little work on the 15

LeeBower

LeeBower

Joined
Aug 25, 2005
Messages
2,276
After changing perspective, I really wanted to try a 15 in hand and get a good feel for it. It was love at first sight! I knew right away i was going to have to strip it though, this much slicey can't be contained in the pumice like new coating.
I got a can of "Aircraft paint remover" from the store a while back.

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But after purchasing it I read the can and this wasn't that confidence inspiring...

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Well I tried it anyway and it did a hell of a job... the new coating comes off like a snake molting...

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I had stripped my 14 already and it was a lot harder to get the coating off all the way, I had to use a razor to get everything off the 14, this 15 came off in one shot.
I did some sanding on the micarta to get them even and got a bit of a convex going on the blade too. Looking forward to some woods time this 4th weekend. On the plus side, stripping didn't affect the etching at all.

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Here is a shot of the 14, I have been hand sanding in my free time off and on for a week and a half now and I am about to give up... There is a deep indent half way down the blade on one side that looks like the sanding belt dug in at the edge or something. I think it would take way too much material removal to get that indent out and it would take me another year to do it too. Going to do a patina and see how it turns out.

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Looking forward to cooking some and playing in the woods with the 15, the more I handle it the more I am liking the heft and feel of it..
 
Looking good ;)
The 15 really comes to life once the grippy coating comes off.

Nice 14 aswell. I'm planning to get a couple of those for my daughter and myself soon. She's had her own SAK for a year now, so it's about time she upgrades to a fixed blade.
 
That's really nice cOLD! I gotta get me a 15, I've been in the same situation as you were. First not liking it and then just seemingly falling in love with it. Good stuff.
 
▲▲▲What he said! ▲▲▲

Nice work on the 15. And, if that 14 is just too ugly to be allowed in yer house, you can send it my way. I promise I won't let it play with any "pretty" knives. :D
 
The 15 is, by far, my favorite Becker. Its been my most used, and abused, blade I have. That looks great man!
 
Nice blade man, I've got a 15 enroute as we speak (gotta love tomars fast shipping), I think I'm gonna designate mine as a hard use kitchen knife.
 
C_Tanner said:
I really need to get a new Becker short. Can't decide between the 15 or 17.
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I have a similar dilemma... except mine is just waiting on getting a 17 or a 7... Either because I love the Becker Clip points on both of those blades, the 7 is cheaper now, and the 17 would just be so handy. I have the 15 and it is one excellent blade. Its just a good cutter, and it feels very light and fast in the hand. Its just a good companion to have with you, have mine on my hip all the time... Today it cut up some cardboard, helped start a fire, did a little whittling, and cut up some veggies. It makes a good partner with the 9, or even a smaller blade. I run mine with a SAK like the OP.... never feel under-knifed ;)
 
C_Tanner said:
I really need to get a new Becker short. Can't decide between the 15 or 17.
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You've already got a 7 and 9, so you've got the clip points covered. Now get yourself a slicey trailing point. You'll be glad you did. The 15 is amazing for fine knife work.

 
Was very beautiful! nice work...I found it interesting that the product has a label in Portuguese / Spanish! :D
 
I used Klean Strip paint remover on my 15 and was amazed how the coating just fell off after 15 min of letting the K S soak.The BK2 and EsKabar with the old style coating needed a longer soak and a bit of scraping to get all the black off.
 
rkmoore said:
▲▲▲What he said! ▲▲▲

Nice work on the 15. And, if that 14 is just too ugly to be allowed in yer house, you can send it my way. I promise I won't let it play with any "pretty" knives. :D
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lol, I had this idea of putting a mirror polish on it, but I don't think I could spare the time to do it by hand and have it look decent.. If the rule of the house was all ugly stuff out, then I would have been kicked out ages ago. :)

bsmith_shoot said:
The 15 is, by far, my favorite Becker. Its been my most used, and abused, blade I have. That looks great man!
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Thanks brother!

Saymon said:
Was very beautiful! nice work...I found it interesting that the product has a label in Portuguese / Spanish! :D
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Thank you!
I think in the US, a large part of the construction trades workers are Spanish speakers so almost all construction related goods are labeled in English and Spanish. Surprisingly, I find a lot of stuff that is labeled in French too. I know in my area there is a majority of Spanish speakers, I got proficient for a few years while working with a Colombian, 2 Cubans, a Honduran, a Mexican, and a Hungarian that grew up in Chile (sounds like the beginning of a joke) but I lost it when I wan't using it every day. I wish I would have learned to speak Spanish for real as a kid..

Thanks all!
 
Nice work on the 15. Any pics with the new liners? :) Or the patina on your 14?
Polished CroVan looks awesome - until you use it a couple times. Since it's a Becker, use is what it's for, so I wouldn't worry about the visual imperfections. I think it looks pretty cool with those striations.

I'm no expert, and it's probably more complicated, but I think the main reason we see Spanish and French on so many of our products is NAFTA. Along with the US, Mexico and Canada are considered North America, so companies that make products for one of those contries make a single one to supply to the entire market. Or something like that.
 
I bought a 15 to use for food prep when I grill outdoors. The 15, 5 and my BK9 cleaver are a great team for vegetables, meat and chicken.
 
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