- Joined
- Mar 27, 2012
- Messages
- 1,719
Well Guys, my birthday is this friday so I decided to give my self the go-a-head to pick up a Brute. Ive been looking for awhile but was not gonna pay the $200+ that people are usually asking. I found one in mint condition for $140 and I couldnt pass it up.
It came in the day before Thanksgiving and my first impressions were WOW!!! I love this thing!!! Ka-bar are fools for not producing this bad boy. lol
Day one
I batoned all my fire wood with it and It worked great.
She didnt stay mint for long.
As I used it and compared it to my other Beckers, I began to see things that were great and things that needed improvement.
Improvement that is, for me to justify using it over my Bk-9 or BK-4 that is.
It feels a lot heavier than the 9 and I dont mean in a good way. My hand quickly became fatigued from just stropping the blade. The weight is great but I feel like it had too much weight in the handle area. Two solutions came to mind:
1) Drill some holes in the tang to lighten it.
2) See if I could taper the tang.
I chose option 2.
This is the method that I came up with since I dont have a belt sander.
Its just a thick piece of glass with sandpaper on it and I attached my honing guide for my woodworking tools to the blade and adjusted till I got the correct angle.
Im still working on this and it will take a few more hours of sanding but this is what I have so far. I can already tell a great difference.
The Blade shape is in my opinion one of the best looking Becker knives in the lineup.
I absolutely love the recurve and downward curved blade shape.
I wanted so much to like the blade as is but I think after Im done, I will have something great.
I like the fact that it had extra metal in front of the handle and before the blade. Kinda like the BK-5.
I decided a Choil would be perfect. I was able to put a nice large choil and not lose any cutting edge what so ever.
And I didnt know what to think about the little anvil thing before I got the knife, But I really think its a neat little feature to have on this blade.
I have lots more to do to this blade before shes finished but I just wanted to show you all what I have done so far.
If any of you have a Brute and have done some mods to it or have any ideas for some mods, please feel free to share.
I will continue to update my progress on this blade as more gets done.
Here is a HDR pic I took and did some editing to it for a dramatic look. lol
Enjoy guys.
Update 12/4/13
OK, so I did a few more hours of sanding last night and did a couple hours of stripping and sanding the blade today.
Here she is with the finished tang taper. (might take more off at a later date but I think it's good for now)
The taper at the tip of the tang is around .188.
And where it stops its about .26.
That was way more work than I thought it would be and will never do that again with out a belt sander!!
Came out nice tho.
I absolutely love the way this choil is turning out. My thumb and hand fits perfect in the to thumb groove and my index finger falls nicely into the choil I made.
It also feels comfortable when I choke up and place my thumb on top of the blade. Might add some small jimping where my thumb touches.
I stripped her today and ran out of paint remover. (That one can has lasted thru all my Becker stripping. Probably done 20 or 30 knives with that one can)
So there was lots of scraping and sanding to do after.
Here she is getting all perty and shiny after the stripping.
This pic came out a little out of focus but you can see I kinda rounded the spine in the tapered spots.
Man this knife feels great now!!
Will take some better pics tomorrow in the daylight.
Have a little more sanding to do to the blade and have to touch up the choil. I have a few Ideas for a patina but it will just be something simple I think.
Also going to do some mods to the handle scales to make them fit better and might dye them.
I am really excited about how the blade is turning out.
It came in the day before Thanksgiving and my first impressions were WOW!!! I love this thing!!! Ka-bar are fools for not producing this bad boy. lol
Day one
I batoned all my fire wood with it and It worked great.
She didnt stay mint for long.
As I used it and compared it to my other Beckers, I began to see things that were great and things that needed improvement.
Improvement that is, for me to justify using it over my Bk-9 or BK-4 that is.
It feels a lot heavier than the 9 and I dont mean in a good way. My hand quickly became fatigued from just stropping the blade. The weight is great but I feel like it had too much weight in the handle area. Two solutions came to mind:
1) Drill some holes in the tang to lighten it.
2) See if I could taper the tang.
I chose option 2.
This is the method that I came up with since I dont have a belt sander.
Its just a thick piece of glass with sandpaper on it and I attached my honing guide for my woodworking tools to the blade and adjusted till I got the correct angle.
Im still working on this and it will take a few more hours of sanding but this is what I have so far. I can already tell a great difference.
The Blade shape is in my opinion one of the best looking Becker knives in the lineup.
I absolutely love the recurve and downward curved blade shape.
I wanted so much to like the blade as is but I think after Im done, I will have something great.
I like the fact that it had extra metal in front of the handle and before the blade. Kinda like the BK-5.
I decided a Choil would be perfect. I was able to put a nice large choil and not lose any cutting edge what so ever.
And I didnt know what to think about the little anvil thing before I got the knife, But I really think its a neat little feature to have on this blade.
I have lots more to do to this blade before shes finished but I just wanted to show you all what I have done so far.
If any of you have a Brute and have done some mods to it or have any ideas for some mods, please feel free to share.
I will continue to update my progress on this blade as more gets done.
Here is a HDR pic I took and did some editing to it for a dramatic look. lol
Enjoy guys.
Update 12/4/13
OK, so I did a few more hours of sanding last night and did a couple hours of stripping and sanding the blade today.
Here she is with the finished tang taper. (might take more off at a later date but I think it's good for now)
The taper at the tip of the tang is around .188.
And where it stops its about .26.
That was way more work than I thought it would be and will never do that again with out a belt sander!!
Came out nice tho.
I absolutely love the way this choil is turning out. My thumb and hand fits perfect in the to thumb groove and my index finger falls nicely into the choil I made.
It also feels comfortable when I choke up and place my thumb on top of the blade. Might add some small jimping where my thumb touches.
I stripped her today and ran out of paint remover. (That one can has lasted thru all my Becker stripping. Probably done 20 or 30 knives with that one can)
So there was lots of scraping and sanding to do after.
Here she is getting all perty and shiny after the stripping.
This pic came out a little out of focus but you can see I kinda rounded the spine in the tapered spots.
Man this knife feels great now!!
Will take some better pics tomorrow in the daylight.
Have a little more sanding to do to the blade and have to touch up the choil. I have a few Ideas for a patina but it will just be something simple I think.
Also going to do some mods to the handle scales to make them fit better and might dye them.
I am really excited about how the blade is turning out.
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I love the brute's geometry (It looks pretty) and it seems like a heck of a blade. If this mod works out I would love to try it on my Brute, if I can ever get my hands on one. Good job dude!
