Beckerhead Knife Making and Modification Thread

Just me messing around. I haven't put anything up for sale in a while. I do have a few pieces to finish out, and a couple designs that I think will be fun, but most of the swords I make for myself. If I make a design that I really like, it can be made again for a customer. This particular one I prototyped out in wood to test the handling. It follows a bit of an S-curve, and generates some powerful snappy cuts as a result. I wanted an organic way to get the right angle relative to hilt and blade. I think I'm going to order another few pieces of 3V, and finish out the batch with a pair of similarly designed wakis, and a few harpoon-style fighters. But, that's going to have to happen after the move.

-edit- Made a little progress. Here she is cleaned up a little more, distal taper refined, primary bevel refined, and mosaic pin installed.



Hopefully the s-curve shape is a little more visible. Got the weight down to the point at which it's pretty darn lively in hand.
 
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That is really sweet crimson!!

Well I knocked out a few long overdue projects this Easter weekend....

First I have been itching to do another green river build so on Friday a buddy, my kids, and I went down to Davis to visit my favorite little store in Oklahoma! Jantz Supply.

Butcher knives are awesome...


Marked and ready...


Cutty cut cut...


Drill drill and some more drilling...



Made some pins...


Carved out some channels in the micarta and the tang...


NO glue up pics because I was in a hurry, but I think there is a knife somewhere in these clamps....


And 24 hours later...


Time to start finding the handle in this mess...


Micarta dust gets absolutely EVERYWHERE!!!!


Now for some hand sanding...


and finally something to use... Its a fantastic cutter... it is ridiculously thin at the edge, much thinner than an old hick... The darker coloration is from oil, but its finished up to 500 grit, I really like the texture at that grit...
 
Next project was for someone... They bought this cast handled spear point AK bayo, and it was pretty much square with a point... a square point at that. Absolutely no edge at all, which is fine for a bayonet, but they wanted it turned into an actual working knife, and I was happy to accept the challenge. The grind I did was completely free handed no guides or jigs on my 2X42 Craftsman.

I first marked the "edge" or lack thereof... It was pretty much a 45 or less angle cut part way, then flattened out towards the tip..


To give you more of an idea here is the "TIP" not very stabby... but hey I am sure it would work just fine...


Little bit of grinding...


Much better... Decided to leave that little bit of the original grind there cause I thought it looked neato... plus its like a fuller in the grind.. kinda matches the theme of the blade....


This blade had to be chisel ground because of the original way it was cut but I gave it a relief grind on the opposite side to center the edge, convexed out the tip for strength and to make it hypodermic. Also reground the false edge on the top, and sharpened up the wire cutting portion of the blade...


He also wanted it aged or with a patina so I gave it a shot... First I hand sanded everything from 220 to 500, buffed everything, including the handle, sharpened up the edge to hair poppin, then gave it a hot acid bath. Little did I know but the "bead blasted finish" on this knife is actually chrome plating... but I did not find this out until after the etch. I decided it was neat with the two tone kinda thing going on so I just went with it... Here it is tripping acid, then the finished product....


Bubbles bubbles...


Now its an actual "knife"...



I am really kinda proud of how this turned out, the grind just worked on this thing, took a little time, also had to keep things cool, (especially on the speedy craftsman) but for a free hand grind I am really happy with how it turned out. Chisel, with a relief edge, and a convexed tip. Really sharp and it will actually cut things now!

thanks for looking, sorry I blew up this thread but I had a productive weekend!
 
Those both look pretty cool, IWHAF. You did a nice job with the Micarta on the Green River. I'm going to have to put together another Jantz order soon.....but I gotta get on the stuff from the last order first!
 
iwouldhurtafly said:
Butcher knives are awesome...
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Yes, another one of my (many) vices. I accrued these before the Becker bug bit me.



This is exactly what I had in mind for the majority of these. Very well done! Thank you so much for this write up!
Very inspirational and very badass!
 
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granitestateofmind said:
Those both look pretty cool, IWHAF. You did a nice job with the Micarta on the Green River. I'm going to have to put together another Jantz order soon.....but I gotta get on the stuff from the last order first!
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Thank you, I had black and green and since my sheep skinner GR is black decided it was time for green, I like I a lot.

Jantz is awesome, love that place!!
 
NCSlice said:
Yes, another one of my (many) vices. I accrued these before the Becker bug hit me.



This is exactly what I had in mind for the majority of these. Very well done! Thank you so much for this write up!
Very inspirational and very badass!
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Those are fantastic, love butchers. Have to grab a pic later of mine. I would recommend the micarta, it definitely classes them up and they end up feeling more like an outdoors blade as opposed to a kitchen knife. This was just a little short write up I have some more pics and need to do a full WIP sometime. Thanks for looking!
 
Please do! The forgecraft are sturdy as all get out. The ekco forge are hollow ground and scary sharp. The PAL at the bottom is my absolute favorite and won't get modded. That's the one I caught my wife cutting pizza ON the stone and I freaked! It's scary sharp too. Sliced thumb good the other night oiling it up after a wash lol.
Just can't beat that vintage old dirty carbon. It's art to me. I got a shit ton of others too. Love it! Thanks for noticing...
 
As promised but not to derail, here are 2 butchers to compare to the GR! The Case and Old Hick were flea market rescues, The Case was minty still in its original paper sheath, the Old Hick however needed a little TLC. They both sit in my knife block and get lots of attention. The case has a semi "rounded" spine and is hollow ground, the Old Hick was reworked, handles slightly rounded except towards the butt, and thinnly convexed. The Case is slightly thicker, but the Hick and GR are the same thickness. The difference would be slightly different profiles, and a full flat ground vs the Hick's flat/saber grind. This makes the GR a lot thinner at the edge.



Handle differences, the GR I ground "heart shaped" or "upside down egg shaped" makes for a very comfortable user with no hotspots.


And for giggles, here are my other Green Rivers. The bottom Belt Knife was a rescue, I kept the original handles cause they were just neat, just had to preserve them. Plus its a vintage knife... However its an all out user. The handle starts at around 1/8th, then distally tapers to the thinner spine. The middle Sheep Skinner is awesome, its just a hair shy of 1/8" all the way down the spine. Which makes it robust, but its ground thin at the edge making it a mean cutter. For a belt knife, crafting knife, bushcraft etc whatever, the Sheep Skinner gets the nod a lot because it just works so well.
 
Yessir! Knife pr0n for me right there! I gotta give my butchers some love after seeing all that lol. I have one Forgecraft that's so beautiful esp the handle that its staying all stock for sure. 3 others are really nice and stay stock for the set they're in (yes I have 3 sets...1 full 8pc which includes a 10in and 14in chef knife and cleaver and 2 5pc with no chef knives or cleavers, don't judge!) one ekco butcher stays in its set, and my favorite the PAL...the remaining are open season when I get around to it heh. Thanks for sharing this man, greatly appreciate it because its not easy to find this although its out there. Love it! Vintage American made carbon knives are so cool man, I gotta stop myself sometimes, too many already lol.
 
I have been kicking myself for a couple of days now because I completely forgot about this thread.

I had stripped my BK7 early last year and began a thorough thrashing. Last week, I took off the stock handles and had a rusted mess which I completely forgot to take any pictures of.

my brother wanted me to make some nee scales for his BK9 so I figured I will use my BK7 to make them up.

I set about to regrind everything and am going to post the progress here if no one minds.

The only picture I can post at the moment is this one:

this is after grinding all of the flat surfaces and beginning the convex of the whole blade. This will be getting the toxic green/purple Guycarta scales I am making up for my brother, and then I have some Forrest green that will become the permanent scales for her.
 
Very nice work! Keep us posted!


I think I finally finished up my green river project for now... until I pick up another one ;) It needed a sheath and I just so happen to have a craptastic sheath I put together quickly for my Old Hick. When I made it I just threw it together... Green, I think hemp cord for the stitching. So to make it a little better I rewaxed it heavily in bees wax and my skull balm concoction, fitted it for the green river, added the cordage to complete the traditional/modern look, then used the drainage hole as a means to run the static line. Now it is set up for wasteband/sash/behind the back, type carry. The sheath was made of inferior reject leather so I went ahead and "aged" it with my wood/leather burner. Heavily waxing it basically plastifys it so its hard like kydex, even has a bit of "snap" when the knife goes in. Not the best, but it fulfills the Modern/Traditional look, and HEY! it keeps the knife from cutting me lol.



Also here are the other GR sheaths, the Sheep Skinner is wearing a Jantz special leather sheath, that was heavily waxed and oiled, and the Belt Knife is wearing a prototype sheath I put together to try out an idea. Its all stitched with waxed yellow line, then heavily waxed. Also has an "x" belt loop so it can be worn several different ways. Had to add the additional retention line because when its off the belt the retention isnt that great, but with it on the belt it has great retention. Next one I do like that with have rivets/tubes and will be made of actual high quality leather. I like leather cause it feels nice and it fun to play with. Also when you heavily wax it, you can form it while hot like kydex, and when it sits up its hard, resilient, and resists water. Kinda cool... I am in no way shape or form any sort of a sheath maker and I know these have "issues" lol, but HEY! I am learning and they keep the edge put away.

 
Very cool! I'm all about some craptasic lol. Try a vacuum sealer for forming. Works freakin awesome. I did it with wet leather then stuck it in the freezer, worked like a charm. With wax, freezing prob work even better. Dunno where I read about the vacuum sealer but the freezer part I made up so I could retrieve my blade without losing shape haha. You can still press more of a shape after its sealed before freezing. I like the way you think. Mmhmm
 
NCSlice said:
Very cool! I'm all about some craptasic lol. Try a vacuum sealer for forming. Works freakin awesome. I did it with wet leather then stuck it in the freezer, worked like a charm. With wax, freezing prob work even better. Dunno where I read about the vacuum sealer but the freezer part I made up so I could retrieve my blade without losing shape haha. You can still press more of a shape after its sealed before freezing. I like the way you think. Mmhmm
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This is the kind of nugget that makes this thread awesome. I have a vacuum sealer and although I haven't done much leather (almost none, really) just reading that set the old wheels a' turnin'.

Looking good, IWHAF!
 
knowbody777 said:
I set about to regrind everything and am going to post the progress here if no one minds.
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Not only do we not mind, we expect you to post up. Lots of pics.



NCSlice said:
Very cool! I'm all about some craptasic lol. Try a vacuum sealer for forming. Works freakin awesome. I did it with wet leather then stuck it in the freezer, worked like a charm. With wax, freezing prob work even better. Dunno where I read about the vacuum sealer but the freezer part I made up so I could retrieve my blade without losing shape haha. You can still press more of a shape after its sealed before freezing. I like the way you think. Mmhmm
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Maybe if it was earlier I'd understand, but explain a bit more about why the freezer is involved? I have always just wet my leather down, wrapped my knife in tape and plastic wrap, jammed it in the sheath, and then squeezed real good and let it sit for a bit.
 
I soaked it in hot water, placed the knife how I wanted it, then vacuum sealed it and it wrapped right around the knife and sucked all the air out and was really tight with the shape of the knife. Then I used an antler tip and pressed around the edges, ricassso and spine and all so all that would show on the outside. Then I stuck it in the freezer for a couple of hours until it was hard then cut open the sealed bag and took the knife out. The frozen leather retained its shape when taking the knife out. Then I set it out to thaw/ dry. I don't know if it helped but wanted my knife back lol.



It's been a few months and I still have to finish these.
I figure with the wax they'll harden pretty quick and hold that shape for several days without messing with them and it'll be set. But I'm a total novice so I'm just making this up as I go.
 
I've done a bunch of holsters, and think freezing and vacuuming is unnecessary. But I've never tried it. The key is MOISTURE and PRESSURE. Gotta get the stuff wet enough and bone it (as it's called) while good and wet. It will shrink around your form as it dries. I used to wrap a handgun in saran wrap and leave it in the wet holster overnight. I'd worry that turning the water into ice inside the leather would compromise... something. Maybe not? I'd try vacuuming before freezing for sure.

-Daizee
 
Old hickory mods are fun! I gotta do another one soon.

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Jeremy
 
I didn't want to leave my knife in wet leather over night because i needed it and it was a quick way to make it keep its form and get my knife back. Of course I'm not selling them or doing guns, just simple knives. I wasnt sure if it would keep its form without the knife in it. It worked for me. My real point was with the wax, a quick chill would harden it fast and help keep it from pulling away in some spots maybe, I dunno. Don't see how freezing it could hurt the leather. Not mine anyway, its scrap not HQ expensive stuff, and we were talking craptastic lol. In fact,prob due to the warm soak, it feels better than when I started.
 
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