- Joined
- Apr 10, 2007
- Messages
- 7,395
I recently indulged my curiosity in karambits first by attempting to make my own and then, when I reached a dead end, decided to buy one. It was difficult to find one I liked that wouldn't break the bank, especially since I wasn't even sure I was really into the style. I finally settled on an Ontario EOD and received it about a week ago. Right out of the box, I was a little disappointed. First, the blade was duller than just about any other knife I can think of that I've purchased (no big deal, but never a good sign). Next, I noticed that the edge wasn't quite evenly ground and OKC stopped just short of making the knife double-edged on the upper bevel. The coating, though obviously rugged, was a bit more tacticool than I like and would get in the way of what I was already planning. Last, the kydex sheath had only two real configuration options, neither of which suited me.
Here's where I should have taken in-progress pics but I get a bit too fixated on my projects.
First, I stripped the coating with some chemical paint stripper. I've used it lots of times in the past but never on a blade coating. While it worked beautifully, it was just as nasty to work with as ever. Next, I reassembled the handle and went to work on the spine with a file and then my Spyderco Sharpmaker, being careful to maintain the angle as best I could. I also fixed up the factory ground side and put a decent 'utility edge' on it. In hindsight, a belt sander would have been the way to go but I did manage to make a very consistent edge and the Sharpmaker really did a nice job cleaning up after the file. Once I was satisfied with the knife, I marked the belt loop half of the sheath and drilled some new holes to allow for right-handed/tip down carry. Here's a stock photo of what a similar EOD looks like unmodified:
You can kind of tell from that picture how thick the coating is and it was probably the toughest finish I've ever stripped with the chemical method. Here's my knife stripped and reassembled:
It's a little hard to tell from my poor photo but the steel underneath the coating has a surprisingly nice forged-satin-patina (you'd have to see it in person
) look to it and I opted to leave it the way it was.
This is the edge I created on the spine:
I'm very happy with the way it came out and it's much better than how the opposite edge came from the factory.
Here's the new holes for the belt-loop:
When I had the sheath and loop clamped together for marking the holes, I noticed that there wasn't a whole lot of room to get a decent grip between the handle and the top of the belt loop other than one finger through the hole so I canted the belt loop back about 3/16" at the top to get a second finger under the loop since the knife requires a decent tug to free it from the sheath:
The next thing to tackle will be the uncomfortably thick and relatively sharp handles but I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet.
Anyway, I'm much happier with my knife now and I'm glad I didn't just turn around and sell it. It's worth more to me now than the original price and it was worth the extra effort.
Thanks for looking!
Here's where I should have taken in-progress pics but I get a bit too fixated on my projects.
First, I stripped the coating with some chemical paint stripper. I've used it lots of times in the past but never on a blade coating. While it worked beautifully, it was just as nasty to work with as ever. Next, I reassembled the handle and went to work on the spine with a file and then my Spyderco Sharpmaker, being careful to maintain the angle as best I could. I also fixed up the factory ground side and put a decent 'utility edge' on it. In hindsight, a belt sander would have been the way to go but I did manage to make a very consistent edge and the Sharpmaker really did a nice job cleaning up after the file. Once I was satisfied with the knife, I marked the belt loop half of the sheath and drilled some new holes to allow for right-handed/tip down carry. Here's a stock photo of what a similar EOD looks like unmodified:
You can kind of tell from that picture how thick the coating is and it was probably the toughest finish I've ever stripped with the chemical method. Here's my knife stripped and reassembled:
It's a little hard to tell from my poor photo but the steel underneath the coating has a surprisingly nice forged-satin-patina (you'd have to see it in person
) look to it and I opted to leave it the way it was.This is the edge I created on the spine:
I'm very happy with the way it came out and it's much better than how the opposite edge came from the factory.
Here's the new holes for the belt-loop:
When I had the sheath and loop clamped together for marking the holes, I noticed that there wasn't a whole lot of room to get a decent grip between the handle and the top of the belt loop other than one finger through the hole so I canted the belt loop back about 3/16" at the top to get a second finger under the loop since the knife requires a decent tug to free it from the sheath:
The next thing to tackle will be the uncomfortably thick and relatively sharp handles but I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet.
Anyway, I'm much happier with my knife now and I'm glad I didn't just turn around and sell it. It's worth more to me now than the original price and it was worth the extra effort.
Thanks for looking!
