A new (non-Becker) purchase; and some mods to an old favorite...

Enluzenment

Enluzenment

Joined
Dec 5, 2012
Messages
201
I got a new Kershaw Camp 10 from the boys in brown today. I havent had a chance to chop anything with it yet but first impressions are pretty good. I really like "bang for your buck" blades and this knife feels like it fits that bill. It has a lot of forward weight, grip is nice and soft yet still grippy. Seems like it should be a good pure chopper. We'll see soon, I'll have to do a head to head with the king to see how it performs. Ill update if anyone is interested. Anyone have one already? You like?
Also I was kinda bored last night so I did a gun blue/ hot bleach etch on my 11. I like it, the micarta was dyed with a lemon yellow and sanded down a bit. That might change soon though, I'm not sure how I feel about the color. Might end up green instead. Picked up some needle files the other day too, that might be next. Let me know what you think.
BK11 Mods: blue/bleach etch, micarta dyed & sanded, convex grind, stainless hw
BK9 Mods: Convex grind, jimping mod, stripped, sanded micarta, stainless hw

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If I remember correctly, someone just did a review of choppers with this included. Looks..........ok, I still think I would go with the 9. I would like to see pics of the CRKT Redemption though (around the same size chopper). More for S&G then anything else. That 11 looks nice with the etch. What's the squiggly black line?
 
btw Tanker, that squiggly black line is my last name, its only 3 letters so yea it just looks like a little squiggly mark. I did it with a ultra fine tip paint sharpie. It'll probably rub off in short order but eh, thats ok
 
funny you ask about re-handling it. ive been staring at it today wondering the same exact thing. I really like the blade shape on it but the handle, while functional, is pretty fugly. I'll probably give it a whirl at some point, maybe G10. I haven't seen anybody else on the net that has attempted it yet but the blade is still fairly fresh to the market. One thing I can say is I am impressed with the secondary bevel grind on it. It's pretty damn sharp out of box, after a quick stropping it shaved hair and it's nice and even the whole length which was better than I expected seeing that its an over seas blade with a pretty deep recurve on it.
 
Honestly I can see this becoming one of the next go-to knives for modding because once you got the plastic/rubber handle parts off, I don't think it would be that hard to rehandle in different materials. Do keep in mind though, the sheath dulls the knife.
 
Good point about the sheath Derek, and i think your absolutely right, it definitely could be a go to knife for modding, esp. because its so cheap.The blade has potential for sure. I can see, rehandling and getting a kydex sheath made up become a trend for this blade. I bet by this summer there will be quite a few "Camp 10 mods" threads in the Kershaw forum. I think I'm gonna take her down into the basement today and see if i can get this rubber grip off. I'll update if anything good comes out of it.
 
If those are pins, you can probably drill them out and boil the handles off. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on one.
 
Ok first of all at this point maybe this should be in the Kershaw section but I wanted to post it where the cool kids are. Anyway, I took the handle off the camp10, all it takes is two T20 torx bits and you can just pull it right off. I sorta figured the tang would be thinner than I'd like and it is but all is not lost. I think this can be done. I tossed on a set of grivory from my 9 just to get an idea of what it might look like and I really like it. The only real problem I can see is figuring out how to fill the gap between the scales, I chunk of G10 maybe? I'd like to get all of your ideas out there. What do you think? Worth trying at all? Should I try and make the Becker handles work or start from scratch with a slab of G10 or micarta?

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Well, that is interesting. Not at all what I thought it would look like underneath. That explains quite a lot though. Thanks for the disassembly.
 
Nice! In your place, I'd buy a block of desert ironwood and some bolster material, and make it a hidden tang with a guard. I don't really like the idea of slapping on handle scales that aren't made for the knife. I did that early on in my knifemaking hobby, and it went...poorly.
 
So i checked out the desert ironwood and I really really like the look of it. I've never done anything in wood or a hidden tang. I'm certainly no knifemaker, but I'm also not completely helpless so as long as it isn't anything that takes specialty tools I think i can pull it off. Any tips on doing a hidden tang in ironwood??
 
Thank you for your opinions esp. crimsonfalcon. I've decided to take your idea and do a hidden tang, thats definitely the way to go with this. I've never done one so it should be interesting. I'm gonna order up my materials tomorrow and I'll post up finished product, maybe some wip pics as well. Anyway, for now I decided to mod the stock handle a little bit. I didn't too much for fear of rendering it useless, I might still need the handle if the custom one turns out to be a disaster, at least I'll still have a functioning handle to use. All I did was cut a chunk off the top quillon with a dremel and then used the belt sander to bring it down the rest of the way. I finished it off with some 600 then 800 grit hand sanding. It came out decent, there are a few pinholes I couldn't sand out but it doesn't bother me much. I think it looks a little better now, that top guard was overkill imo and I can actually choke up on it now if i need too. Let me know what you think. It's a super easy thing to do, took me about ten minutes total.
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