After lurking for a while, and learning from your posts, here is my BK11 work.

That really looks great. When I first wanted to do a mod on my BK2 I was thinking about blue jean but don't really have the talent or patience to do it myself. That looks outstanding. I just bought a BK11 and I really like it but it is just missing a bit of handle for me. Looks like your mod solves that problem. At any rate a big thumbs up.
 
Wow, man! Just . . . Wow! Freaking amazing. Your friends are lucky guys. I don't have an 11 any longer, I gave mine to a lady friend, because the handle was just too uncomfortable for me to use it at all (too small, I have big ol' mitts), but I do have 2 14's & I love them. Its hard for me to say that the 14 is my very favorite blade, because I love so many, but it is up there, for sure! One of my most handy & most often carried/used fixed blades without a doubt! I love those denim micarta scales you made, those look awesome, you did a fantastic job. Inspiring.
 
Excellent work man, especially if this is your first experience working with blades. I've been thinking of trying to make some micarta for my BK2 one of these days. I was wondering what blue jean would look like, and it looks pretty sweet. I also like the idea of camo. What kind of guide did you use to make the micarta?

How did you secure the handle scales to the knife? They sure aren't bolts or screws, and don't look like rivets either.

Also, I've thought for a long time that I would get a BK14 instead of a BK11, but yours might have pushed me towards the BK11 :).
 
ocnLogan said:
Excellent work man, especially if this is your first experience working with blades. I've been thinking of trying to make some micarta for my BK2 one of these days. I was wondering what blue jean would look like, and it looks pretty sweet. I also like the idea of camo. What kind of guide did you use to make the micarta?

How did you secure the handle scales to the knife? They sure aren't bolts or screws, and don't look like rivets either.

Also, I've thought for a long time that I would get a BK14 instead of a BK11, but yours might have pushed me towards the BK11 :).
Click to expand...

Thanks to everyone for the compliments!!!

To answer your questions:

Guides I used to make the micarta:
1) North Coast Knives Blue Jean Micarta was a helpful link

but this one was the best:

2) Crash's Home Made Micarta:
1) part 1
2) part 2
3) part 3

things worth noting:
- use a respirator. not just a n95 mask.
- drape towels over your lap while creating the micarta. have extra gloves around.
- use only HALF of the stated hardener on your fiberglass resin. If i used 8 ounces of resin, i used 40 drops of hardener.
- use 4 4" c-clamps per batch of micarta. tighten them evenly for flat stock
- give yourself some room for error in the dimensions of the micarta you're making.


The scales are attached as follows:

1) I roughed up both the scales and the blade. the first scale was attached with "Gorilla Glue" and clamped on until it bonded.
2) I then drilled the holes through the micarta using the BK11's pre-drilled holes as guides.
3) Once that was done, I attached the second scale with "Gorilla Glue" and clamped it until bonded.
4) I then used the holes drilled through one side of the Micarta as my guide and drilled through the other side.
5) I used aluminum rod stock, roughed up the sides with sand paper, filled the holes with gorilla glue, then drove each of the pins.
5a) it is important to note that i made sure to "peen" each of the pins before the glue set, expanding the metal and further securing the micarta to the tang.
*** at this point in my knife creation, i was NERVOUS. i had this ugly, blocky looking handle with metal rods sticking out of 3 parts. the edges were not defined at all. however, at this point, i was committed.***
6) I used 60-80 grit sanding belts to grind down the edges of the micarta to be flush with the blade. I also used the same rough grit to flaten the handles and get them CLOSE to my desired thickness.
7) From there, i steadily increased the grits on my sanding belts until I had the design / pattern I wanted out of the micarta. Hand sanding was done for the edges.
 
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Thanks for the info, this will come in really handy when I try this out myself.

What did you use to peen the metal rods? They look solid, so it seems like that will be much harder than with a pipe.

Thanks for the info man.
 
Awesome work for sure. Just one question: How does one produce fiberglass dust when sanding blue jeans micarta?
 
maethor said:
Awesome work for sure. Just one question: How does one produce fiberglass dust when sanding blue jeans micarta?
Click to expand...

the micarta is made by layering strips of denim and liquid fiberglass resin. When you're grinding down the micarta, fiberglass dust is thrown everywhere.
 
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