Beginning knife modification tips???

[JulianHayes]

Yesterday I was reorganizing my knives and boxes in anticpation for spyderpac on the way and found a gerber fast draw with about 1/4-1/2 of an inch evenely broken off of the tip. I had just picked up sandpaper to touch up an old ax/peace pipe that has (had) a chipped edge. So I convexed the tip of the gerber and ended up with a tanto/spanto style blade that while of very poor quality, was inspired by my desire for a spyderco lum tanto with that cool blade/grinds. cleaned up the blade, spent some quality time with the sharpmaker and I had a really cool blade a hair under 3 inches (San Francisco legal). Now I want to modify some blades, I have been checking out some of the work done by you guys here, and there is some art!. I might just start filing a backspacer or some g10, and wanted to know. Where do I begin? on a tight budget, what is essential? What do I avoid doing? Are knife kits any good, if so any in particular? what tools are essential, and so on.. I have done some research but I would really like to hear from some other who have gone through the learning curve for some tips. I would like to post a pic of the gerber, but a friend came over today and once he held it, I just had to give it to him, he was so happy! Thanks for the help, I know I am asking and not offering anything but this is definitely the place to do it. Thanks, These forums are AWESOME!! and yes, one blade, but I think I might be an addict..

 

[Shustriy]

This is pretty useful for those knives with small/odd screws. Best of all it's cheap, I've had it for about a month now and I've gotten my money out of it at least two times over. The bits are kinda weak, so make sure you don't over-stress them or else they'll bend