Extreme Makeover: Eskabar edition!

res1cue · Mar 11, 2012

So I had this Eskabar that I have had sitting collecting dust. I had always known it had plenty of potential, but never had the time to even wrap the handle. I found some free time this weekend, and really did some work to it, and now it is one of my favorite knives! :thumbup:

I made the following changes:
-paracord wrapping of the handle, pretty standard stuff
-grip tape along the spine for better grip
-made brand new sheath for it (its pretty dumb that such a compact knife had such a large awkward sheath)
-took off the black coating with sandpaper, polished it with 600 grit sandpaper, and then brasso (Thanks to Obsessed with Edges for the advice!)
-blade looked a bit bare, so I put a little cross on it with krylon
-Put a 30 degree inclusive relief edge, and a 40 degree inclusive microbevel (and then strop)

So here is the finished product. This is definitely the most work I have put into a knife, and I am pretty proud of it. My girlfriend likes it too, and calls it the "Eskabetter"

EagleScouter · Mar 11, 2012

Lookin' good! That cord wrap is awesome.

PassinBy · Mar 11, 2012

i like the sheath:thumbup:

combatjiujitsu · Mar 11, 2012

Very Cool!

MADSTEEZE · Mar 11, 2012

Looks great!
I definitely have a 14 in my future

res1cue · Mar 11, 2012

PassinBy said:
i like the sheath:thumbup:

Thanks! I had fun making it. It may be ugly but it does what it needs to do

RevDevil · Mar 11, 2012

Love the cord wrap and the high polish blade. :thumbup:

res1cue · Mar 16, 2012

Update: Started edcing it today, and found a good way to carry (since I like horizontal cross draw anyways). I looped the retention strap through a belt loop of my pants. Zero imprinting and easy access:

with shirt covering it:

under the shirt:

Professor · Mar 16, 2012

Love your cordwrap.

My Eskebar underwent a bit of a makeover also. Great little fixed blade, and changed my thinking about the usefulness of sub-4" fixed blade usefulness.

res1cue · Mar 16, 2012

That looks great! Is that custom work? or your own doing?

EZ Bake · Mar 16, 2012

res1cue said:

Haha - I have that same hole in a lot of my T-shirts. Looks like you've been cleaning/wiping the blade on your knife

vic2367 · Mar 16, 2012

very cool mods !!

res1cue · Mar 16, 2012

vic2367 said:
very cool mods !!

Thanks!

EZ Bake said:
Haha - I have that same hole in a lot of my T-shirts. Looks like you've been cleaning/wiping the blade on your knife

You know, you may be right, but I honestly don't remember how I got it in the 1st place!

Professor · Mar 16, 2012

res1cue said:
That looks great! Is that custom work? or your own doing?

Found the scales specific to the Eskabar on TheBay, and the sheath is from our own AZWelke.

Great little setup.

Nathan Ihrke · Mar 16, 2012

That is pretty awesome, the blade looks great... Did you make the sheath out of canvas?

res1cue · Mar 16, 2012

Nathan Ihrke said:
That is pretty awesome, the blade looks great... Did you make the sheath out of canvas?

The sheath is actually made out of a (faux) leather pouch that came with a pocket sharpening stone I bought. I believe the maker is eze-lap. You can't tell from the pic, but I did have a spacer in there, going from the edge side all the way around the point, but not for the spine

Professor said:
Found the scales specific to the Eskabar on TheBay, and the sheath is from our own AZWelke.

Great little setup.

well it looks great! :thumbup:
I may have to pick up another eskabar and do something like yours as wel

Yo Mama · Mar 16, 2012

Looks good! I just got my bk14, and immediately paracorded it.

I was just thinking of the grip tape as you did showed. Time to go get some.

This blade definately begs to be modded to the users liking.

Guineaman · Mar 16, 2012

Looks great. That's one of the things i like most about knives like that, you can totally make them personal to yourself! I'm headed home from work tonight to work on personalizing a knife as well, can't wait , it seems good for the soul. Great job!!!