- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
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Okay, this weekend I decided to play with my grinder and address a couple of simple little knife mods I've been thinking about and debating on and then finally followed through with. The mods were removing the thumb ramp and finger guard of my Scrapyard SOD and S5. There were several folks who posted up a rampless mods to the S5 which I loved and the ramp was one of my chief complaints on what I consider an extremely functional bushy type bussekin knife.
So here are the pre-mod original knives:
Here is the modified version:
Only took about 10 minutes to do. The key is just to take it one quick stroke at a time and then immerse in water to prevent heating up.
The S5 without the ramp and finger notch is now much more comfortable for me to hold. In the original version, my thumb just kind of rested naturally on the middle of the ramp and was just generally an annoyance. The rampless version just feels so much better in the hand. Likewise, removing the extended guard at the finger notch lets me more easily take advantage of the large choil. There is plenty enough guard with integrated finger notch in the respirene C handle that the extra bit of metal poking out was over kill. In fact, it tended to make using the choil a bit uncofmortable, as it would stick in between the index and 2nd finger.
Now the real difference is on the SOD! This feels like a totally new knife to me. There is a pretty large area between the ricasso/square choil and where the blade starts. Removing the ramp and guard lets me really choke up on this blade in a way that I could never do before. I can now get my index finger in the square choil and my second finger resting comfortably on the ricasso. Gripping it this way, my thumb now sits almost all the way to the start of the clip on the spine. Before the mod, when choking up, I'd put my finger in the square choil, but the guard prevented me from getting my second finger on the ricasso. So I couldn't really get my hand that close to the blade edge. What used to feel like a really clunky knife in balance now feels pretty fast and maneuverable in the hand when choked up. For the first time, I feel as though the SOD can be really useful as an all rounder knife instead of a devoted chopper and I can move the tip where I want. At the same time the chopping ability is not at all compromised when gripping the knife on the handle properly. This was an excellent MOD for the SOD and I wish I would have done it much sooner.
I probably could still round out the ramp area on the S5 a bit more, but the important thing for me is how it feels more so than how it looks. Both scrapyards were purchased to be used as beater knives. Personally, I find them kind of ugly to look at, but appreciate their ability to take abuse like nobody's business.
I still haven't really gotten a chance to put the S5 through its paces yet, but will try to do so later this month. They are both really comfortable to hold now, more so than when they came! I have much more high hopes for the S5 as beater belt knife now.
So here are the pre-mod original knives:
Here is the modified version:
Only took about 10 minutes to do. The key is just to take it one quick stroke at a time and then immerse in water to prevent heating up.
The S5 without the ramp and finger notch is now much more comfortable for me to hold. In the original version, my thumb just kind of rested naturally on the middle of the ramp and was just generally an annoyance. The rampless version just feels so much better in the hand. Likewise, removing the extended guard at the finger notch lets me more easily take advantage of the large choil. There is plenty enough guard with integrated finger notch in the respirene C handle that the extra bit of metal poking out was over kill. In fact, it tended to make using the choil a bit uncofmortable, as it would stick in between the index and 2nd finger.
Now the real difference is on the SOD! This feels like a totally new knife to me. There is a pretty large area between the ricasso/square choil and where the blade starts. Removing the ramp and guard lets me really choke up on this blade in a way that I could never do before. I can now get my index finger in the square choil and my second finger resting comfortably on the ricasso. Gripping it this way, my thumb now sits almost all the way to the start of the clip on the spine. Before the mod, when choking up, I'd put my finger in the square choil, but the guard prevented me from getting my second finger on the ricasso. So I couldn't really get my hand that close to the blade edge. What used to feel like a really clunky knife in balance now feels pretty fast and maneuverable in the hand when choked up. For the first time, I feel as though the SOD can be really useful as an all rounder knife instead of a devoted chopper and I can move the tip where I want. At the same time the chopping ability is not at all compromised when gripping the knife on the handle properly. This was an excellent MOD for the SOD and I wish I would have done it much sooner.
I probably could still round out the ramp area on the S5 a bit more, but the important thing for me is how it feels more so than how it looks. Both scrapyards were purchased to be used as beater knives. Personally, I find them kind of ugly to look at, but appreciate their ability to take abuse like nobody's business.
I still haven't really gotten a chance to put the S5 through its paces yet, but will try to do so later this month. They are both really comfortable to hold now, more so than when they came! I have much more high hopes for the S5 as beater belt knife now.
:thumbup:
