- Joined
- Jul 31, 2014
- Messages
- 5
I use a small fixed blade in addition to my Benchmade 484 folder when I'm working because I do light maintenance on 25-30yr old vehicles and need something to poke and pry with that I won't worry about.
Enter the Becker BK-11, which is fairly perfect for my application.
It's small enough to seem reasonably sane in public, but is easily stout enough to take a beating and pry with (taking care not to leverage the tip).
It also looks cool and is made in 1095 steel, which takes to etching pretty well as most of you know. As a tinkerer, I couldn't resist putting a patina on it.
I used diluted sulfuric acid (wouldn't recommend*) after stripping the paint with Jasco and cleaning in a ultrasonic jewelry cleaner with detergent. After a light soak, I scrubbed it with fine steel wool and repeated the soak and scrub until I got this nice dark gray. Then I rinsed, applied a little oil (avocado oil was within arm's reach), and called it good.
I'll probably come back to it and add a pattern with vinegar and a paper towel at some point when I swap out the cord wrap, but for now I'm happy with it. I was really pleased to see the Becker and Ka-Bar logos survived the paint strip.
* You can use almost any other acid for this, and in fact I've found warm vinegar works just as well with far, far less risk of injury. Skip the hardcore acids and you won't miss a thing unless you need deep etching.
Enter the Becker BK-11, which is fairly perfect for my application.
It's small enough to seem reasonably sane in public, but is easily stout enough to take a beating and pry with (taking care not to leverage the tip).
It also looks cool and is made in 1095 steel, which takes to etching pretty well as most of you know. As a tinkerer, I couldn't resist putting a patina on it.
I used diluted sulfuric acid (wouldn't recommend*) after stripping the paint with Jasco and cleaning in a ultrasonic jewelry cleaner with detergent. After a light soak, I scrubbed it with fine steel wool and repeated the soak and scrub until I got this nice dark gray. Then I rinsed, applied a little oil (avocado oil was within arm's reach), and called it good.
I'll probably come back to it and add a pattern with vinegar and a paper towel at some point when I swap out the cord wrap, but for now I'm happy with it. I was really pleased to see the Becker and Ka-Bar logos survived the paint strip.
* You can use almost any other acid for this, and in fact I've found warm vinegar works just as well with far, far less risk of injury. Skip the hardcore acids and you won't miss a thing unless you need deep etching.