"Melting" your own Sebenza?

L

ljg

Joined
Jul 14, 2004
Messages
109
Hi Everyone,

I have a small regular Sebenza that has been my EDC since Christmas. I love this knife, and the fit and finish is fantastic. However I find that my palms do get irritated by the handle after awhile.

I have absolutely no problems modifying tools that I own to suit me. I’ve looked at all sorts of mods and I think that a meltdown is the way to go. I’d love to try this myself both because I don’t want to ship the knife to the USA for any work, plus I think the satisfaction factor would be much higher. I have access to files, a drum sander, and a sandblaster that is normally used to remove rust from old cars (just borrowed from a friend for my own car…haven’t used it yet).

Now the Question:
Who here has down their own “melt” on a Sebenza?
Any tips?
Any warnings?
How do you protect the lockbar?
How do you “melt” the clip?
Do you melt the inside of the scales as well, or just the outside??

Thanks for all your patience for a long post.
Look forward to your ideas. Also, any pics would be greatly appreciated.

ljg
 
I can't answer all the questions, but I can tell you the clip was left alone on my Sebenza Meltdown and so were the insides of the frame.
 
I personally wouldn't touch the inside surface of the handles. You run the risk of nicking up the detent. Stationary belt sanders work great for rounding the handle edges. 80 grit works well for me. You are going to blast it afterwords, right? If you are thinking of adding thumb ramp serrations to the handle, a variable speed dremel with carbide cutters work great.

The sky's the limit with Sebenzas. Good luck!



Barry H
 
Thanks for all your replies! It’s really appreciated.

blackend: I thought about contacting Matt and asking him for advice, but I was worried about asking him questions about a service that he makes money on. Some people are not very receptive to that. I think I’ll try e-mailing him anyway and see how it goes.

Steven Roos: Thanks for the info about your meltdown. I haven’t handled a professionally down meltdown yet, so any information about what makes them good, and what makes them bad is welcome.

Barry H: That’s a great modded Sebenza! Great work! How long did it take to do that? From your comments I’m gathering that you’re recommending that the “melt” job be done with a sander and the sandblasting be used just to put a final finish on the knife. Can the “melt” be done by sandblaster alone? Or would that take too long?

Thanks again to those that have replied! The more ideas the better. I’ll try to post pics once I’ve finished with the knife.

ljg
 
ljg said:
Thanks for all your replies! It’s really appreciated.




Barry H: That’s a great modded Sebenza! Great work! How long did it take to do that? From your comments I’m gathering that you’re recommending that the “melt” job be done with a sander and the sandblasting be used just to put a final finish on the knife. Can the “melt” be done by sandblaster alone? Or would that take too long?


ljg
Click to expand...

Grinding titanium takes a long time, even with good equipment. "melting", I'm afraid, can not be done with a beadblaster alone. Blasting imparts the final finish.
 
The Good:
Looks great!
Smoother action
Better ergonomics

The Bad:
No more warranty. :(
 
I agree that a meltdown would make the Sebenza more user friendly, which is a good thing. But this is just me: I couldn't take a file or sander to my beloved Sebenzas. Just couldn't, it would be like giving my children plastic surgery because I didn't like the way they looked. :D
 
Shoot me an email, Iam always happy to help! Sounds like some of the guys above already gotcha covered....:~)
Matt
 
G'day,
I also found the comfort factor to be lacking in my plain small standard Sebenza. While deciding what to do, I read here that the woodies are much more comfortable, so I epoxied some hardwood scales to mine as an experiment.
This has made a great difference to comfort although they are less than 1/16 inch thick.
Because I don't like the belt clip I covered the whole clip side with wood as well. (This effectively turns the Sebenza into a frame-lock!)
Good luck with whatever you attempt, the Sebenza is a great platform for customisation.
Greg
mypic2.jpg
 
nothing like a do-it-yourself homemade project experiment that replicates the "real mccoy"

:D
 
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