Customizing Smith and Wessson SWAT folder.

[ThePatriot29]

I have a stock S&W Swat knife that I've had for a while.

This knife has sentimental value, and I wanted to put a little work into it to make it unique, and so it stands out a little more. While it may look silly to spend money on a cheap knife like this, I can't afford custom folders, or even high end production stuff, and besides that, the knife is worth more to me than its fair market value.

I popped the rubber inserts out, and cleaned the adhesive off the back of them. I took a coarse steel wool pad to it, and got all the black paint off the handle. It looks pretty good now, a bit of a brushed look. I'll be eventually polishing it to a bright shine with higher quality sandpaper and steel wool.

I'm looking at having the handles anodized a deep blue. Does anyone know who does work like this?

I'm also thinking of having grey or silver CF or G10 inserts made to compliment the blue anodizing. Again, any suggestions on who to go to for this work?

I plan on leaving the Teflon finish on the blade, but once it really starts to wear, I'll strip that off, and look at finishing options.

 

[SPHayes]

Look in the phone book under metal finishers. As far as the scales you can order the G10 online from several knife supply houses. It shouldn't be to bad to hand fit the scales using a dremel and or files and sandpaper. Wear a good mask while you work with the G10 and long sleeves and surgical gloves help too.
Patrick

 

[Mike Hull]

CF, and G10 are both extremely hazardous substances to work with, so you will need a vapor canister respirator, with the proper cartridges. That stuff is no joke.

 

[Matt Shade]

Might consider linen micarta for making your own inserts. Its not AS bad, still not good for you to breath the dust, but it doesn't have the glass fiber in it. You should still wear a mask, but if your going to work with hand tools, your fairly safe. Especially if you wet sand.
As for anodizing. Check the phone book for bicylce shops. Anodizing seems to be popular for building high end bikes now. Might find someone close that can help you out.