Cold Steel Ultimate Hunter handle swap

[STR]

Coming up in a bit this Cold Steel Ultimate Hunter will be transformed with custom Ti slab handles, with a slight modification to them. Note how you can see the blade tang sticking up when the blade is closed, well, the new handles will be made so they neatly cover that over much like the Calypso Jr does when the blade is closed.

The complaint is the handle is too thick for everyday carry. That will change significantly in short order. It will be interesting to see how the weight changes. The knife weighs in at 4.6 ounces as it sits here. You may notice that the thumb stud on this one is different that was a complaint also and I did that before the scans were taken.

I also note that Cold Steel has made some improvements to this model since I bought my first two of these a good while back. These now have some traction grooves along the areas for the index pressure points to improve grip much like the Blade Tech Pro Hunter and Spyderco Ocelot. Also, they have changed blade steel from the AUS8A of the old model to VG-1 in this newer version. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing though. I know very little about VG-1 and don't see it in any of my steel charts.

Thanks for looking.

Stay tuned for more.

STR

 

[pageophile]

After watching the thread earlier today i was wondering if you'd take the plunge and redo the Master Hunter.

I can hardly wait

 

[STR]

Cold Steel Ultimate Hunter Breakdown. Check out the lock up of metal on metal in this monster! I don't like the way the lockbar seats all the way to the bottom of the notch like these do but other than that its about perfect. Spyderco seems to make theirs with a little room for some pocket lint that would not affect the lock until it was really thick but these Japanese lockbacks typically sit in there perfectly like this one. Interesting contrast in philosophy of design engineering.
Also a liner shot showing the oversized stainless liners this one has in it from the factory. These look to be in excess of .070 thick stock. I'll know here shortly the exact measurement.


STR

 

[STR]

These liners are .077 and they look to be aluminum not stainless. Still quite hefty though.

Here we have the new scales traced out and the new spacer/spring holder we'll be creating. Since the old spacer/spring holder was made to inlay into the design of the old handles we can't use it in the new ones. The good news is that one in there now seems to be aluminum also, I cannot swear by this but a magnet does not stick to it or the liners and they look like aluminum I have in stock of the aircraft grade 6061 or something close to that. Whatever they are they will be replaced with titanium for the new handle set up. I just happen to have the proper thickness needed for this too so thats nice.

Seen here is the rough drawing of what I'll be cutting out shortly.

Found out examining it that I need to once again order some special drill bits. Its going to take a number 3 drill to make the pivot hole. At first glance it appears to be a 7/32 but if I drilled that its too large and if I use a 13/64 its too small. Turns out that I need a .2135 drill and the #3 is the closest I can find at .213

These barrels in the rear are the same darn size as the Spyderco Delica4 and Endura4 use too which means reaming holes for both the pivot and each hole for the barrels after drilling since I can't find any drill bit to drill the exact size hole needed. Figures.

STR

 

[STR]

Managed to find a little time to spend on one of my knives today. I may end up doing some G11 and titanium scales for this down the road once I get these aluminum ones knocked out. So far so good. Stepping forward with this one as I can since its low priority.

Here I have the two scales cut out in some very dirty aluminum from the back shelf of my metal cabinet, and the spacer/spring holder rough cut out of titanium in the correct thickness for the blade and lockbar once it all squeezes together.

Thanks for watching this one slowly move along.

STR

 

[scrateshooter]

werd wiggins