Alpha Dorado gets Home "Spa" treatment

DesertChris · Nov 20, 2013

I got this 270 fishing on the bay, for a decent price

In the seller's photos it looked pretty good.
When it arrived it had gunk in the pivot, on the blade, in the handle etc...
Blade was less than smooth opening.
Also found some corrosion on the handle under the scales

Scales were pretty dull and a bit scratched.
The blade was pretty dull, but was also unsharpened....

Perfect candidate to send to Buck for the spa treatment, but I chose another route....

I figured I would clean her up myself and use the heck out of her

Doused her with oil and started cleaning off the gunk.
Took her scales off and blade out.
Polished up the pivot parts with steel wool.
Cleaned the heck out of the inside of the handle and liner lock.
Polished the outside of the handle with the buffing wheel. (removed the corrosion

)
Polished the scales with the buffing wheel.
Put her back together.
Cleaned the blade with the buffing wheel (got rid of all the super stuck on gunk and some scratches)

And last of all, sharpened her up to hair shaving status.

Now she looks good enough to maybe make some nicer scales for her (which was my original intention when I bid on it)

Before serious cleaning effort, but after I had done some light initial cleaning.

After Buffing wheel etc...

.
Corrosion gone but close up shows where it was, under the scales...

All Done and prettied back up

Next will be new scales, when i figure out what material to use.

Stumps · Nov 20, 2013

It's a lot of fun doing work on your own knives. Nice work!! :thumbup:

David Martin · Nov 20, 2013

A good effort. A sisal buff and cotton wheel with compound will work wonders. Buck also offered that model with special steels and up grade handle material. DM

DesertChris · Nov 20, 2013

Stumps said:
It's a lot of fun doing work on your own knives. Nice work!! :thumbup:

Thanks! I do enjoy it.
I was a tiny bit nervous to take the blade out, since I had read a post by Joe Houser about all the bags of parts from people failing to get them put back together. But I just paid close attention to the blade removal/disassembly and it was pretty easy.

David Martin said:
A good effort. A sisal buff and cotton wheel with compound will work wonders. Buck also offered that model with special steels and up grade handle material. DM

Thanks David!
With my limited budget, I pretty much have to find them in decent blade condition for a low price, then clean them up myself....
When the kids graduate, I'll have more play $$ for fancier knives...until then I have to make them fancy myself....lol
I have a 2013 S30V with rosewood one too, and I quite like it

Also just won another one fishing on the bay... that one has 154CM and rosewood. I look forward to it's arrival.
I find myself carrying this model and the Alpha Folder quite a bit.
Darn good designs.
I think they would be even better with micarta, buffalo horn, or stag

DesertChris · Nov 20, 2013

David,
I just read about the sisal buff you mentioned.
I think I need one of those now....lol
I have just been using a cotton wheel with compound.
Thank you for the advice!

David Martin · Nov 20, 2013

The sisal buff with grey compound is the work-horse and removes scratches. The 'sewn' cotton wheel with green compound is for polishing. Then a loose, cotton, layered wheel with pink compound is for a final mirror polish. Your welcome. The Buck Collectors Club offered a limited edition 270 Durado with Buffalo horn and a polished blade of 154-cm steel. I believe that was in 2006. A very handsome package. DM

Doug_86 · Nov 23, 2013

Cool! I love those little knives as you can literally take them apart. good job man

DesertChris · Nov 25, 2013

David Martin said:
The sisal buff with grey compound is the work-horse and removes scratches. The 'sewn' cotton wheel with green compound is for polishing. Then a loose, cotton, layered wheel with pink compound is for a final mirror polish. Your welcome. The Buck Collectors Club offered a limited edition 270 Durado with Buffalo horn and a polished blade of 154-cm steel. I believe that was in 2006. A very handsome package. DM

Thanks for the extra info! When I get a chance I am going to get those buffing options. That will help a lot.

Doug_86 said:
Cool! I love those little knives as you can literally take them apart. good job man

Thanks Doug. I like these a lot! Fit in the pocket nicely as well.
I really like the larger alpha folders too...super smooth and solid lockup.

Here are the 3 Dorados I have so far..... A 420HC, 154CM and S30V. I intend to make fancier scales for them at some point.

Doug_86 · Nov 28, 2013

Chris, The Alpha folder are awesome. Probably my favorite current knife.

kyhunt · Nov 30, 2013

Man those are nice. I have handled them a couple of times and they are tanks. I need to add one sometime.

DesertChris · Nov 30, 2013

Doug_86 said:
Chris, The Alpha folder are awesome. Probably my favorite current knife.

I feel exactly the same! These are as good as it gets in my opinion.

kyhunt said:
Man those are nice. I have handled them a couple of times and they are tanks. I need to add one sometime.

You should definately get one! Or 3...lol
The one I made amboyna burl scales for is now my most used and carried blade

Doug_86 · Nov 30, 2013

DesertChris said:
I feel exactly the same! These are as good as it gets in my opinion.

You should definately get one! Or 3...lol
The one I made amboyna burl scales for is now my most used and carried blade

Beautiful job dude! I like how you counter sunk the screws. That finish on the wood is a beauty.