first of a series heading to the Congo

D

Don Halter

Joined
Apr 30, 2008
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I'll be over in the DR-Congo off and on for several weeks at a time over the summer and into Fall. I decided to outfit our group with a set of knives, all variants of the same basic pattern. I made sure to have an extra for my Israeli security guy that'll be assigned to me as well.:thumbup:

I've been busting my butt trying to get some knifemaking time squeezed in between travel and work since I leave the first week in June. I had a weekend open finally and all the blades are heat treated and getting handles now. Six are differentially heat treated 5160 and one is 1084. The first one is finished now. I really like the way this one feels in the hand. I went with black G10 and no guard. Half will have guards, half won't. The blade is bead blasted, as is the G10. Even wet, it has a good grip. It'll get a kydex sheath. I left the ricasso area fairly thick at the spine. I've had customers use this for hammering the blade through steel cable and other things knives weren't meant to be used for, but do! Most of the others are a full double edge, though. I hope to have at least one more done this week. I just got a pack of a variety of colors of G10 to use with these for some neat handle effects. Hope you like it.

~8.75" OAL
Hair under 1/4" thick at spine of ricasso with distal taper.
5160 steel
80 grit bead-blasted finish
black G-10 handle w/nickle pins

P.S. Yes, the stamp looks a bit odd. It's supposed to be stamped "KRAG" as all my blades like this are, but I had the "G" sideways. Guess that makes this one a "special edition!".

DRC111.jpg
 
Like it, especially the blade profile and grinds.
Love to see it in a nice Ironwood. :thumbup:
 
That is one good-looking working knife - very crisp lines. Synthetic materials for the handle make perfect sense given the intended application.

Roger
 
RogerP said:
That is one good-looking working knife - very crisp lines. Synthetic materials for the handle make perfect sense given the intended application.

Roger
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly except for the finish, bead blasting is the worse thing one can do to carbon steels. If moisture gets on the knife and it is not tended to right away will rust so fast it will make your head spin.

A machine satin would serve you much better imho!

I do like the design
Spencer
 
Last edited:
Thanks!

The bead-blasted finish was preferred by the guys in Afghanistan. It wicks up the oil protects it pretty well, although they didn't have much moisture to worry about out there! The original intent was to parkerize this one after bead-blasting...but I liked the looks of the finish too well. Several of the others will be parkerized with manganese phosphate.

I considered ironwood. I thought some light colored mammoth ivory would look pretty sweet as well, but I wanted to steer clear of naturals like that due to import/export and customs coming out of the South Africa region. Plus, knowing how these are going to be used, G10 was a better choice.
 
Very economical neo-chute knife that undoubtedly answers the call for a life of slave labor in hostile environs. That it's also attractive imparts an endearing quality that many edc/utility knives cannot claim.

ken
 
Here's DRC II. I parkerized the blade on this one. I learned a few more tidbits on parkerizing as well...make sure your bath is at temp before submersing the blade! I got some uneveness in the coating due to temp fluctuations. I guess it's a "parkerized camo" finish....I now charge extra for that. :D

Blade is double edged and just over 3/16" down the center ridge, tapering distally. I used some orange G10 spacer under the black G10 for a bit of contrast. It looks pretty cool and sets the handle apart well. It breaks up an otherwise solid black knife.


5160 steel, differentially heat treated, parkerized
OAL ~8.75"
Handle Black G10 w/orange G10 spacer, nickel pins
DRC11a.jpg
 
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