Home Spa Treatment For Alpha Folder

D

DesertChris

Joined
Sep 8, 2013
Messages
1,472
OK, Scored this off the Bay.
277 Alpha Folder with ATS-34 and no sheath.
It needed a lot of TLC which I was happy to do.

Dymondwood was severely bubbled, and I am not sure what would do that.
Then there was a bit of corrosion, and she was a little dirty.
The pivot action was a little rough too.















The scales were pretty dirty etc, on the underside!



Dymondwood sands nicely though





One scale Buffed on the wheel, and the other still with 600 grit sandpaper finish, for comparison.
Gotta love the way it shines up on the wheel :)



Buffed the frame and the exposed parts of the blade.
I am finding I like a polished blade, slippery smooth, and just seems to cut nicer.





Removed the Blade and Pivot parts, and Buffed the rest of the Blade, and all the Pivot parts :)



The Blade edge had some nicks/chips.....By the choil was a terrible one....



So I put her back together, lubed the pivot up, and proceeded to hand sharpen sharpen sharpen with benchstones, removing metal from the edge...... little Nicks and deeper chip are gone now, and she is shaving sharp again with a nice clean edge :)







Luckily I had an extra leather sheath that I had previously ordered. Was going to use it for a 279 I plan on making scales for, but this knife is now claiming it ;)
And gave her a short lanyard for easy sheath extraction.



Overall, I am pretty darn happy with how she cleaned up, and will definately give her some belt time.
 
Last edited:
What a beaut. You did a great job on cleaning her up. I have the exact same knife. Got it from Craigslist. I can't wait to put it into action this fall.
 
Chris, A good job. Those are worth restoring and can be taken apart to get at all it's hidden sides. Whereas a 110 is difficult to take apart and polish. Yes, polishing the blade does help it cut better and resist rust as well. It wouldn't hurt to give the wood a coat of boiled linseed oil as the effects of dry heat in the SW can be damaging. What bench stones did you use in restoring the edge? I think ATS-34 was only used for that model for 2 yrs.. A good steel. Thanks for the effort and photos. DM
 
dayum

Nice work, lots of life left yet in this blade, you really made it look better than new

btw, never noticed just how large that pivot screw is, man that's a beefy setup
 
Thanks guys, I enjoy doing this.

David Martin said:
Chris, A good job. Those are worth restoring and can be taken apart to get at all it's hidden sides. Whereas a 110 is difficult to take apart and polish. Yes, polishing the blade does help it cut better and resist rust as well. It wouldn't hurt to give the wood a coat of boiled linseed oil as the effects of dry heat in the SW can be damaging. What bench stones did you use in restoring the edge? I think ATS-34 was only used for that model for 2 yrs.. A good steel. Thanks for the effort and photos. DM
Click to expand...

Thanks David, yeah, the desert conditions are rough on everything! I might need to go get some linseed oil, that is a good idea.

I used both sides of my cheap 5"x2" Carborundum dual sided stone (got it free :) ) lubricated with mineral oil.
The rough side is pretty aggressive, and works pretty quickly. To put a new clean edge on it.





and then my inexpensive ($7) 6"x1.5" 1000 grit ceramic stone first lubricated with water, then a little at the end used it dry.



It took an hour leisurely working on it while watching tv, to remove enough metal to get rid of the chip by the choil.
 
Good. Normally combination grit stones separate the grits at midway of the stone. Your looks thicker on the coarse grit and a 1/4" of fine. Who's your crystalline made by? DM
 
Last edited:
David Martin said:
Good. Normally combination grit stones separate the grits at midway of the stone. Your looks thicker on the coarse grit and a 1/4" of fine. Who's your crystalline it made by? DM
Click to expand...

It is definately as you said.... the course side is much thicker.

Brother in law gave me the dual grit carborundum already used, so I have no idea who manufactured it.....

The ceramic 1000 is from Smiths. I use that one 99% of the time. Percect for touching up with minimal material removal.

I want to get a couple diamond stones, but that isn't a priority right now, since what I have already works just fine.

Sharp enough to shave with :)



 
Last edited:
Ok, just wondering. It was a brother-in-law deal. Be happy you have a brother-in-law like that. DM
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top