How To Case large sodbuster texturing

[Schrey21]

I have a large case sodbuster with yellow handles I use for work. My hands get nasty and have tig or stick welding gloves on most of the time. What’s the best way to texture the handle without making it look like a hack job?

 

[Cementite]

Needle scaler?

(Not sure I understand your question...are you trying to improve the "grippyness" of the scales? No matter how you do it, I suspect they will attract and hold dirt more than smooth scales...)

 

[BJE]

You could scuff them up with some sandpaper, but if you use coarse enough paper to make them grippy it will look pretty rough.
Maybe add some stippling with a soldering iron or rotary bit, might not look great though.

The yellow delrin is slippery, and being light colored any deep grooves will hold dark dirt and grease and will stand out quite obviously, so if you care about how it looks you should get one with a black handle.

If you like the sodbuster as a work knife, consider picking up an opinel if you don’t already have one, they are cheap, feel much like a sodbuster, and are much easier to modify without making them look like a child’s experiment.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

My first thought also was coarse sanding. If you do that, be careful not to sand too much, if at all, near the anchor pin (center pin) for the backspring. I have many of Case's soddies and like them as honest working knives. But the hole drilled for the spring's anchor pin tends to be very close to the edge of the delrin cover. They tend to crack near that pin over time (see pics of two of mine below) and thinning the delrin too much and too close to that anchor pin would make it more vulnerable to cracking.

Alternate approach: use some coarse sandpaper wrapped around a dowel to make 3 or 4 finger grooves across the delrin for a better grip. And again, avoid the area close to the anchor pin for the spring.

 

[Schrey21]

It’s my work knife it becoming coming dirty is not my concern. Just want to have a better grip and can’t figure out the best way to go about it. I machine a lot of Delrin and uhmw at work but hand working it seems like my only option.

 

[davek14]

It’s my work knife it becoming coming dirty is not my concern. Just want to have a better grip and can’t figure out the best way to go about it. I machine a lot of Delrin and uhmw at work but hand working it seems like my only option.

Find a steel shim which will just fit into the blade slot. Then hold it in a vise to machine it by holding against that shim and the back of the knife. The clamping would be essentially on the backspring. Machine a crosshatch pattern with something free cutting like a carbide chamfer tool. Something that won't suck it up too much. High speed, low feed, lot's of coolant. It will melt, but you can shave that off. You said you didn't care about looks.

 

[Cementite]

You could also buy or borrow some gunstock checkering tools that might work. Or use a small triangular (in section) saw sharpening file and freehand checker the scales. Another option would be to grind a triangular piece of metal and heat it and then use that to melt your grooves. It looks like Delrin starts to melt around 350-370°F. The advantage of melting would be that it would raise the material adjacent to the grooves -- as opposed to exclusively removing material -- so you might not have to go as deep with your grooves. (I might use a fine-tipped Sharpie to draw lines first and then cut or melt the grooves between the Sharpie lines...) Final product might not look great, but should give improved grip.

Whatever you end up doing, I'd be interested to see the final outcome. I'm a big fan of Sodbusters, too. I have one in chrome-vanadium steel that gets super sharp easily.

 

[Schrey21]

Was going to mill it out but got busy last night and didn’t have time. So being impatient, wrapped my hand around it and scribed grooves in the ballpark where I wanted them. Took a round rasp to cut my grooves going back over them with multiple grits wrapped around a drift punch. Then buffed with Tripoli compound, cleaned, mag aluminum polish, cleaned, and finally wet sand with 0000 steel. Is it pretty ? No. Is it professional? No. Do I like it and improve its function in my opinion? Yes. Also if someone could tell me how to post pictures from my photo library on my phone I will. Sorry I’m new.

 

[Cementite]

Also if someone could tell me how to post pictures from my photo library on my phone I will. Sorry I’m new.

Goto a free image hosting website like imgbb, then upload your images there, then open a window containing the image, copy image address, then in your post here, hit the image icon, and in the window that opens, paste the URL of the image.

 

[Alberta Ed]

Those are good knives. You might try sticking some strips of skateboard griptape or similar (hockey stick?) on the grips.