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Bk-11 oak scales

camoninja

camoninja

Joined
Feb 11, 2007
Messages
1,359
Done these up but don't like them. Going to head to Woodcraft and fine something better. Need something for the BK-9 I got coming.

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They just don't stand out to me. I've got another one with different oak and they really stand out.
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Honestly, I like them more than the ones that "stand out". The grain especially in the first pic looks very cool, and would really look great with a coat of oil on em I think.
 
Dont need a bottle opener. I use this for skinning, so I like to make the handle a longer.
 
I see nothing wrong with them, not my style but still nothing wrong with them. What dont you like about them?
 
Haze, they have one coat of tung oil. I'll probably add 3-5 more and see how they look.
 
Haze240 said:
Honestly, I like them more than the ones that "stand out". The grain especially in the first pic looks very cool, and would really look great with a coat of oil on em I think.
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Yeah, I think so too.
Regardless...I still like the looks of them.
They've got that simplistic badass bushcraft look.
Looks like it's made to go to work.
 
Dont need a bottle opener. I use this for skinning, so I like to make the handle a longer.
Click to expand...

I think the best BK11 mod is to grind the front finger area forward until it meets the little sharpening choil. Remove the waddle completely. That will extend the handle and improve the lines of the knife substantially. I definitely like your handle shape, though.

Assuming you're not investing in seriously fancy wood, if you want oak to pop, you need quartersawn lumber where the grain appears to diverge substantially. You'll start to see the waviness a bit.

This is some curly white oak. I had access to a pile of scrap from a custom... cabinetmaker, for lack of a better term. Poked through a lot and cut several pieces until I understood how to find the good stuff. Otherwise oak just looks like coarse-grained furniture.


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-Daizee
 
can't go wrong with any of those! Woodcraft usually has 1/4" sheets of various nice wood for modest prices (the burls are spendy).
cocobolo is often quite affordable. Once I accidentally found some bloodwood (THINK that's what it was) in a forgotten corner of the basement - just looked brown on the surface. The color was freakin' awesome, and oh man, the grinding dust looked insane all over the workbench.
 
Other than just putting a nice polish on it what can be done to accentuate the grain? I remember seeing a youtube video forever ago where a woman was putting some king of acid on a hawk handle to accentuate it. Is that only for specific woods? figured id throw this out here and see if anyone knew?
 
Acids and oils will make the grain of anything more visible. When forging true Damascus (folding carbon and stainless steels together) knives, acids are used as a sort of polish to accentuate (I like that big word you used) the grain of the folds, similar things are done to wood via oil and acids.
 
I understand the chemical reactions with the acid and the metal but am a bit vague on what happens with the wood and the grain. I would assume that there has to be some specific type of acid used not jut any kind. I did a bit of goggling but the search was fruitless.
 
Nsvens89 said:
I understand the chemical reactions with the acid and the metal but am a bit vague on what happens with the wood and the grain. I would assume that there has to be some specific type of acid used not jut any kind. I did a bit of goggling but the search was fruitless.
Click to expand...

It's a very similar effect, obviously if the acid you use is designed to eat metal, the wood will be gone, so yes, there are specific types/grade, but I don't know which ones. Oil is a bit easier, don't have to worry about eating your wood (take that as you will), just try different ones on the backside of blank slabs until you find the best working one. Same with acids I guess.
 
The acid (or whatever) will only expose grain that's there to be exposed, such as on the left half of camoninja's '11.
Basically you'll know if you have grain worth exposing before you put anything special on it.

-Daizee
 
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