Bead Blasting......

Lucky Bob · Nov 15, 2009

scoobyaz said:
Yep, that's the first thing I did

Guess that makes me a monkey's uncle (actually, I'm a monkey's nephew, but that's neither here nor there...)

I had figured that the vertical almost directly above the pivot on the Spydie was a locking surface as well.

scoobyaz · Nov 15, 2009

Lucky Bob said:
Guess that makes me a monkey's uncle (actually, I'm a monkey's nephew, but that's neither here nor there...)

I had figured that the vertical almost directly above the pivot on the Spydie was a locking surface as well.

Not all LuckyB!

My pictures didn't show all the masked sides. I taped the faces in direct contact with the back spacers, lockfaces & axis bar. However, I burnished the tape & then trimmed it off the excess. The reason I taped the minimum area needed is because in the closed position of a good amount of both blades will be exposed to view.

I didn't mind the reminder at all & in fact, the pro in this thread will probably have to clean up my masking

So as I mentioned to Dslteck in an email, I probably won't be sending the sebbie slabs in this batch but I did include two sebbie clip for two different finishes to use as a "swatch." Assuming Dslteck doesn't eventually mind me constantly bombarding his shop with my usps packages, I have a suspection that a stonewash finish on ti slabs would make for a good user. I'm not the biggest fan of beadblast finished on bare metal scales for users. It gets rather unsightly quick.

dslteck · Nov 15, 2009

scoobyaz said:
Not all LuckyB! My pictures didn't show all the masked sides. I taped the faces in direct contact with the back spacers, lockfaces & axis bar. However, I burnished the tape & then trimmed it off the excess. The reason I taped the minimum area needed is because in the closed position of a good amount of both blades will be exposed to view.

I didn't mind the reminder at all & in fact, the pro in this thread will probably have to clean up my masking

So as I mentioned to Dslteck in an email, I probably won't be sending the sebbie slabs in this batch but I did include two sebbie clip for two different finishes to use as a "swatch." Assuming Dslteck doesn't eventually mind me constantly bombarding his shop with my usps packages, I have a suspection that a stonewash finish on ti slabs would make for a good user. I'm not the biggest fan of beadblast finished on bare metal scales for users. It gets rather unsightly quick.

Ahhhhh, it's ok we get "bombarded" daily as it is...lol
I plan on keeping the taping lines on the benchmade intact...just "cleaning" them up a little bit.
However on the Para blade i was going to start the line just in front of the finger choil jimping on the side closest to the edge...how does that sound?

scoobyaz · Nov 15, 2009

dslteck said:
Ahhhhh, it's ok we get "bombarded" daily as it is...lol
I plan on keeping the taping lines on the benchmade intact...just "cleaning" them up a little bit.
However on the Para blade i was going to start the line just in front of the finger choil jimping on the side closest to the edge...how does that sound?

I considered that but was on the fence. But let's do it your way. The "black/white cookie aka ying yang" look for this blade might be a nice twist.

Also, on the minor sharpening discussion we're starting in the emails, if you do eventually have interest in sampling a quick edge from paper wheels the blade from the BM710 has one. Alternatively you could also opt to send one of your knives for a test edge & I would send it to you in the next batch refreshed by paper wheels.
Take it easy bud,
Scooby

dslteck · Nov 19, 2009

I received a special delivery this afternoon from Scooby. Opened the package and started working on his items. He requested the SE Para blade bead blasted and tumbled. So I started on it first because of the time required in the tumbling machine for the stonewashed look.I have to admit the coating Spyderco uses on their black blades is some of the most resilient and toughest I have EVER came across in my fifteen years in the re-manufacturing business! No doubt some good stuff there!:thumbup: It came out WAY better than I had anticipated! So after it was all said and done, I am pleased with the outcome! Im sure Scooby will be too!

On to the pictures!

Here is the back-side of the Para blade:

On these two clips, Scooby requested a bead blast ONLY

Here is the Ruckus clip previously painted black. It came out good too. You cant tell by the pictures but when it catches the sunlight just right it sparkles as if it has a diamond coating..its not excessive but it looks great none the less.

Here is his Sebenza clip. Again turned out great! It came out with a fine even texture. Not like the coarse blast from the factory. It looks so good that if I owned a knife with titanium scales and clip I would take it apart and blast it in a heartbeat!

scoobyaz · Nov 20, 2009

Yikes, if you start taking good pictures like that then I might not have anything to post when I actually receive them!

I have to say for a couple of pieces that I forwarded you for an initial "testing", they are looking very, very good.

The fine beadblast finish on the sebbie clip is going to make it quite hard for me to decide between choosing a bead blast finish or a stonewash. I'm glad there's going to be a "swatch" of each.

And wow

, I don't even especially like the paras in my stash but after you gave it that nice ying/yang treatment, I'm now going to have to move that one up on the food chain.

