Got number 2 pretty close to wrapped up, UPDATE: Kydex sheath

jonnymac44

jonnymac44

Joined
Sep 27, 2007
Messages
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Here is the second knife I've completed. It's pretty darn close to where I want it. I know there is room for lots of improvement but I'm happy.

I do have a question......I hand sanded the micarta to 600 with rhynowet paper. I'd like to get just a tad more sheen out of the micarta. I've seen other handles that were sanded to either 400 or 600 that had more luster to them. I like these but they look "dry" to me somewhat. Can I polish micarta with something like flitz to give it a brighter finish? I applied a couple of layers of tuf glide to remove the dusty look from sanding. What else should I be thinking about? I ordered some nice this G10 sheets from Chuck at Alpha earlier this evening in several colors so that I can try liners on the next one. That should help with handle appearance also.

Specs for this one:

Flat ground (mostly:o)ATS-34 blade hardened to 59-60 RC by Peters in Penn.
6.75" overall length with a 2.75" cutting edge
Dark brown Micarta scales with 2 corbys

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I like it, looks like one I did a month or so ago, just to see if I could HT 1084 at home. Yours looks much better then mine though and I all I did was a quick leather wrap on it and a rough sanding because it was just going to be a shop knife. Mine is a bit more bulbous too, yours has a nice sleek streamlined look to it.
 
Thanks, Unky:thumbup:

I'm gonna mold some Kydex for this one and carry it for a while. I like the way it feels in the hand and I want to spend some time using it to see how it holds up to every day activities.

....you say you made one very close to it, eh? What's that about great minds??:D:D
 
Yeah real close but yours is nicer. I roughed it out just to give HTing a try at home after finishing it and the HT taking I found I liked it a lot and use it quite often. Once I get use of my arm back I am going to make a couple more and put a good finish on them and nice scales. Right now I just want to get the stitches out and loose the dressing on my elbow, both are driving me nuts.
Here's mine
lilknife.jpg

Same overall length and blade length, yours has more flow though
 
Johnny, if you have a very smooth piece of stainless round bar you can burnish the handle with it. wrap the blade then clamp it in the knife vice and rub the bar back and forth over the handle, it should shine up nicely. If you have a buff it will be even quicker (wrap the blade)

Richard
 
Tinbasher said:
Johnny, if you have a very smooth piece of stainless round bar you can burnish the handle with it. wrap the blade then clamp it in the knife vice and rub the bar back and forth over the handle, it should shine up nicely. If you have a buff it will be even quicker (wrap the blade)

Richard
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Yeah, if you dont have a buff just buy a buffing wheel for your drill press and set the speed nice and high.
 
lookin good boss....has a tom krein kinda style to it....looks very functional.....ryan
 
Thanks guys, I'm workin' on it.....

Ryan, I would be lying if I said that Tom had no influence in my ideas. I'm a huge fan of his both his grinding skills and designs. He tends to make very comfortable and practical knives and that's what I was trying to achieve here as well. Dan Koster, Tito, and Matt Bailey here on the forums are also big inspirations for me.

As for the buffing of the handles, I wanted to try something by hand, maybe renaissance wax or mag polish? I have a buffer but I was hoping to be able to do it by hand just for the sake of being able to say "hand polished":D
 
That's sexy as hell Jon. Great work Bro!! :thumbup:

Mothers mag polish should do the trick. I've used it on G-10 and
it did a really nice job.
 
I tried a stab at some kydex for this one tonight since I don't want to carry it around in tape wrapped cardboard:D Here is the result of my first attempt.

I did the heat it up in the oven and mold it by gloved hands method. I did some touchup work with a hairdryer and spring clamps, but this will take some practice! I'm using .08 thickness because most of the colored kydex that I like is available in this thickness, but I think might pick up some .06 to start with because it might be a bit easier. It was really tough to get this sheath pressed down nice and flat, maybe a press is a good idea, even though I've seen many say it's not needed.

I did get a nice snug fit, which is something positive:thumbup:

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Looks good, not as good as the knife, though;). How did you handle the rivets? I'm waiting for my foam to show up, I'm going to make a press out of plate or plywood.
 
LOL, I know I know, it's a bit lumpy here and there:D. I'm thinking some sort of press might be the best bet. I could probably fix the sheath one flaw at a time with the heat gun/hair dryer, but it seems like that would take a long time. I haven't tried a press yet, so I don't know if it's better but I'll give it a shot.

As far as the rivets go, I have a set of rivet setting dies from Knifekits.com. I pop one die into my drill press and the other is mounted in a piece of 2 x 4 sitting on my drill press's work rest. It's so easy a caveman could do it!!
 
alb1k said:
Looks good, not as good as the knife, though;). How did you handle the rivets? I'm waiting for my foam to show up, I'm going to make a press out of plate or plywood.
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You can get foam that will work for a long time from the sporting goods section of walmart...its the blue campers foam

jonnymac44 said:
LOL, I know I know, it's a bit lumpy here and there:D. I'm thinking some sort of press might be the best bet. I could probably fix the sheath one flaw at a time with the heat gun/hair dryer, but it seems like that would take a long time. I haven't tried a press yet, so I don't know if it's better but I'll give it a shot.
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A press always works better for me, and is quick and easy to build...I think my last small press might have cost me around...errr...prolly nothing to make and has made a bucketload of small kydex sheaths :p
 
Leatherface said:
...I think my last small press might have cost me around...errr...prolly nothing to make and has made a bucketloadof small kydex sheaths :p
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......that sounds promising, but you never said how big of a bucket you were talking about:p
 
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