Bigfattyt
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2007
- Messages
- 19,226
AFAIK, no one has ever reported any damage to the synthetic scale materials. I don't even bother trying to tape them off anymore.
Removing slabs is relatively easy, just use a 1/4" drill bit on the tube rivet. You must clamp down the knife, a member here got a nasty cut when the knife spun around on him.
People say there won't be any damage to your handle slabs if you strip. I did my SS first. I don't remember what brand of stripper. I am glad I did not use a stronger stripper. Took some epoxie out of the outer layer of my handle slabs for sure. They were G10. Turned them silvery whitish, and a bit brittle on the outer layer. I left the stuff on for 15 minutes just as the directions stated. But really, after a little while they looked the same again. They were dull looking for a while.
I think I actually had to wear through/rub off that top layer that the epoxie got softened on.
Same stripper on my micarta handles (black micarta) handled ash1 cg, and no problem. I was for sure much more careful about covering the handles, but the job is impossible to do without getting some on the handles, unless you take the slabs off.
To remove the slabs, you have to drill out the handle rivets. Make sure you are safe, and clamp the blade, and I would also recommend putting the spine facing the direction of the rotation of the drill. (you would probably want to read a few of the tutorials on this site about how to reattach them with simple tool set up before taking them off.
One of the hogs on here was drilling his and made absolute hamburger on his when the drill caught, and became a spinning wheel of infi death.
As you can see in these pics, the handles on the SS look normal now, but I sure was concerned about it when I initially washed them off. Part of that problem might have been the hot water while they handles were a bit soaked in stripper?
I would stick with the Kleen strip people have gotten great results with.
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