply sends their wood out to WSSI and I think K&G's process is similar to WSSI.

http://www.stabilizedwood.com/wssi.shtml

Wood that is properly stabilized should be like plastic all the way through - if not I regard it to be an inferior product.

At The Knife Network Forum this eBay vendor was discussed http://stores.ebay.com/Bobs-Exotic-Woods The consensus was that the wood was not stabilized in the acrylic/polymer processing that K&G and WSSI uses and that it was inferior to these industry leaders. I have not used this wood but was thinking of it. He has 14 negatives and 9 neutrals in the last year for this wood.

Another new wrinkle on stabilization is "Cooked" stabilized woods or heat stabilized woods. It may be something I look into BUT it is a bit pricey. All positive feedback though.

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZrenel5761

I have sent out and sold several hundred pounds of stabilized woods over the last couple of years and WSSI and K&G are my favorites. I favor WSSI over K&G ONLY because they will dye your wood.