Kershaw Tyrade G10 - Jimping & Grooving

B

Benny-x

Joined
Mar 17, 2010
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Hey guys, this is my first post and topic on the forums, but I've been snooping around as a guest for a while. It looks like a great place for those of us who just love knives for one reason or another. I'm happy to be here :-)

So, now onto my questions.

I recently purchased a Kershaw Tyrade in black G10 with a stone-washed blade. I have to say that I love the knife. It has a nice blade, great coloring, and a great feel in my hand, but I can immediately tell that it NEEDS jimping.

The first place is of course up the blade spine and also down the back where the spine runs into(thumb-ramp?). The Original Titanium Tyrade had Jimping in the Thumb-ramp are, but none on the blade, I want both. One running directly into the other.

The "grooving" that I mentioned refers to wanting Strider-type grooves(also called jimping?) cut into the handle at various points; like the bottom where your thumb might go in a reverse grip, where your ring and pinky fingers fall in a normal grip, and on the palm-swell on the back.

So, I was wondering if anyone else has come to this conclusion with their Tyrade? And has anyone successfully "Jimped" their Tyrade? Or, for that matter, any other knife in a similar fashion?

I really don't want it to look like a "back-yard" job, I want a factory feel to come from this job. So I'm very willing to put in some time and effort if the result can be achieved.

Lastly, I was wondering about when applying Jimping, in whatever way, to the blade spine, how would I refinish it or coat it in order to protect the exposed metal? What I'm getting at is, is there any increased probability of corrosion by cutting into the blade and exposing it's unfinished core?

I've got quite a few questions there, but I'm sure there's many people out there that have come across things like this before. I'd really love to be treated to your advise.

Thanks,
Ben
 
Yeah, I think after having knives with the jimping you grow accustomed to it but with the way the flipper is I don't feel my grip is compromised on my Tyrade. As for cutting some jumping into the blade I don't think you'd have to worry about the unfinished metal(the cutting edge is unfinished) but I would worry about making the cuts look nice and factory. I would say that it would take some nice tools to make it look right. I think the method that Nutnfancy uses with the skateboard tape on the backs of his unjimped blades would work well without looking too bad. I honestly thought about using the tape but I got used to the knife the way it is with the large grip and the flipper section to keep my hand in place.

Going a lil off topic, I kinda hope Kershaw will eventually make more Tyrades even if they aren't composite blades. The ZT0350 is a nice smaller alternative that is very similar and it has jimping on the top of the blade and into the handle. Although handling the 0350 after using a Tyrade makes you miss the larger handle but I enjoy that it is smaller. Perhaps one day ZT will make a g-10 version of 0300 that is the same size for fans of the larger folders.
 
I have been thinking that same thing for months, this needs jimping this needs jimping. so far my collection is small and my tyrade is my only kershaw. whenever i put my thumb on the spine the sharp 90 degree angles bite into my thumb. I was thinking about doing jimping myself bubt i thought i would mess it up
 
I totally agree, once I felt jimping I just couldn't go back.

And I just don't think i could get used to the Tyrade without jimping, Noumenon. I do like the flipper, it does provide a great finger choil when open, but the flipper it also a place that I think could do with some "roughing up". I find I need to come at the flipper at the right angle to make it work, but if it had soem cross-hatching on it there'd be no issue.

I did watch that video of how Nutnfancy did his own jimping with the rotar, it's not a bad method. I didn't like the skate-tape, I know it works, but not like I'd want.

So I was wondering if anyone else had another method or even the same method, but more refined. I didn't like how some of his jimping was deeper or the angles were slightly less that straight. I know he said he did a quick job and I wouldn't, but I don't want to leave this up to a slip of the wrist :-p

And the handle grooves on the ZT0350 are exactly what I'm referring to. Anyhting like that would be awesome and I think it would make the Tyrade feel so much better in hand.

And Snorkem, I've only had my Tyrade for about 3weeks now and it's the only thing I can think of every time I pick it up too. Well, besides how awesome and robust it feels. I still can believe how much the Tyrade dwarfs my Blur. I never expected the difference to be so huge, but I love it. It makes me appreciate both of them so much more.

I hope my topic picks up some more interest so that I can find a good method to approach this with. I'll be doing this for sure, so when I do find the right one I'm gonna do a walk-through incase anyone else might want to do the same :-)
 
The exposed CPM154 should be fine. I had a bead blasted version and it's yet to rust so unless you live in a very humid environment it should be okay. In case you do, I'd worry about the CPMD2 more than the CPM154.
 
I also own a G-10 Tyrade and have concluded that it needs jimping, just as the OP has. However, I have not had the luxury of enough time to get around to doing more than marking out in Sharpie where the jimping will go. The ramp of the blade and the back of the body just by the thumb ramp are the key places. The cross-hatching on the flipper sounds like it might be useful, but it might also be hard on trousers, or lead to unintended in-pocket deployment. Maybe just some roughness with an XXC stone would make the difference.

The G-10 seems grippy enough as it is, but the good news is that grooves in the G-10 can easily be cut with files, which are slower and more controllable than a rotary tool. The jimping would probably get done with a cutoff wheel in a Dremel tool. Making the cuts even will be a challenge, or require some sort of fixture to jig the cuts. Maybe when I'm less busy....
 
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