- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
- Messages
- 4,670
I just returned from visiting fellow forumite Kit Carson up in the hills of Kaintuckeee (flew up there last Thursday), and boy am I glad to be back among civilization again! I tell ya, going to the "bathroom" (read: outhouse...) in the middle of the night was a big production - shoes, coat, and flashlight. Taking a shower meant dragging a garden hose over to Kit's closest neighbor's place to scrub down and hose off before you find yourself staring down the barrels of a Remington 12 gauge. Helping Kit out in the shop meant constantly plugging/unplugging the grinders, drill presses, and heat treat ovens to and from the overworked gas generator (no 'lectricity in them thar hills you see). That got old after a while!
LOL!!!
Seriously, I took this long Easter weekend to go up and visit Kit and help out in the creation of the flippered M16 in 420V I had ordered from him a few months back. It was very interesting, as I was constantly looking over his shoulder with every hole he drilled and every pass on the grinder. Even got a demonstration of how his "organic tool rest" (tummy
) helps achieve even grinds. I got to help out when it was possible for me to - building a precise liner lock folder means a lot of assembly/disassembly to check for lock fit and since my knife has the flipper thing, the combo thumb studs/blade stops had to be hand fitted. Needless to say, I've had plenty of practice breaking down and reassembling my knife. I also had a blast - literally. Kit showed me how to bead blast and I headed out to the blasting cabinet, M16 pieces in hand, to knock myself out. After two and a half days of hard work, here is the result:
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In addition to the M16, we had time to knock out a fixed blade. This one's a 4" drop point hunter in 440V with green linen micarta scales. For this one, Kit had me cut out the blank with a bandsaw and profile it on the Square Wheel. He handled the grinding and contouring of the handles. Then I came back into the fray by fine tuning the handle scales with hand filing and hand sanding. Then it was back out to do more blasting. I'm also very happy with the way this fixed blade turned out. I'm planning on sending this one off to Frank Sigmon to have a Kydex rig fabricated for it. Here's a pic of the fixed blade:
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All in all, this was my first knifemaking experience and it was a lot of fun. Learned a lot of things and got two good knives out of it. I'd like to thank Kit and his wife Betty for their warm hospitality and putting up with me for several days
This is also the first time I've went to such lengths to get a custom knife -worth it too!
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AKTI Member # A000005
Living life "on the edge"
Seriously, I took this long Easter weekend to go up and visit Kit and help out in the creation of the flippered M16 in 420V I had ordered from him a few months back. It was very interesting, as I was constantly looking over his shoulder with every hole he drilled and every pass on the grinder. Even got a demonstration of how his "organic tool rest" (tummy
<center>
In addition to the M16, we had time to knock out a fixed blade. This one's a 4" drop point hunter in 440V with green linen micarta scales. For this one, Kit had me cut out the blank with a bandsaw and profile it on the Square Wheel. He handled the grinding and contouring of the handles. Then I came back into the fray by fine tuning the handle scales with hand filing and hand sanding. Then it was back out to do more blasting. I'm also very happy with the way this fixed blade turned out. I'm planning on sending this one off to Frank Sigmon to have a Kydex rig fabricated for it. Here's a pic of the fixed blade:
<center>
All in all, this was my first knifemaking experience and it was a lot of fun. Learned a lot of things and got two good knives out of it. I'd like to thank Kit and his wife Betty for their warm hospitality and putting up with me for several days
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AKTI Member # A000005
Living life "on the edge"
