A gentleman's tanto. Stone-washing my small 21 - Updated

thanks! I really love the look of your knife. Mine has been getting some snail trails, but thats all it looks like. I was thinking about sticking some quarters in my pocket with the knife and jumping up and down for an hour or two. Great way to get some fitbit steps in too.
 
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MonkeyWithAGun said:
thanks! I really love the look of your knife. Mine has been getting some snail trails, but thats all it looks like. I was thinking about sticking some quarters in my pocket with the knife and humping up and down for an hour or two. Great way to get some fitbit steps in too.
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A good way to "advance the aging process" of your knife is to use it with wet, sandy hands. My first CRK was a large 21 Micarta. A day working on the waterfront, and I was instantly over the worry about that 1st scratch.
 
kidcongo said:
A good way to "advance the aging process" of your knife is to use it with wet, sandy hands. My first CRK was a large 21 Micarta. A day working on the waterfront, and I was instantly over the worry about that 1st scratch.
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Getting ready for the beach next weekend, so.... i'll see what i can do

when i got this one, the previous owner(s) had not used it at all. Or maybe the folks at chris reeve switched out the hardware for new stuff and called it the "spa treatment." Anyways, i was so nervous about getting a mark on it the first few days, then after using it a couple of times, I got over it. Now it feels like MINE... even though i've tried to pawn it off on the for sale threads here, haha.

this is a great hobby. Kinda expensive, but a lot cheaper than some of my other hobbies - unless you're the guy that has the 50+ sebenzas
 
MonkeyWithAGun said:
Getting ready for the beach next weekend, so.... i'll see what i can do

when i got this one, the previous owner(s) had not used it at all. Or maybe the folks at chris reeve switched out the hardware for new stuff and called it the "spa treatment." Anyways, i was so nervous about getting a mark on it the first few days, then after using it a couple of times, I got over it. Now it feels like MINE... even though i've tried to pawn it off on the for sale threads here, haha.

this is a great hobby. Kinda expensive, but a lot cheaper than some of my other hobbies - unless you're the guy that has the 50+ sebenzas
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Well said. The Micarta 21 is a great knife. Had I stopped at just that one, I'd have a totally great pocket knife, but then the collecting began......it's a slippery slope. Still have that 1st CRK knife an carry it often. Love the way it has worn in. Still perhaps my favourite in terms of functional good looks and sentimental value.
 
kidcongo said:
I would hold off on doing a Micarta inlay with this technique, unless you are planning to experiment. I don't think the stones will make contact in the areas beside the inlays, unless the stones are very small, which may not produce the desired stonewash. The stones I used would leave the area around the inlays untouched, which might look weird. I am not sure what it would do to the inlays themselves.

Maybe someone else can comment who may have tried this?
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This is why I was asking about using a medium like fish tank gravel; to get into the tight spots. I did a bit more reading and someone said you can use broken automotive safety glass (I wonder if that may be a bit too sharp though). You do make a good point about not getting the underside of the scales though. Like you say, maybe some shorter screws to get the scales completely together and perhaps some tape over the lock face and the inlays? I suppose one could even throw a bit of some finer medium in amongst the larger stones. Now all we need is a brave volunteer to give this a shot. :eek: :eek:

I will be doing this to my Plain Jane when it gets back from the spa, but am definitely going with the steps (and gravel) that you outlined. I'll post pics somewhere, but I don't think I'll be getting her back for a couple more weeks.
 
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I stonewashed my Small Micarta Insingo a while back (and posted). No harm done (used water and ceramic medium), however there was not a huge change in appearance, the Micarta of course, as mentioned , got in the way. I took the slabs apart, and protected contact surfaces.
Feel free to ignore this post.
 
gull wing said:
I stonewashed my Small Micarta Insingo a while back (and posted). No harm done (used water and ceramic medium), however there was not a huge change in appearance, the Micarta of course, as mentioned , got in the way. I took the slabs apart, and protected contact surfaces.
Feel free to ignore this post.
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Interesting. Could you resurrect the thread or post some pics or a link here?
 
Macchina said:
Hopefully I'll have some cool pictures to share tomorrow ;).

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You may want to replace those button heads with low profile screws. There is a chance of ending up with bead-blast halos around the screws if those balls can't stone-wash that portion. Just saying. Looking forward to your results.
 
When I get my laptop back from the shop(tomorrow?) I'll dig them up. Working my Wife's tablet is a pain .:D
 
OK, here we go with my version of stonewashing my Small Micarta Insingo. It's nice, but doesn't "pop" like a slab sided one does. It looks a bit better in person, sorry for my poor photo skils.



 
What are you talking about? That looks great! How big was the ceramic medium that you used?
 
OK, mine is done as well. I started with "lava" rocks for a bit more than an hour then went on to the marbles to try for a burnished effect. I really like how it turned out. Note: I ended up using brass flat head 4-40 screws in place of the stainless button heads just as Kidcongo predicted.


 
Nice results! Perfect! I am still really digging mine, and I am sure you will be loving that one as well. Well done.
 
Macchina said:
OK, mine is done as well. I started with "lava" rocks for a bit more than an hour then went on to the marbles to try for a burnished effect. I really like how it turned out. Note: I ended up using brass flat head 4-40 screws in place of the stainless button heads just as Kidcongo predicted.


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Agree, this looks amazing. Very well done. Funny kidcongo pointed that out on the screw heads. I was thinking the same thing when I saw the first pic but he beat me to it.
 
Just about any screw left in position will cause ghosting. You can still clearly see ghosting in Kidcongos pics and he used the standard slightly domed crews from CRK. A "ghetto tumble" can get great results but the pieces should really still be preped properly by masking and seperated from eachother during the tumbling process. :)
 
Haze said:
Just about any screw left in position will cause ghosting. You can still clearly see ghosting in Kidcongos pics and he used the standard slightly domed crews from CRK. A "ghetto tumble" can get great results but the pieces should really still be preped properly by masking and seperated from eachother during the tumbling process. :)
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So to update. I found a solution to the problem of "ghosting" as flagged by Haze. I did an additional 10 minutes of tumble, with one of each of the three screws removed at a a time (30 minutes total). This seems to have been a workable solution (keeping in mind I was tumbling the knife assembled without a blade or clip installed). The results were good, with most if not all of the "ghost" circles removed around the button screws. Remember to wedge something under the lockbar to both keep the lockbar even with the surface of the slab, but also prevent the detent ball from being banged into the opposite slab by your stones.

The photo was taken below a halogen light, that accentuates the sparkle. The sparkle is not so dramatic in soft light, and the scratches do oxidize and dull a little bit as well once you start using the thing. Still i suppose it's "Ghetto", but at least it's "Ghetto bling". Thanks to Haze for pushing me on to learn something new. :)


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