Gun Blue Steel BK14 mods...

Sagewood

Sagewood

Joined
Feb 8, 2009
Messages
722
I finally got around to modding an extra BK14 I had. First I did some jimping on the spine and on the back portion of the handle. I got the idea for the rear jimping from someone that did it here on the forums. Anyone got a link to that topic? I made sure to do the jimping before I stripped it so I could see how even the jimping was with the remaining black paint. All I did is make a mark every 1/8" inch, and then started filing. Then I stripped it, and did a PCB acid etch. It didnt turn out as dark as I wanted, so I picked up some gun blueing. After a couple of coats of that, I polished it to a nice shine with steel wool and oiled it. I picked up some Izula scales and dyed them a dark brown with leather dye, oiled them with the same oil for the blade, and gave them a quick buff. Then I replaced the stainless screws with some black oxide screws I have in my hardware bins.

Before the gun blueing -

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After the blueing...

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Now on to making a sweet sheath for it :D

Thanks for looking!
 
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Nice job on this one. I like the rear jimping. I saw that on an Izula once but not a BK14 yet. I like how dark the steel came out and the dye job on that micarta almost looks great. The rear end almost looks like a gear and matches the butt end of the BK11 much better now.
 
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What he said. I always wanted to blue some of my blades, but I was unsure of all this acid etch etc.. is that a requirement? What function does it serve? How's the rear jimping working for you?

trailbum said:
Very nice. Directions please.
Click to expand...
 
Arkanian said:
What he said. I always wanted to blue some of my blades, but I was unsure of all this acid etch etc.. is that a requirement? What function does it serve? How's the rear jimping working for you?
Click to expand...

The acid etch just darkens the steel kind of like a patina.
[video=youtube;KRA2EHZwuCs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRA2EHZwuCs[/video]
 
I assume you cold blued it? It looks good, I love the look of a nice blued knife. I patina'd and blued my Bk2, but it doesn't look as good as that does :).
 
trailbum said:
Very nice.
Directions please.
Click to expand...

Before the cold blue I had cleaned the knife with soap and water, and then wiped it down with rubbing alcohol. Then I took a wool dauber(you can use a sponge), dipped it into the cold blue, and wipe it on the knife. Its a clear liquid that slowly causes a chemical reaction on the knife, so its not like a paint that you would have to watch where you have your fingers or anything like that. I left it on for about a minute, then wiped it off and polished it with steel wool. Then another coat of blueing. I did that about 3 or 4 times until it was a fairly consistent coloring.

Arkanian said:
What he said. I always wanted to blue some of my blades, but I was unsure of all this acid etch etc.. is that a requirement? What function does it serve? How's the rear jimping working for you?
Click to expand...

I was expecting it to become a much darker color, almost like a dark charcoal. All it seemed to do is give the stripped finish a flat color instead of darkening it. I am pretty sure I did a 2/1 ration of water/PCB etchant. Maybe it wasnt strong enough. I am kind of doubting it would have made a difference with how the blueing turned out though.

To be honest, I dont think the rear jimping does much. Might pinky doesnt seem to make enough contact on it to really improve the handles performance by any means. Just looks cool :D

jukrui said:
I love it! Hopefully you got the idea from me. I am thinking about blueing mine as well.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/990686-My-Eskabar-s-New-Look
Click to expand...

Yep! Thanks the idea, I am really digging the look of it. Looks like a sprocket. I thought about going around the entire radius, but I figured I better not mess with it anymore. I've had a habit of trying to perfect a project only to screw it up somehow. :rolleyes:
 
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Goose what type of file did you use for the jimping? Looks great, like it came professionally done on the knife from the factory.
 
Time to go change my pants, I bhat sricks when I saw the sexyness of that blued jimping and cowboy leather brown micarta!
 
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Goose to get a good dark finish from the PCB etchant I used 1 part etchant to 4 parts HOT water, let sit for approximately 5 minutes, remove, wash, dry, then repeat about 3-5 times. That made it very, very dark.

That 14 looks pretty darn good though. Might have to duplicate that rear jimping you got there.

:thumbup:
 
oXide said:
Time to go change my pants, I bhat sricks when I saw the sexyness of that blued jimping and cowbow leather brown micarta!
Click to expand...

I do believe you have selected the wrong idiom.

*shakes magic 8-ball*

"Please try again."


That's a sweet set of mods, Goose. Just enough, not too much. I look forward to seeing it clad. You'll probably wrap it up in some scrap denim from an old pair of jeans with some wrapped paracord to keep it on, right?

-Daizee
 
daizee said:
I do believe you have selected the wrong idiom.

*shakes magic 8-ball*

"Please try again."


That's a sweet set of mods, Goose. Just enough, not too much. I look forward to seeing it clad. You'll probably wrap it up in some scrap denim from an old pair of jeans with some wrapped paracord to keep it on, right?

-Daizee
Click to expand...

I try to avoid walking myself into left handed zones, it never really ends well for me.

Damn, I look at the thread for replies and now I need to go change again!
 
Loving the rear jimping! Adds a great look to the knife.
Also the color of the micarta looks great! Hmmmm. Thought I was done with my 14, now im not so sure...
 
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