- Joined
- Sep 22, 2003
- Messages
- 13,182
I actually ordered this knife a year ago as a prize for a forum I was on. However when I left I couldn't get the owner to continue the contest so I figured I'd just keep it when it came in a year later.
Anyway I had ordered light curly maple. I tried to get him to contour the handle, even to just make it egg shaped (ie wider across the spine than where your fingers curl around) but the only thing I could get was just for the scales to be made fatter than the stock model.
However when it came while the knife had a demon blade, and was a great size and shape The maple had almost no figure in it and also the scales were thinner than my other Charlie May, my Swamp oak, which is one of my favorites.:thumbup:
You can see here not much figure.
Here's a shot showing the thinner scales compared to the Swamp Oak
Well the handle didn't have any sort of finish on it, looked like it had mainly been done via belt sander and buffer so I tried steel wool, a little stain, what have you but there just wasn't enough grain to bring out.
I emailed him and said can I send the knife back with some maple scales I have with better figure and send my Swamp Oak along so he can use that to gauge how thick I wanted the scales and he said sure.
I got it back today. This is MUCH better!
Not sure if the pics show it cause it's evening and there's shadows but the scales are about the size of the Swamp Oak now.
My only criticisim and you can see it in the previous picture too is apparently rather than sanding and steel wooling the maple handle looks like it was buffed smooth on a dirty buffing wheel. Can you see the dark stripes on the spine and belly of the handle?
Also I guess where it was belt sanded then buffed that way it forced the dark metal filings and buffing compound into the wood grain. Not sure if you can see the dark specs around the mosaic pin in this pic.
So this evening I spent a little time sanding the whole handle lightly with 600 grit woodworking sandpaper and then polishing it out with ultrafine steel wool. This removed all the dirt off the handle. It's got a coat of Minwax on it now that really brings the 3d out and I'll steel wool that down and re coat it till it's nice.
I love this knife now. Great grind. Fit is great. No glue anywhere, no gaps in the scales. Finish not so good. It sort of rubs me the wrong way to pay nearly 300 bucks for a blade and then get it all dirty like that but after having to return my last one because the scales were too thin and it had a v bevel instead of the scandi grind I ordered I knew there was a chance this one would have to go back or have some impefections I might deal with. But where else can I get a 1/8" D2 Scandi Grind from??
One tip. If I had to order another from him again I'd skip the fancy wood and pins and stuff and just get the bead blasted micarta like I got on the Swamp Oak. I don't think the wood really lends itself to the mass production finishing approach. Or the maple doesn't at least. He won't sell blade blanks or ones glued up you can shape and finish yourself. You can refinish it yourself like I'm doing though and you'll have a great blade though.
Anyway I had ordered light curly maple. I tried to get him to contour the handle, even to just make it egg shaped (ie wider across the spine than where your fingers curl around) but the only thing I could get was just for the scales to be made fatter than the stock model.
However when it came while the knife had a demon blade, and was a great size and shape The maple had almost no figure in it and also the scales were thinner than my other Charlie May, my Swamp oak, which is one of my favorites.:thumbup:
You can see here not much figure.
Here's a shot showing the thinner scales compared to the Swamp Oak
Well the handle didn't have any sort of finish on it, looked like it had mainly been done via belt sander and buffer so I tried steel wool, a little stain, what have you but there just wasn't enough grain to bring out.
I emailed him and said can I send the knife back with some maple scales I have with better figure and send my Swamp Oak along so he can use that to gauge how thick I wanted the scales and he said sure.
I got it back today. This is MUCH better!
Not sure if the pics show it cause it's evening and there's shadows but the scales are about the size of the Swamp Oak now.
My only criticisim and you can see it in the previous picture too is apparently rather than sanding and steel wooling the maple handle looks like it was buffed smooth on a dirty buffing wheel. Can you see the dark stripes on the spine and belly of the handle?
Also I guess where it was belt sanded then buffed that way it forced the dark metal filings and buffing compound into the wood grain. Not sure if you can see the dark specs around the mosaic pin in this pic.
So this evening I spent a little time sanding the whole handle lightly with 600 grit woodworking sandpaper and then polishing it out with ultrafine steel wool. This removed all the dirt off the handle. It's got a coat of Minwax on it now that really brings the 3d out and I'll steel wool that down and re coat it till it's nice.
I love this knife now. Great grind. Fit is great. No glue anywhere, no gaps in the scales. Finish not so good. It sort of rubs me the wrong way to pay nearly 300 bucks for a blade and then get it all dirty like that but after having to return my last one because the scales were too thin and it had a v bevel instead of the scandi grind I ordered I knew there was a chance this one would have to go back or have some impefections I might deal with. But where else can I get a 1/8" D2 Scandi Grind from??
One tip. If I had to order another from him again I'd skip the fancy wood and pins and stuff and just get the bead blasted micarta like I got on the Swamp Oak. I don't think the wood really lends itself to the mass production finishing approach. Or the maple doesn't at least. He won't sell blade blanks or ones glued up you can shape and finish yourself. You can refinish it yourself like I'm doing though and you'll have a great blade though.
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