- Joined
- Apr 6, 2008
- Messages
- 252
Hello all,
I'm in the process of modifying my Swamp Rat Waki, and I was hoping to get some advice from the fine gentlemen ( and ladies ) who might be around here and have done this before.
First off, here are a couple of pics:
There she is in all her glory..........I've stripped the coating off of the entire blade portion. Once I get the handle scales off, I'll strip that portion, as well. I really want to use gun bluing on the entire blade, but I've never used any bluing products before. Can anyone recommend a particular product or process that seems to work well and give good results?
Can barely see the Swamp Rat logo. I'd love to make that pop out again, but not sure how. Believe it or not, I'm not sure exactly how much the coating weighs, but taking the coating off actually makes the blade feel noticeably more agile in the hand. It may be all in my mind, but its not something that I was expecting, so I actually believe that it did make a difference
Ok, so handle scales. When I bought this Waki, I was told the handle scales were Black G-10. That may be correct, as I have recently seen some G10 that kinda looks like micarta, but regardless of what material it is, or whether I replace it with my own custom contoured scales, I like for my scales to be removeable. So,first off, any recommendations for the best way to take out the compressed tubes? Does anyone know if Swamp Rat epoxies their handle slabs to the blade, or do they just use the compressed tubes? I'm thinking about making my own user removeable scales out of canvas micarta ( maybe even Carbon Fiber, but that would be expensive ) that cover the entire handle and hilt, and also comes up and covers the finger guard with a forward groove so that I can slightly accentuate the choil for choking up for detail work. I'm one of those people who, while I love a machete, would much prefer to carry my Waki when I'm out and about in the woods, so a little more choil would be helpful.
This pic really allows you to see the line from the differential heat treatment. I wouldn't necessarily call it a "hamon", but there is a noticeable difference in the temper of the steel towards the spine.
Now, all of the grind lines and scratches that you see were there underneath the coating. I took the coating off with acetone and a scotch-brite pad, so I wouldn't do any damage to the blade. In fact, that has been one of my biggest concerns--taking off too much steel. I would like to get a nice smooth polish on the blade, probably to about a satin finish on both sides before I put the bluing on, but I really don't want to take off too much metal. I've been doing all of the sanding/polishing by hand and its been a long process. Any recommendations as to the best/most careful way to get rid of the grind lines?
Thanks for looking, and for any help that you can offer!!
WH
I'm in the process of modifying my Swamp Rat Waki, and I was hoping to get some advice from the fine gentlemen ( and ladies ) who might be around here and have done this before.
First off, here are a couple of pics:
There she is in all her glory..........I've stripped the coating off of the entire blade portion. Once I get the handle scales off, I'll strip that portion, as well. I really want to use gun bluing on the entire blade, but I've never used any bluing products before. Can anyone recommend a particular product or process that seems to work well and give good results?
Can barely see the Swamp Rat logo. I'd love to make that pop out again, but not sure how. Believe it or not, I'm not sure exactly how much the coating weighs, but taking the coating off actually makes the blade feel noticeably more agile in the hand. It may be all in my mind, but its not something that I was expecting, so I actually believe that it did make a difference
Ok, so handle scales. When I bought this Waki, I was told the handle scales were Black G-10. That may be correct, as I have recently seen some G10 that kinda looks like micarta, but regardless of what material it is, or whether I replace it with my own custom contoured scales, I like for my scales to be removeable. So,first off, any recommendations for the best way to take out the compressed tubes? Does anyone know if Swamp Rat epoxies their handle slabs to the blade, or do they just use the compressed tubes? I'm thinking about making my own user removeable scales out of canvas micarta ( maybe even Carbon Fiber, but that would be expensive ) that cover the entire handle and hilt, and also comes up and covers the finger guard with a forward groove so that I can slightly accentuate the choil for choking up for detail work. I'm one of those people who, while I love a machete, would much prefer to carry my Waki when I'm out and about in the woods, so a little more choil would be helpful.
This pic really allows you to see the line from the differential heat treatment. I wouldn't necessarily call it a "hamon", but there is a noticeable difference in the temper of the steel towards the spine.
Now, all of the grind lines and scratches that you see were there underneath the coating. I took the coating off with acetone and a scotch-brite pad, so I wouldn't do any damage to the blade. In fact, that has been one of my biggest concerns--taking off too much steel. I would like to get a nice smooth polish on the blade, probably to about a satin finish on both sides before I put the bluing on, but I really don't want to take off too much metal. I've been doing all of the sanding/polishing by hand and its been a long process. Any recommendations as to the best/most careful way to get rid of the grind lines?
Thanks for looking, and for any help that you can offer!!
WH