- Joined
- Sep 5, 2010
- Messages
- 1,998
I've had an ESEE-6 for about a year now and was never too impressed with it aesthetically. It's an awesome knife, but after modding it, I really understand what it means know and what it feels like to make a knife truly mine.
Unfortunately I didn't have the patience to take process and before pictures as I was really excited to get this done, but here's an after picture:
And under a more natural, indirect light to show it's not really a satin of a finish as it looks:
So what did I do?
1. Bathed it in PCB etchant to give an engraved effect to the logo, lettering, etc., a cool trick BryFry demonstrates how to do here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/862339-Modded-my-Junglas-lots-O-pics-n-how-to
2. Stripped the paint off
3. Grinding a groove in front of the jimping to get a square edge for striking ferro rods.
4. Convexed the edge
5. Made some scales out of redheart by sawn, whittled, and sanded by hand, with some sexy contours for comfort and a few grooves on each side for better grip.
The only parts that went smoothly were convexing the edge and making the groove. The etchant ate off some areas I carelessly left uncovered; I got a really poor-quality paint stripper that did not work well; and the scales were not sanded well as there are some rough edges and even a couple of deep scratches (I was too excited to get this done, but I will be fixing it up later). But I'm still happy with it. Overall, the knife feels lighter in the hand, and the handle almost feels hollow and porous.
I will probably be doing this again. I've come to respect ESEE a lot for their great design and high degree of moddability. It's rare you see the term user-friendliness used with knives, but they truly design their gear well beyond the hard stuff, like steel type and dimensions. I'll probably be picking up another ESEE sometime soon just to have fun modding it.
Unfortunately I didn't have the patience to take process and before pictures as I was really excited to get this done, but here's an after picture:
And under a more natural, indirect light to show it's not really a satin of a finish as it looks:
So what did I do?
1. Bathed it in PCB etchant to give an engraved effect to the logo, lettering, etc., a cool trick BryFry demonstrates how to do here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/862339-Modded-my-Junglas-lots-O-pics-n-how-to
2. Stripped the paint off
3. Grinding a groove in front of the jimping to get a square edge for striking ferro rods.
4. Convexed the edge
5. Made some scales out of redheart by sawn, whittled, and sanded by hand, with some sexy contours for comfort and a few grooves on each side for better grip.
The only parts that went smoothly were convexing the edge and making the groove. The etchant ate off some areas I carelessly left uncovered; I got a really poor-quality paint stripper that did not work well; and the scales were not sanded well as there are some rough edges and even a couple of deep scratches (I was too excited to get this done, but I will be fixing it up later). But I'm still happy with it. Overall, the knife feels lighter in the hand, and the handle almost feels hollow and porous.
I will probably be doing this again. I've come to respect ESEE a lot for their great design and high degree of moddability. It's rare you see the term user-friendliness used with knives, but they truly design their gear well beyond the hard stuff, like steel type and dimensions. I'll probably be picking up another ESEE sometime soon just to have fun modding it.
