Beckerhead Knife Making and Modification Thread

Roguer said:
I'm going to Mod my BK!

First swap the scales to a Dogwood Becker Fire Fly clear with green glow stones.

Second...swap sheaths and use the BK22 sheath so I can wear it on a belt!

Yep very intensive mods there!
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What's important, is that you are Doing it!
 
Remember the ROV Rescue Knife prototype? Video on the IG:


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Here's some progress on a WIP that's been in the drawer for YEARS.
This is shaped at 36grit, so there's still a bunch of finish work to puzzle out.
And the sheath... I dread the sheath. 1084 at 61Rc:

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daizee said:
holy moly, I didn't expect THIS. Hot beeswax, heat gun, cotton hand-buff:

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Would you say that entire process was relatively easy?
It's on my to do list.... I like how warm and rich your handle turned out
 
Crag the Brewer said:
Would you say that entire process was relatively easy?
It's on my to do list.... I like how warm and rich your handle turned out
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I love the color too. No dye at all (leather edges always end up darker than the faces anyway).

Well... a number of thoughts.
* Leave plenty of room for compression.
* Consider stacking and gluing a block, then drilling lengthwise? I don't know. I used the Kabar rebuild washers and had to slop every one with glue on both sides, which was gross. Having a threaded pommel made this possible without getting REALLY gross (because self-clamping).
* shape with a sharp, coarse belt. I used a Norton Blaze 36gr. It may be obvious, but I learned this from a cobbler acquaintance years ago (I think he used 24!). With a vacuum set up right, the dust was pretty manageable (wear a mask of course).
* Finishing: I finished the brass to 400 and pre-finished the leather by pulling strips of 180 and 280 around the handle (not lengthwise).
* Beeswax (pure): melted on stove, painted on with little disposable brush. It soaked in a bit but rapidly solidified. Wiping over with fresh wax liquified the stuff on the surface again, causing it to soak in a bit more - briefly. Ended up gloppy. So I had to go back to the shop to use the heat gun (gave the house one to my GF), and used that to liquifiy it again. It definitely soaked in a bunch more (some dripped). Then went for the buff and it came out like that. I'll probably do another application before it goes on the show table.

I would consider doing it again, given that the washers can be purchased. I would not have the patience to prep them myself without special press tooling.

Now I remember why I didn't have any beeswax at the shop (which caused the back & forth): the mice ate it. I suppose I could keep it in a toolbox, like at home, but would forget where it was. Maybe there IS some in a toolbox at the shop. Hmm.
 
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I use snow seal, on leather, wood, and birch bark because it's beeswax based but a stiff cream heat the material, slather on a thick coat, then melt in with a heat gun.
In the past when I was using straight wax, I would submerge the leather and let it sit for a half minute or so, then let it drip dry a bit before hitting it with the heat gun and a dead sock for buffing.
 
1066vik said:
I use snow seal, on leather, wood, and birch bark because it's beeswax based but a stiff cream heat the material, slather on a thick coat, then melt in with a heat gun.
In the past when I was using straight wax, I would submerge the leather and let it sit for a half minute or so, then let it drip dry a bit before hitting it with the heat gun and a dead sock for buffing.
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Oh interesting. I'm known to the authorities for habitual mis-use of Sno-Seal. I wanted to make sure this stiffened up as much as possible vs. staying supple, or I would have done the same. How does it turn out in the end? I've certainly used sno-seal to touch up other handles. Maybe this one in the future when it's done, because it's SO much easier to deal with.
 
I’ve been playing with my forge a little bit. Hammer. Dissatisfaction. Watch videos. Hammer. Dissatisfaction. Watch videos. Hammer. Happier 😊 Learning is hard but worth it👍 I made this one over the weekend from 1/4in 5160 with natural canvas Micarta. My goal was to forge close to finished and I got close to my goal. Gives me hope for the next blade. My only real problem is I want a larger forge. I’m a huge knife guy 😎

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What size is your forge?
Have you looked at Mr Volcano and similar 2 and 3 burner models?
 
I've enjoyed watching your experiments over on the IG, Bill! (but you know that)

One challenge with hardening large knives in the Atlas Mini is that they heat unevenly. In order to get more-even heating, you'd need to hold the piece horizontally, at which point you risk it bending under its own weight.

I'd like a larger forge with a rectangular cavity (flat floor) and a pair of ribbon burners each 1/3 from the sides. That way I can get even lengthwise heating down a blade without putting the steel directly in the flame. Dunno if anybody has ever made such a thing.

One of the Atlas Mini's great advantages is that it heats up fast and is *incredibly* fuel efficient.
 
My Atlas is all good and served me well to get into forging but in retrospect I should’ve gone big. The price, risk, and speed of admission were very easy though 😁 For smaller blades, I believe the Atlas would be hard to beat. I just love the BIG blades though!
 
Bill Siegle said:
My Atlas is all good and served me well to get into forging but in retrospect I should’ve gone big. The price, risk, and speed of admission were very easy though 😁 For smaller blades, I believe the Atlas would be hard to beat. I just love the BIG blades though!
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It's such a good little forge, and there's a solid argument to have two sizes in the shop if you've got the room!
All my 1084 blades... just about ever? were HT'd in my Atlas.

My ambitions have outgrown mine too - I'll be curious where you go from here.
 
worldwood said:
Now im going to go down and see how hard it is to drill a hole larger in hardened 5160 just for funsies LMAO and because my arm is tired from filing LOL
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What oil do you typically use when drilling through especially higher carbon steel? Iv been just using wd40at the slowest speed on my drill press, probably not the best option.
 
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