Warranties be damned. Here's a thread for the "did it myself" modders to show the manufacturers how you made their production knives better or if you broke it and then fixed it better than new...Show off your mods. Tells us why and how you did 'em.
From the Top
PM2 52100 - I sanded the grind lines down and put a 220 grit satin then forced a rich patina. I felt the blade with patina would look much better with distressed micarta scales than with the original peel ply CF.
Spyderco Nirvana - I happened to have two Nirvana's and while the original design is fine, I thought I would experiment a little. It has a convex grind I did with a Rotozip, Spyderco Diamond Rods, Spyderco Sharpmaker rods, Spyderco bench stones, and lots of 180 grit and 220 grit sandpaper. The primary grind was thinned quite a bit, with a convex secondary bevel to avoid chipping. Polish is probably 95% perfect but I'm struggling to achieve a perfect Rockstead like polish. I may settle on a 220 grit satin if I can't get a perfect polish. I plan to sand off the blade markings at some stage. I cut a ramp for the detent ball to try to save what's left of it.
Cold Steel SRK Carbon V - It was my field knife when I was in the infantry and then just a camping knife when I changed MOS. It is the oldest knife in my collection. It sat in a metal truck box for a long time, I almost forgot about it. Digging it out of the truck box and learning more about it on the internet kick-started my collection. It has a convex grind a thin edge (for an SRK), and a rich patina.
WE702 - I bought it because it was a good looking integral at a decent price. The black DLC coating was crap. It was shiny on one side and dusty on the other. Instead of going through the whole "RMA to find out, they all suck" routine, I figured I'd fix it myself. I sanded down the DLC, thinned the edge and gave it a 220 grit satin finish. Vertical grind lines on the primary bevel and horizontal lines on the flats. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.
Spyderco Hungarian - I hated the sharp flat spine and the sharp "clip" over the Spyderhole. The angles clashed horribly with the curves of the handle so I grinded down the spine with the old Rotozip to a Persian style and sanded the spine to a subtle crown. When sanding the spine I scratched the blade a little so I cleaned it up with the old 220 Grit paper. It slices like a scalpel. This is my only knife that I have named....so far. This is Col. Kovats.
Benchmade 610 Rukus - I way over paid for this one on EBAY and it had a grind defect from the manufacturer. I couldn't really fault the seller cause it was a slight cosmetic defect at best. It always nagged me, so I went to work sanding it and filing it with the Spyderco rods. Its much thinner behind the edge and is very slicey. The flats are 95% perfectly polished, (detect a theme here?) and the primary grind is, you guessed it , 220 grit satin.
From the Top
PM2 52100 - I sanded the grind lines down and put a 220 grit satin then forced a rich patina. I felt the blade with patina would look much better with distressed micarta scales than with the original peel ply CF.
Spyderco Nirvana - I happened to have two Nirvana's and while the original design is fine, I thought I would experiment a little. It has a convex grind I did with a Rotozip, Spyderco Diamond Rods, Spyderco Sharpmaker rods, Spyderco bench stones, and lots of 180 grit and 220 grit sandpaper. The primary grind was thinned quite a bit, with a convex secondary bevel to avoid chipping. Polish is probably 95% perfect but I'm struggling to achieve a perfect Rockstead like polish. I may settle on a 220 grit satin if I can't get a perfect polish. I plan to sand off the blade markings at some stage. I cut a ramp for the detent ball to try to save what's left of it.
Cold Steel SRK Carbon V - It was my field knife when I was in the infantry and then just a camping knife when I changed MOS. It is the oldest knife in my collection. It sat in a metal truck box for a long time, I almost forgot about it. Digging it out of the truck box and learning more about it on the internet kick-started my collection. It has a convex grind a thin edge (for an SRK), and a rich patina.
WE702 - I bought it because it was a good looking integral at a decent price. The black DLC coating was crap. It was shiny on one side and dusty on the other. Instead of going through the whole "RMA to find out, they all suck" routine, I figured I'd fix it myself. I sanded down the DLC, thinned the edge and gave it a 220 grit satin finish. Vertical grind lines on the primary bevel and horizontal lines on the flats. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.
Spyderco Hungarian - I hated the sharp flat spine and the sharp "clip" over the Spyderhole. The angles clashed horribly with the curves of the handle so I grinded down the spine with the old Rotozip to a Persian style and sanded the spine to a subtle crown. When sanding the spine I scratched the blade a little so I cleaned it up with the old 220 Grit paper. It slices like a scalpel. This is my only knife that I have named....so far. This is Col. Kovats.
Benchmade 610 Rukus - I way over paid for this one on EBAY and it had a grind defect from the manufacturer. I couldn't really fault the seller cause it was a slight cosmetic defect at best. It always nagged me, so I went to work sanding it and filing it with the Spyderco rods. Its much thinner behind the edge and is very slicey. The flats are 95% perfectly polished, (detect a theme here?) and the primary grind is, you guessed it , 220 grit satin.
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