I was looking for a new project. I have a Cold Steel Recon Tanto in Carbon V and I wanted to replace the kraton handle with micarta. The kraton was easy enough to get off and I sanded the coating off. I needed a second hole in the tang for another corby bolt, and getting a hole where there wasn't one was its own pain. I had some nice micarta and ground the space for the tang, drilled the holes for the bolts, and shaped it.
Then things went wrong...
There was one problem. I dropped one of the scales and a piece chipped off, from a bad spot at the front. I tried to fix it with a little piece of micarta:
Not pretty, but functional, right? But I wanted pretty, too. I tried to fix it by cutting off the front of each scale, already epoxied and bolted on, and all went downhill from there...
Not bad on this side, but I drilled some holes in an effort to use some micarta rod to help with holding the sides together...
I missed the mark, as you can see below. I also covered over the markings on the blade with the micarta. Oops.
The two different kinds of micarta didn't go well together, as the lighter material is very coarse and won't take a shine like the darker material, so I sanded it to 220 grit, blued the blade, and called it a day.
The lessons here:
1. Be careful! Don't drop or break stuff that has to be fixed later.
2. If you are not careful and you do break something, keep the repair simple! I call this one "The Dark Knife", not for its coloring, but because it will only come out at night!
Thanks for looking. Good luck!
Then things went wrong...
There was one problem. I dropped one of the scales and a piece chipped off, from a bad spot at the front. I tried to fix it with a little piece of micarta:
Not pretty, but functional, right? But I wanted pretty, too. I tried to fix it by cutting off the front of each scale, already epoxied and bolted on, and all went downhill from there...
Not bad on this side, but I drilled some holes in an effort to use some micarta rod to help with holding the sides together...
I missed the mark, as you can see below. I also covered over the markings on the blade with the micarta. Oops.
The two different kinds of micarta didn't go well together, as the lighter material is very coarse and won't take a shine like the darker material, so I sanded it to 220 grit, blued the blade, and called it a day.
The lessons here:
1. Be careful! Don't drop or break stuff that has to be fixed later.
2. If you are not careful and you do break something, keep the repair simple! I call this one "The Dark Knife", not for its coloring, but because it will only come out at night!
Thanks for looking. Good luck!