Custom BLades for the 42!

G

giar

Joined
Jun 10, 2000
Messages
113
Hello all,
I have a friend who's currently making me a custom spearpoint for my BM 42 handles. He has been making knifes for quite sometime now and is very good at what he does. Just wondering if anyone else would be interested in getting custom blades made for there titanium handles? Just curious if there's enough of a demand. Let me know if you'd be interested. I will have pic's as soon as my BLade is finished. Sincerely -g
 
I want a Hossom blade on mine
frown.gif
WAH!!!! Jery is so mean!

do post pics on your blade.. will your maker friend make i from scratch or liek you mentioend in a past post work on your existing bloade? If you lose some length on your blade it might look really weird. I thin kthe blade is too thin to hollow ground.

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<A HREF="http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~soo/balisong/balisong.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~soo/balisong/balisong.html
</A> If you play with love you will be heartbroken; if you play with knives you will [bleed]


 
I've had several custom makers talk to me about making replacement blades for the 42. The 42, which can be reasonably disassembled and reassembled by someone of reasonable mechanical skill and with only simple tools found in the shop of anyone who makes and/or repairs folding knives, is a going to be a great platform for customization. Opportunities include custom blades, file work on blades, handles, the latch, and the screws, and custom anodization.

In fact, while you've got yours apart, why not have the handles anodized to some funky cool color?

Let us know how your project goes.


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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com
 
Su-The Blade will Be made from scratch. Chuck- Where can I go to get the handles Anodized. Or better yet how do I do it myself? Thanks guys
 
You can anodize Ti yourself quite practially. I have not done it myself yet, but I've been researching the subject in preparation. The chemistry is quite simple. I'm told that a solution of Spic-and-Span floor cleaner gives great results. So you're not going to be messing around with hazardous or exotic chemicals. The big requirement that you're gonna have to come up with is a DC power supply, about 40-150VDC at about 2A minimum (the current required is a function of the size of the piece and 2A is what I'm estimating for a 42's handle. The color you get depends on the voltage applied. So, good, pure colors require a well-regulated supply. Of coure, whenever you're working with liquids and fairly high electrical voltages (the power supply we're talking about here is quite capable of killing you), safety is a must.

My plan is to eventually work this all out and post a nice website with pictures of the setup and everything.



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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com
 
Chuck, I,m sure you are way ahead of me on this one but, you might try an arc welder to get 40-150vdc for anodizing those ti handles. If you don't own one I'm sure one of your neighbors does.
 
Unless you can crank the amperage WAY DOWN, an arc welder will make your handles disappear!!!!!!!!!!!! You dont need a large transformer and any decent size full-wave bridge rectifer will give you the DC. You must use titanium wire to hang your handles from into the electrolite solution!!! Or you can use a paint brush with a metal band around the bristles and make it electrically conductive by affixing one wire to this band and the other to the piece to be anodized. By dipping the brush in the electrolite and 'painting' it onto the handle, it will change colors according to the amount of voltage you put through it. Higher voltages can be used then as the voltage is decreased different colors will appear but the colors induced by the high voltage will remain in place (you could work your way down a handle with a rainbow effect). YOU MUST USE THE UTMOST CAUTION WORKING WITH THIS OR ANY OTHER METHOD OF ELECTRICITY- IT WILL KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rubber gloves and keeping ahead of what you want to do is very important!

[This message has been edited by Dawkind (edited 07-26-2000).]
 
Thanks all...I'd love too have anodized handles...but this sounds way to dangerous for me. I love my knife but no more then life. I think i'll take Chuck's advice and check with some high end car shops. Will let all know when I've achieved my goal. ALso my new custom blade is on its way. will also post pic's when the project is complete. sincerely giar
 
As far as I know titanium can be quite easily colored by applying heat. You might not even need anodizing (electrically applying paint). A fellow knifenut of mine customized his Mayo knives´ titanium handle slabs this way, got very decent colors.

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"Peace is not without conflict; it is the ability to cope with conflict" - Leo Giron
 
Hi giar

Getting back to the subject of custom blades, I think that's a great idea, and I'd love to see a pic of your knife. A favorite maker of mine came to mind, and I've e-mailed him to see what he thinks of the possibility of making a custom profile for my 42. We'll see what happens......
Let me know when that bali arrives !
smile.gif


AL

[This message has been edited by Kwaiken56 (edited 07-29-2000).]
 
Will do... if you could keep me posted. Let me know if you get anything done. I'm going Monday to see the progress. I will be posting some of his combat knives up for auction hopefully tuesday. Anyways feel free to email me. You probably still have my address.
 
Mr. Judge is correct. Ti can also be colored with heat. A surface temperature in excess of about 600F will accellerate the formation of oxides on the surface. That thin layer of oxides on the surface will form an interference pattern as light hits it. The effect is often that of a rainbow of colors. It can be quite striking. Of course, the process is entirely uncontrolled, so it doesn't give consistent results.

If you want to give it a try, start by cleaning the surface very throughly. A simple propane tourch should work fine.

This is a very dangerous procedure, but often produces dramatic results: heat the Ti with a torch until the surface is quite hot (not red hot) and then turn the torch off completely. Now, spray pure oxygen gas on the hot piece. The danger here comes from mixing a torch and pure oxygen in the same process. If you have an Oxygen/Acetelyn (SP?) you can just turn off the gas and your torch will be spraying pure oxygen. The result of hitting the hot Ti with pure oxygen often produces dramatic colorizations.

You can also bake Ti to colorize it. If you have access to the kind of oven used to fire clay pots, you can just put the Ti handles from your 42 in there and see what happens. According to one reference I have about 3 minutes at 1200F will colorize the Ti to gold, 5 minutes for purple, and 7 seven for blue.

I have no reference for it, but if you have a self-cleaning kitchen oven, the internal temperature gets up to about 600-700F during the cleaning cycle. You might try leaving your 42's handles inside of it and see what happens. I have not tried this.

Thermal oxidization is actually more durable than anodization.

So, why doesn't BM use thermal oxidization instead of anodization? Well, again, thermal is not a controlled process. The results are highly variable.

Of course you should never expose a blade to such temperatures, only the handles.



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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com
 
Chuck,

Is it possible, heating up Ti ( or Ti alloy )handles makes it moer brittle or softer, like steel? I know so little about Ti heat treating, even less than what little I know about steel heat treating. Thanks.



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\(^o^)/ Mizutani Satoshi \(^o^)/
 
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