Buck 119 modifications

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electricfax

Joined
May 19, 2013
Messages
124
Well heres my take on changing the 119. What do you guys think? I purchased this knife only a month ago, but after processing two deer i knew there needed to be changes. It took a little while to decide to dive in and void the warrante.Overall im pleased with how it turned out. Also suprisingly it still works with the sheath!

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I originally only intended to remove the rear of the gaurd, but then the front gaurd was two large and looked awkward, and the clip point didnt really make things easy when skinning so i dropped it a little. The handle was slippery when covered with blood which caused me to drop the knife twice while gutting so i had to have a lanyard. Along the way i sanded and stained the handle which helped grip immensly more than i thought it would. And the brass fitting made the knife handle heavy in balance so i trimmed the pommel down to reduce a little weight
 
That looks sweet. I ground the back of the guard off of mine and beadblasted the handle to give a little more grip
 
Thank you. Yeah I made the sheath from an old tool belt. The leather is 1/4 inch thick. I had to soak it in water and stretch the crap out of it for the knife to fit. Also, if you noticed, it's a lefty sheath. I'm a lefty so whenever over a fixed blade I either have to wear the knife backwards or make a new sheath. It was real tight at first but it's just right now
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Pretty cool mods. electricfax, do you find that your hand slips up the handle? Without much guard and a slippery handle it seems like a knife prone to slipping around.

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b4b
 
Wow i didnt even notice it was a lefty sheath, and made out of a belt.. Thats awesome! So far i havent had many issues with the knife being slippery... Honestly it doesnt feel any less secure in hand than the bhk bushcrafter i had. The handles more grippy than it looks. Idk how much stabbing/thrusting ill be doing with the knife truthfully. Its main use with probably be a hunting/general camping food prep knife, I will definitly keep that in mind though, I hadnt thought about that.
 
Nice work guys! If y'all have some time, I'd like some more details. I have a "103>" that I got used with the back slit on the "flap over the top" style sheath. A 116 that I've had since the mid '70s. A "119->" and a 121 with a sanded handle that my son got me. The numbers in quotes are the marks on the blades. I don't know what the extra characters mean.

Handles first... electricfax, how did you do the sanding on the 119? As in what grits, direction of sanding and so on. In the posted pic, it looks like wood grain to me. What kind of stain did you use and how many coats, drying time etc... I am assuming you started with the black phenolic handle. Very nice work : )

Now for the sheaths. For the "119->" I have, I HAAAAAATE the sheath design. I like the old flap over the top style or a velcro strap or a snap in the center type strap. The snap on the side makes it very hard for me to get to due to arthritis, neuropathy and such in my hands unless I can wear the knife sideways "under my gut :friendly_wink:" with the snap on the bottom for the right hand. Then the "103>" has a large slit in the back of the sheath from the previous owner. Any advice on fixing the leather? Can I get replacement old style sheathes from anywhere? Bighaze51, are you in the midst of making a 119 right hand sheath out of the rest of the tool belt that is as nice as yours that you'd part with? Hint, hint. I've only got some scrap purse leather. Even if it matched my boots a big leather sack for a sheath would get me laughed at by my friends. Only in a good way though. :eek:

Thanks for the pics guys. I enjoy posts like this with good ideas and good work being shown off.
 
Water Burner said:
Nice work guys! If y'all have some time, I'd like some more details. I have a "103>" that I got used with the back slit on the "flap over the top" style sheath. A 116 that I've had since the mid '70s. A "119->" and a 121 with a sanded handle that my son got me. The numbers in quotes are the marks on the blades. I don't know what the extra characters mean.

Handles first... electricfax, how did you do the sanding on the 119? As in what grits, direction of sanding and so on. In the posted pic, it looks like wood grain to me. What kind of stain did you use and how many coats, drying time etc... I am assuming you started with the black phenolic handle. Very nice work : )

Now for the sheaths. For the "119->" I have, I HAAAAAATE the sheath design. I like the old flap over the top style or a velcro strap or a snap in the center type strap. The snap on the side makes it very hard for me to get to due to arthritis, neuropathy and such in my hands unless I can wear the knife sideways "under my gut :friendly_wink:" with the snap on the bottom for the right hand. Then the "103>" has a large slit in the back of the sheath from the previous owner. Any advice on fixing the leather? Can I get replacement old style sheathes from anywhere? Bighaze51, are you in the midst of making a 119 right hand sheath out of the rest of the tool belt that is as nice as yours that you'd part with? Hint, hint. I've only got some scrap purse leather. Even if it matched my boots a big leather sack for a sheath would get me laughed at by my friends. Only in a good way though. :eek:

Thanks for the pics guys. I enjoy posts like this with good ideas and good work being shown off.
Click to expand...

Check this thread for.all the date codes.... "->" stands for 2009 etc.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/716179-Buck-Date-Codes

The knife with the wood grain is exactly that. Dymondwood handles with brass guard and pommel :)

Check ebay for old style sheaths....they can be found there occasionally.

For sanding stuff (like metal).....start with coarse grits to remove material, and work through finer and finer grits untill 600grit or finer.
Use some steel wool.
Then a buffing wheel with compound, and you can make them shiny as new.
 
Unfortunately, I used most of the belt to make this sheath so there isn't enough left to make another. I feel your pain though. I don't really like the sheath design either. I've got an old ww2 case knife sitting in it now.
 
You could remove the snap parts and sew on some strong velcro instead.
It should be easy to drill out the snaps to remove them.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys. I had no idea that Buck made the special editions of those knives. They are beautiful! electricfax, I still like the work you did to your knife too. :)

Bighaze51, If I start making sheathes, sir you will be imitated. I like that work.

After poking around eBay, Amazon and a few vendor sites, I think DesertChris' suggestion to drill out the snaps and go with velcro is what I'll do. I might even get a small fishing plug body fastened with a leather shoelace or something similar to grasp to pull it open.
 
Sorry for the absence! Ok so i did start out with the dymondwood handle as previously stated. I took the gaurds and tip down with a belt sander with a 50 grit belt. I went SLOWLY. I blended wood to the gaurd using the belt sander also. For sanding i used 220 for rough edges then 400 to help smooth things out. Sanding the handle i went from front to back and lightly across grain near the gaurd. Once all the sanding was done on the gaurd and handle i used mothers mag and aluminum polish on the brass with paper towels. Carefully sanded the extra polish mess off from the wood with 400 grit and stained it with minwax sedona red 222. I rubbed the stain in(vigourously and very messy i might add) and wiped away excess. let dry for 10 minutes sanded and rubbed stain on again wiped away all excess. Let it sit overnight and its good to go
 
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