Custom scales on my BK10

Cannikin

Cannikin

Joined
May 23, 2014
Messages
16
Hey guys, I started a thread over in the general modification section but no one cares. :( I'm hoping the true Becker fans will appreciate it more. :)

Just finished the custom scales for my BK10! I stripped the finish but left the steel as-is for now. I'm not looking forward to week's-long path to shining it up. Looks kinda cool as is, though...

bk10-1.jpg


bk10-4.jpg


bk10-9.jpg


bk10-5.jpg


I was able to shrink down the inside grip area to fit my smaller hands. I'm 6 feet tall but apparently have small hands. :( This thing hugs my hands like a glove now, it's great. For the shaping I first routed the corners with a 1/4" roundover bit, then went to them with a couple rasps to add the contours for the palm. 3rd photo has a good profile shot.

The wood is Sapele (a cousin of Mahogany). For the finish I soaked them in hot boiled linseed oil for an hour or so, wiped and let it try. Then polished with 0000 steel wood and applied a coat of Howard's Feed & Wax. I might try a second pair in some nice curl or burl walnut.

Next up is a leather sheath! I plan on using some good quality oil-tanned leather, rather than going with vegetable-tanned and then dyeing. That leather is generally a lot softer but feels so much nicer in the hands. Coming soon!
 
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Wow man, those look great!
Nice work.
Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to seeing your sheath.
 
Very cool handle scales. I like how you made them fit your hand, and the bare satin look on the steel is a nice contrast.
 
Not a big fan of the huge tail end but i can appreciate the craftmanship and all the effort that went into this,good job.
 
You sir are correct. We do care more here.. It's a nice contrast form blade to handle color I think. Though I'm not fond of the shape. I think it might look better if you could fill the gap. A shaped stained wedge with dowel hole. Put a slight dowel recess on the inside of each scale. Glue the dowel and wedge to one scale. and the other scale would sit over the dowel. And all lock together with the screws.
 
Very interesting. Nice mods. Kuddos to you for trying such a bold mod. I love that color!!

And for what its worth. I love the color contrast between the scales and the unpatina'd blade. You got a good 10!! Don't ruin it by forcing a patina on that thing!!! Let it develop naturally.
 
A piece of electrical tape, some glow epoxy, and a 10 cc syringe to fill in the gap in the handle and it would be fricken awesome. Outline where the handle runs and attach some moonglow to one side of the handle so when you put it back together it matches up. I have a hard time recommending anything that doesn't glow. It does look pretty nice as is though. Good job.
 
Tankerwolf said:
A piece of electrical tape, some glow epoxy, and a 10 cc syringe to fill in the gap in the handle and it would be fricken awesome. Outline where the handle runs and attach some moonglow to one side of the handle so when you put it back together it matches up. I have a hard time recommending anything that doesn't glow. It does look pretty nice as is though. Good job.
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makes me think of ( I think ) flexxx's hollow glow handle.
 
Very nice....... A tool works ever so much better when it fits you......... I love the look of the linseed oil finish and the raw steel........ I love steel and I love the contrast between the "as Rolled" and the ground portions of the blade....... Nice work and I love the aesthetics.........

Ethan
 
Great work! I've never seen that type of wood before but it sure looks good on a Becker. Where did you hear about it?
 
samclaymore said:
You sir are correct. We do care more here.. It's a nice contrast form blade to handle color I think. Though I'm not fond of the shape. I think it might look better if you could fill the gap. A shaped stained wedge with dowel hole. Put a slight dowel recess on the inside of each scale. Glue the dowel and wedge to one scale. and the other scale would sit over the dowel. And all lock together with the screws.
Click to expand...

Yep, I originally planned to fill that section with a little piece of scrap but got impatient towards the end and just wanted to see it done. :) When you're holding it you'd never know it was there but I agree it's not the prettiest thing in the world. Maybe I can fill it this week and post some updated photos.
 
rkmoore said:
Great work! I've never seen that type of wood before but it sure looks good on a Becker. Where did you hear about it?
Click to expand...

I'm a woodworker by night and Sapele is one of my favorites. I can get nice big boards of it here (San Diego, CA) for relatively cheap!
 
Beautiful wood! And cool that you made it fit your hand. A bit hard for me to imagine it needing to be smaller, but I've got ginormous hands.
 
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