Once again, big thanks to dslteck for extending his time, experience & shop to those of us on BF who are "shopless."
-Scooby

dslteck · Nov 23, 2009

Scooby....you have mail my friend!!!

ryan9977 · Nov 23, 2009

ds....those look great.....i am definately takin u up on your offer soon.....got me some stupid black coating that needs a good finish and a clip or two to match.....this is a great service u r providing to us here.....ryan

dslteck · Nov 23, 2009

ryan9977 said:
ds....those look great.....i am definately takin u up on your offer soon.....got me some stupid black coating that needs a good finish and a clip or two to match.....this is a great service u r providing to us here.....ryan

Thank you! I thought they turned out pretty good....

just drop me a line:thumbup:

scoobyaz · Nov 30, 2009

For now, I'm just going to put a few of the *AFTER* shots in this post. However, I do want to say that I never expected each & every item to come back to me individually wrapped in bubble wrap & rust resistant wrapping

Wow, I thought that my return package must have gotten mixed up with some fine jewelry

Great job DSLTECK :thumbup:

My macro shots are no where near as nice as dslteck's, so I'll just try my best with a few.

I will say that the extra mile was definitely gone for cleaning up my BM710's blade. I wish I had taken some good before pics of it. It's one of my users that I hand rub with a 220 grit block. A even finish but, definitely user written all over it. What I got back was extremely nice & even.

Here's a shot of the blades w/ their matching clips

A shot of my salt1 folder's ti clip

A shot of my delica 4 with a toned down clip.

I was surprised a how clean & fine the beadblasting came out. I convinced myself that I was going to send one of my user sebbies to have a stonewash but after receiving back my two sebbie clips with the BB & SW finish, I haven't decided yet. The beadblast is the best that I have seen & I have seen my share. I think that's the difference you get when someone is willing to use fresh bead blast media (as opposed to recycled in the hopper) & willing to spend the time to make things perfect. I certainly prefer the fine beadblast dslteck put on my sebbie clip over the rough stock production beadblast on something like a sebenza.

Dslteck sure hooked me up... Thank you!
Scooby

ryan9977 · Nov 30, 2009

great pics scooby....i am sendin in a few blades and a few clips tomorrow probably....i am definately takin pics tomorrow before i wrap em up....i'll post up some before and after shots for sure.....ryan:thumbup:

dslteck · Nov 30, 2009

Glad you like them scooby! They look even better assembled with their respective knives! How about the flashlight.....how do you think it turned out? I was actually surprised with it...wasn't sure what to think about it before I started the clean-up. But I think it turned out pretty well.
Was the Delica's clip finish what you were looking for?

scoobyaz · Dec 2, 2009

Alright, here are the next victims.

Scooby Batch #2 - BEFORE SHOT.

I still couldn't decide if I preferred the fine beadblast or stonewash for my edc sebbies. So I'm going to go try one with each

Both have been lightly given the scotchbrite finish & the large has also been lightly wetsanded with 1000grit sp.

Slight change of plans though. As per our emails, I'm still going to send you the sebenza intact along with the allen wrench. This way you can get your first hands on experience with a sebenza (it would have been cruel to just send you the scales by themselves

)

The change of plans is that I'm only going to send you the large first with the small to come in a later batch. (The reason for this is so that I may send my buddy TMAD the small sebbie for his first hands on as well

.)

Also, your "sample edge" is done.

As I mentioned in my email, it'll treetop hairs but I don't think it's 100% perfect yet but will let you decide if you want me to take more material off after you get it back.

Thanks! :thumbup:
Scooby

dslteck · Dec 3, 2009

Well it appears I should have read the thread before I e-mailed you Scooby..pretty much all of my questions are answered here

Nice pictures BTW....can't wait to see the "afters" up next to those "befores"

scoobyaz · Dec 3, 2009

dslteck said:
....can't wait to see the "afters" up next to those "befores"

LOL, you'll be seeing the in person "AFTER" pics waaaay before any of us here.

Have a good night bud,
Scooby

dslteck · Dec 4, 2009

I sent you a PM Ryan!

dslteck · Dec 7, 2009

Late last week I recieved a package from fellow forumite Ryan. A few blades and clips. He wasn't sure what finishes he really wanted on them and said for me to do what's best....well now im confused.
I was doing some experimenting with his JYD blade. I left the raw blast on one side.......No time in the tumbler.....(this blade started life OD-green)

On the other side was the experimentation. I hooked up my scotch-brite drum to our high-speed arbor and put a pretty nice (IMHO) satin finish on it.

On a side note......when my tenacious "gets home" I will definately be taking it to the drum!

nevermind35 · Dec 7, 2009

Wow this is very generous of you to offer to us forumites! I've never seen such cool people online and for that matter offline either haha. Like others have said good karma is definately in route to you my friend. Any chance that you could bead blast my user Bradley Alias scales for me one of these days?

ryan9977 · Dec 7, 2009

both sides look great!....surprise me

....i have no preference on them....they look waaaaaay better than they did...i got some before pics i am gonna put up after i get everything back so everyone can see the difference.....this is great!.....ryan

dslteck · Dec 7, 2009

nevermind35 said:
Wow this is very generous of you to offer to us forumites! I've never seen such cool people online and for that matter offline either haha. Like others have said good karma is definately in route to you my friend. Any chance that you could bead blast my user Bradley Alias scales for me one of these days?

Sure..no problem. However, I ask that we wait until after the holidays..for obvious reasons

Just drop me an E-mail sometime:thumbup: