Beckerhead Knife Making and Modification Thread

[Rdnesh69]

Gave the 16 the profile it deserves<br />

<br />
I'm really digging the inadvertent contrast of the patina on the blade vs handle, especially with that clip. Mmm.<br />

<br />

<br />
Next to the modified edc sheath, much more sheeple friendly than original<br />

Also stripped and patina'd the king while I was at it..<br />

 

[daizee]

Gave the 16 the profile it deserves

Straight clip eats your lunch!!
:thumbup:

 

[NCSlice]

...especially with that clip. Mmm.

Yessirrrr...
Folks chimed in on this mod when I had expressed some interest in the 17...I get it now!

I always liked the patina with some worn in factory micarta. Nice work!

ETA: One day your just gonna have to break and get an aftermarket sheath to really set it off. Or some homemade leather would be nice.

 

[Rdnesh69]

Yessirrrr...
Folks chimed in on this mod when I had expressed some interest in the 17...I get it now!

I always liked the patina with some worn in factory micarta. Nice work!

ETA: One day your just gonna have to break and get an aftermarket sheath to really set it off. Or some homemade leather would be nice.

I have some nice simple black leather coming from patriot leather co. In a few weeks. I actually had ordered the sheath before the knife, hoping to cut my wait time with the knife and no sheath to a minimum.. So ya, you're right.[emoji41]

 

[daizee]

New 7, under the grinder already!

My first Wayne!:

 

[NCSlice]

Forced a patina on my 5. Stumbled upon the brown patina by trying a different process with white vinegar.
Finally got around to dropping that tip a bit on the 15.





This came from soaking toilet paper in vinegar and just rubbing a light coat on and letting it dry. It darkens pretty quick, then keep doing it over and over. Maybe 15-20 mins between coats. Spots will be dark and kinda raised up. Just rub it with vinegar till smooth, don't rinse...just repeat until you get it as dark as you like. It looks like rust but I assure you its smooth and soft. Hit it with steel wool at the end and oiled it up. Wiped the oil off and the towel was clean. I looked at the brown patina methods a while back and it was some concoction that I didn't have the items to create.





This I did by hand with 80 grit taped down to tile. Did a little here and there until it got to this point. As long as my arms could stand and my wife and daughter could stand from the sound then I'd do more later lol. I'd like to get it down a bit more until its level from the jimp to tip




Then I farted around with some sheath mods...





The 9 is azwelke and the 5 is atlus.
Of course the azwelke is great, the atlus I never heard of was cheap but its pretty nice. Need to add a drain hole and I don't care for the giant logo on the front which you cant see here.





These are still a WIP. I need to add snaps and I want to do a vinegaroon dye if I can ever find the right steel wool to make it.
Not bad for my first effort on a dangler. They ride ok. The 5 sheath is still a little boring and I need some more Chicago screws for the azwelke.

Thanks for looking!

 

[cEdge]

NC, that 15 looks nice. Maybe if I did that mine would get more love.

I have yet to try a kydex sheath, I have good luck making my own leather sheaths. Perhaps I'll give the Atlus a try for my 7

 

[zzyzzogeton]

Forced a patina on my 5. Stumbled upon the brown patina by trying a different process with white vinegar.
Finally got around to dropping that tip a bit on the 15.





This came from soaking toilet paper in vinegar and just rubbing a light coat on and letting it dry. It darkens pretty quick, then keep doing it over and over. Maybe 15-20 mins between coats. Spots will be dark and kinda raised up. Just rub it with vinegar till smooth, don't rinse...just repeat until you get it as dark as you like. It looks like rust but I assure you its smooth and soft. Hit it with steel wool at the end and oiled it up. Wiped the oil off and the towel was clean. I looked at the brown patina methods a while back and it was some concoction that I didn't have the items to create.





This I did by hand with 80 grit taped down to tile. Did a little here and there until it got to this point. As long as my arms could stand and my wife and daughter could stand from the sound then I'd do more later lol. I'd like to get it down a bit more until its level from the jimp to tip




Then I farted around with some sheath mods...





The 9 is azwelke and the 5 is atlus.
Of course the azwelke is great, the atlus I never heard of was cheap but its pretty nice. Need to add a drain hole and I don't care for the giant logo on the front which you cant see here.





These are still a WIP. I need to add snaps and I want to do a vinegaroon dye if I can ever find the right steel wool to make it.
Not bad for my first effort on a dangler. They ride ok. The 5 sheath is still a little boring and I need some more Chicago screws for the azwelke.

Thanks for looking!

0000 steel wool works great - This URL has a pretty decent process, although I do it a little different.

http://www.adamsleatherworks.com/vinegaroon-a-k-a-vinegar-black/


My differences -

I use a glass gallon pickle jar instead of using the plastic bottle the vinegar came in. I also prefer to get the pickle jars that come with a plastic lid. They can be re-used easier. If you use one with a steel lid, your lid will eventually dissolve as well. (Ooops )

I don't waste time shredding the steel wool - he only does that to fit the steel wool into his gallon vinegar bottle. I also never use the soap filled "brillo" pads. Why waste time and effort and water de-soaping them? If you buy the cheapest steel wool, you don't even need acetone - only the good stuff comes with a coat of oil worth removing. Th oil is there to reduce rusting.

DO VENT THE CONTAINER - an exploding bottle of vinegaroon will make a mess.

I take the lid off and stir the solution about 1x / week with a wood stick to add additional O2 to the solution. I find this speeds up the process. If the stick is of a tree species that has high natural acid content, it will turn a little black as well.

Being in Texas, I don't need to leave it in the sun to allow it to warm up each day except if I'm making a batch in the dead of winter. Summer production does seem to be on the fast end of the production timeline, probably due to warmer temps.

I don't dispose of the acetone properly - I pour it back in its container and reuse it later. Remember, I'm "frugal" so why get rid of something that is still useable?

 

[NCSlice]

Thanks!
I got the Harbor freight stuff and tried it in a little Mason jar...I guess its stainless, I'm getting nothing. Gonna check the dollar store. None seem to have any description on the package so I figure it's a crap shoot. I'll use whatever eventually so no loss really.

 

[daizee]

mix some rubbing compound with sno-seal and rub it into some of those leather parts on the sheath - portable strop!

 

[iwouldhurtafly]

So its no secret that I have been really digging my AG Russell Hunters Scalpel. It is a really nice, low profile, light, thin, sharp, and easy to carry micro knife that works well as a back up, or even a primary EDC cutter. There are a couple things that I would change, but all around I really like the knife. Its surprising how fun it is using such a tiny thing. However, I wanted to try my hand at making my own, so I drew up a design with a few slight changes. I have been ridiculously swamped lately, but I got inspired and decided to knock out a prototype.

I did not get any WIP pics regretfully cause things went so fast, but I am very pleased with the outcome. For the blade I used a vintage saw blade. I have devised a heat treat that gets the stuff super hard, and it'll take and hold a good edge. Its not the best thing in the world, but the material came from some of my grandpas old tools and he is the main reason I love knives, so it is almost meant to be. Also for "trying out" things it works well. Couldn't tell you what it is, but I harden it with a brine/surfactant quench, and a spine draw temper and it works well for what it is.

No pin/full length hidden tang construction, weighs about 0.8 of an ounce with the lanyard, which is just .2-.3 of an ounce heavier than the AG Russell with a lanyard. Super thin blade with polished convex grind. Handle is a 3 fingered grip with lowered lanyard hole. Black canvas with a G10 top spacer.

This is the knife fresh off of 150 grit on the handle. I went ahead and took it to a full polish, then gave it a satin with some 1200 grit after these pics.




Then I knocked out a quick pocket/neck sheath. I went ahead and made the sheath so it could accept the knife either way, while also being a sheath that could fit other small fixies, or a traditional folding knife.


With the polished handle and starting to pick up a bit of patina...


This was more or less a proof of concept/something fun to do, as later I want to use a modified version of this type of profile to test out steels and what not. I am fortunate enough to just get to make things for myself, which is the entire reason I decided to try my hand at making stuff. These little knock off projects are just there for giggles and for testing ideas. I have my more "serious" projects which I give more time and attention... Thanks for looking!

 

[granitestateofmind]

IWHAF: That is pretty awesome! I have had bar stock sitting around for MONTHS waiting to be turned into cutting implements.....and I still haven't "knocked one out" as you so casually put it. It's no small achievement, and that little knife looks like something I'd like to EDC. Nice.

 

[DunkEm]

Sweet stuff IWHAF! I need to find some thin material and "knock one out" as well. The acorns await.

 

[zzyzzogeton]

Thanks!
I got the Harbor freight stuff and tried it in a little Mason jar...I guess its stainless, I'm getting nothing. Gonna check the dollar store. None seem to have any description on the package so I figure it's a crap shoot. I'll use whatever eventually so no loss really.

I've never seen stainless steel wool. Just "mild steel" steel wool, which will rust if you look at it crooked and leave it out in the damp.

When did you put the steel wool in the vinegar? It takes a minimum of 2 - 3 weeks or more for the vinegar to rust up the steel wool to make the vinegaroon solution.

 

[NCSlice]

About 2 weeks ago and it's still aboutvas clear as day one.

 

[zzyzzogeton]

That's weird. By now, you should have a jug of cloudy, brownish liquid. I'll have to stop by HF and check it out.

 

[iwouldhurtafly]

IWHAF: That is pretty awesome! I have had bar stock sitting around for MONTHS waiting to be turned into cutting implements.....and I still haven't "knocked one out" as you so casually put it. It's no small achievement, and that little knife looks like something I'd like to EDC. Nice.

Sweet stuff IWHAF! I need to find some thin material and "knock one out" as well. The acorns await.

Thanks guys I appreciate it. It was a fun little project. Now I need to finish that other knife I've been putting off! Need to get it ground out. It's in A2 so no home brew heat treat on it.

Oh and I'm yet to try this one on an acorn, but I think it'll do just fine!

 

[52100]

'Fly, that's a great looking little knife. I wish I had your talents.

 

[iwouldhurtafly]

'Fly, that's a great looking little knife. I wish I had your talents.

Thank you I appreciate it, but I am far from talented I think it was James Terrio who told me (and I paraphrase) it's not talent, although there's some involved, it's mostly just doing the work.
. Also jimping and magic cost extra lol!

Finally got to test it out on its intended prey!!!

 

[daizee]

What does a blade look like coming out of cryo? Kinda like this:

Tonight I made sheaths, etched, polished bevels, and edged:

wait, whaaaaaat....?
yep: