Lets see your modified Spydercos!

K

kgriggs8

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I would like to see pics of regular Spydercos that people have modified by hand. Why was it modded? How did you do it? How hard was it? Would you do it again?
 
Here is my rebuilt Salt 1. Its on its way to a professional wood checkering craftswoman known for being top of the line. She does high dollar stock carvings and checkering on guns that is pretty outstanding. I'm looking forward to seeing what she does with my lignum handles.

This is one of my favorite knives, so it will be hard to be without it for a few weeks. It sees lots of pocket time.

It sports:Titanium liners, titanium screws and pins throughout, and a custom made titanium pivot pin, phosphorus bronze washers and a custom made titanium pocket clip. Then I anodized the whole thing a purple/blue color. Of course the blade and lock bar are the original H1 steel from Spyderco.

I then surrounded the liners with lignum vitae wood scales. This is a very durable wood with a long marine history used in many old sailors knives. Lignum vitae should give the titanium and the H1 both a run for their money in durability and longevity as well as toughness.

I reprofiled the tip to a splinter picker point like the Delica but left my second blade, the serrated blade in the original factory shape where it is blunted on the tip. Since the pivot is adjustable I can swap blades out depending on my whim. Usually I prefer the plain edge though. It just requires removing the handle scales to unscrew the pivot and pop in the new blade. Anyway to most of these guys around here this is old hat and nothing new. But I don't mind showing it again if you haven't seen it and since you asked. :D

As for your questions. It wasn't that hard really, just time consuming. I did it because I liked things about the Delica, the Calypso Jr. and the Salt 1 and wanted to combine all the things I liked about all three into one folder. The bigger opening hole of the Salt and the non sharpened serrations I love. I also loved the choil of the CJ but prefer the splinter picker point of the Delica. So this was my solution to making it the best of all three.

STR
 
STR said:
Here is my rebuilt Salt 1.
Click to expand...

I have admired that knife ever since you first posted pictures. The next time you swap out a blade would you mind taking photos of it apart. I would love to do something like that myself and such photos would help give me ideas of how to start.

ljg
 
I can show you that without having to take it apart. Here is one from when I first started the rebuild showing all the parts. This is from right after I cut the original FRN handle scale in half length wise so I could copy the spring holder/spacer bar in titanium.

You can see the original FRN spring holder that I cut off the FRN scales to separate it so I could trace that on a sheet of titanium. You can also see the orginal FRN scale off one side to use as a template for marking my holes in the new liners so the lock bar and blade were in the same position as before only now in titanium. The only thing not in this picture are the phosphorus bronze washers, screws or the pivot pin which was made later.

Oh and thanks for the compliments.

STR

SaltandRice-copy.jpg
 
while not nearly as involved as that, here is a cf delica i took a dremel to...

spyder.jpg
 
STR said:
Its on its way to a professional wood checkering craftswoman known for being top of the line. She does high dollar stock carvings and checkering on guns that is pretty outstanding. I'm looking forward to seeing what she does with my lignum handles.
Click to expand...

Esmeralda?

Tom
 
I am thinking of doing this to my Calypso Jr.ZDP and changing the whole handle to a titanium.I know this would involve breaking the handles and using all new handles. What do you think? I understand there is a company that will cut titanium handles to your specs. is that correct?
 
Hi Danny. I don't know about a company that does that. I've never heard of them. A band saw can cut out the titanium in minutes using a bi metal blade.

What you would do first is take off the head of the pivot pin and the lock bar pin and punch them out. Once you have both the blade and lock bar out and set aside you use a small pair of pliers (usually, sometimes you can just grab it by hand) and take out the spring. Now whats left is all FRN Burgundy scales/body of the folder.

Then I take the FRN body to the band saw and cut one scale right off. Not down the middle mind you. Stay to one side so you slice it right off leaving the spring holder still attatched to the other side's scale. Now what you have is the flat original scale to use as your template for marking your holes in the titanium. Take the other scale that still has the back spacer/spring holder on it and cut the flat of it just like you did the first one and take off the back spacer/spring holder from that scale also so you have now in front of you the three separate pieces: two scales, and the middle spacer bar/spring holder.

Copy the back spacer/spring holder in titanium as well as the liners and use the original handles holes to mark the spots to drill for the lock bar and pivot. What I did was clamp the two liners and one handle scale together after using two sided sticky tape to hold them so they didn't move. Drill all the holes at one time using the original scale as a marker. Use the original pivot and lock bar pin size to determine the drill size you need.

Using my digital caliper I took measurements of the blade with two phosphorus bronze washers sitting on it. I then took my titanium and made two pieces (you can see them in the spine shot of the body in my first post) of titanium together to make up my spacer/bar spring holder. These two pieces when together, a thick one and a thin one are exactly the right thickness as the blade and the two phosphorus bronze washers. Then all that needed to be done was pinning the two pieces I cut out to create my spacer bar/spring holder together to make them as one. No big deal at all for me. Why didn't I use just one piece? In a word. Impatience. I wanted to keep moving and used what I had rather than order what I needed and wait. I used some small titanium pins. You can use brass if you have access to a Hobby Lobby or other craft shop. If not some old thicker gauge wire will work. It only needs to hold together long enough to get mounted into the folder body. Once it is pinned there as well it isn't going anywhere. If you have one piece that is the right thickness it will be fine.

If you did your homework right you can reuse the original pivot pin and the original lock bar pin and simply re-peen the heads to make them fit through your new liners. Cover them over with the new scales so they are hidden undeneath.

I used 2-56 screws. Drill your holes for these with a #51 drill bit and thread them with the 2-56 taper tap and wrench. Use whatever style screw you like and mount the scales on the body. I'd recommend sticking with stainless. You can save a lot of money. I went with an all titanium construction on my Salt. Everything is ti, every screw, every component, every pin, and even the pivot pin is a custom made threaded titanium pivot I made. I felt it had to be that way to still be 'salt water proof' in sticking with the original H1 design. I have in just parts over $100 in that knife. Then there is the original purchase price, and labor if you can add that in for you own knife. Now I have the hand checkering $72 bill to add to that. Its a $350 knife now. Not that anyone would pay that for it but you get my drift. :D

No not Esmerelda Catamount. Sherry Abraham is who is doing my scales with some hand checkering. I've seen her work and was quite impressed. I have not seen Esmerelda but let me know if you have a link.

Thanks.
STR
 
str,
Your knife still looks good. The guts of it even look good. My mods don't look that good.

How is that added thickness to the handle feel?
 
I like it lots better. I have large hands though. Basketball palming ones so I like a beefier knife in my hand. It has a heft to it and a quality feel to it now that it didn't have before.

I'd do a pass around with it and have thought of that many times but I really don't want it getting beat up or potentially lost. I have mailed it to a couple of guys to check out personally though but I think once I get it back from Sherry with the new hand checkering job that it will find a more permanent home in my pocket. :D It is by far my most carried knife. I call it my 'default' folder. Its kind of funny actually because I have knives here that I made from scratch blade and all and I like that H1 better than any of them. Its a great steel.

STR
 
STR said:
No not Esmerelda Catamount. Sherry Abraham is who is doing my scales with some hand checkering. I've seen her work and was quite impressed. I have not seen Esmerelda but let me know if you have a link.
Click to expand...

There can't be that many women who make custom wooden pistol grips.

Esmeralda mainly does grips, but I think she might do knives as well. She hand selects her own wood in Central and South America.

http://www.esmeralda.cc/

Tom
 
There can't be that many women who make custom wooden pistol grips.
Click to expand...

I thought the same thing. Apparently there are at least two though. Sherry seems to be more into rifles and stocks and Esmeralda seems to be more into just grips. Both look to be excellent at their craft though. I really like that basket weave pattern by Esmeralda and have already written her asking if it would be possible to get a couple of scales with no holes drilled into them with that pattern so I can use it in an upcoming folder project. Thanks for the link.

Here is Sherry's link if you just want to see some of her stuff.


http://www.checkering.com/

This is just awesome craftsmanship here by Esmeralda. I love this pattern. I see this on a knife of mine in the future if she will set me up with a couple of scales.

STR
 
 
jestyr said:
while not nearly as involved as that, here is a cf delica i took a dremel to...

spyder.jpg
Click to expand...

jester, did you do that by hand? If so, that looks like it takes some talent. That is a good looking Delica!:thumbup: :thumbup:
 
I agree with that Jester. Great pimp job on the blade. Show us some of it opened up.

STR
 
STR, that left handed Persian sure does look familiar;)

Here is my not quite finished Persian mod. For the record, I've done none of the work, because I'm nowhere near that good, but both of the guys who are making it happen are here on this forum;) STR is one of them, and oupa(I believe is his name, I've only communicated with him through email) is the other.

schempp.jpg
 
STR said:
I agree with that Jester. Great pimp job on the blade. Show us some of it opened up.
STR
Click to expand...

http://www.foolscourt.com/jestyr/spyderco

and it really didnt take that long to do...an hour tops. oh, and this was prior to putting the spyder into the grip.

btw, im loving everyone elses stuff, it is just giving me the itch to work on some other knives of mine.
 
hey jestyr,
can you share how you put that spyder into the handle? i love it. too bad i wasn't around when they had the military forum model with the pearl spyder in the handle. i would've gobbled it up.
 
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