Getting a Cricket, need some inspiration

[Psychopomp]

Greetings all.

Long ago, before I discovered the functionality of Spyderco knives, when I thought they were freaklishly ugly, the Cricket stood out and interested me. But I never bought one.

Time passed and I decided on trying a Spyderco and fell in love with the Endura and then the Native and forgot about the Cricket.

These days I EDC a big knife, a Benchmade 710. Lately I've been looking for a small locking folder to carry on days when I don't need the big 710 pulling my pants down.

So next week when my paycheck is in the bank, I'm ordering myself an SS PE Cricket. I know it's nothing special in the world of CF Millies and ZDP everything, but I'm actually very excited about it.

I'd like to try my hand at adding some sort of scale to the non-lock side of the handle and would like some ideas. There's a thread about six months ago with some wonderful pictures, but there hasn't been one since. I'm thinking rosewood or a light paper micarta.

Are the screws long enough to actually hold a scale on, so that it could be changed, or would the scale need to be epoxied on? I'd love to be able to change the scale from time to time, but if not that's fine (give me a reason to buy more Crickets).

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Ben

 

[plowboy]

Yep, I've been looking at the Cricket for a long time too. Got to get one someday.

Good luck on adding a scale to the nonlocking side.

 

[yinyang]

Guess I'm not much help either. I have a Native EDC and a Endura wave from New Graham in the mail, so at least knife wise you are in good company. The Cricket was my other choice, and actually had the same thought as you about scales, esp. micarta...freaky. I'm gonna jump on your bandwagon and see what others have to say.

 

[yablanowitz]

I don't know about the SS version, but my FRN Cricket is all screw construction. I have never taken it apart, but I can see the single liner is nested in the FRN. It doesn't look like too big a job to replace the scales, but one would either have to mill out the lockside scale and mill the front scale to provide a backspacer, or make the backspacer another piece.

 

[mr.vu]

Long ago, before I discovered the functionality of Spyderco knives, when I thought they were freaklishly ugly

Hilarious! I thought so too.

I am also looking for a cricket in the near future. Dont know if scales can be interchangle easily, but good luck in finding out.

Hilarious!

Vu

 

[zenheretic]

FWiW I believe Santa Fe uses epoxy for the additon of their stonework to the SS crickets. I would guess you would need longer screws for micarta but I've never taken one apart.

I don't believe anyone should need any inspiration to buy a Cricket other than looking at one...enjoy your purchase.

 

[Carl64]

The handle liners of the stainless Cricket are very thin. You wouldn't have very much room to work with, even if you drilled counter-sunk holes in the new slab.

On the Buck forum a while back we were discussing their custom option to have no pins on the handle of a 110. They said it's just glue holding the wood to the liner, and they never had a problem. Sounds like you should be able to get some glue that works good enough.

I wonder if those little Formica samples are big enough. The drawback is the edge will be visible, but you can go to your local home improvement warehouse and swipe virtually any color or pattern for free. It's also nice and thin if you want to decorite the knife without ruining it's flatness. If it doesn't fit on a single piece, you could get fancy and make a two-color handle, maybe with a stripe down the middle or something. How about a nice light gray stone pattern intercepted by a stripe of dark marble? Hmm, maybe I need to do one...