Magnum handles - To sand or not?

Raining

Raining

Joined
Oct 13, 2006
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Has anyone ever had to sand down magnum handles?

I have a FBMLE and the handles seem a bit big for my hands (I wear men's small gloves). I'm tentative because I don't want to "ruin" a perfectly good knife otherwise.

Any thoughts on whether or not to sand em?
 
That's one of the nice things about micarta - you can sand it to a "customized" fit for you. I've never sanded the more colorful micarta like that, but have sanded plenty of black and tan. It's best to work slowly and hand-sand so you don't accidentally remove too much. Works like a dream. :thumbup:
 
Cobalt may come along and comment. He posted about plans to do the same. Maybe he's already done so.

The other option is to tie a brick to each finger of your go-to hand and hang it off the side of the bed each night. Soon you'll be palming basketballs.
 
I bet you could contact Busse and see if you could send your knife in for some snakeskin standard sized scales. That would be pretty cool. Unique. Plus if you're wearing size small gloves, the standard sized scales would be a better fit for you. You could ask for Busse co. to send your original tigerhide scales back to you along with the knife so you could have them just in case you wanted to swap the scales at a later date.
 
pbubsy said:
I bet you could contact Busse and see if you could send your knife in for some snakeskin standard sized scales. That would be pretty cool. Unique. Plus if you're wearing size small gloves, the standard sized scales would be a better fit for you. You could ask for Busse co. to send your original tigerhide scales back to you along with the knife so you could have them just in case you wanted to swap the scales at a later date.
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I have the exact same problem. pbubsy's solution is pretty cool, let me know if you do this. I am interested to see what it would cost.

I have a HOGFSH which I think is the same steel thickness but has the regular snakeskin handles. This combo feels great for me.
 
I once inquired about paying for a slab exchange. At the time, the response was that the LE only comes with mags. Maybe after I've whacked it for 6 months or so, the slab exchange might fly.
 
I believe there is an extra charge to replace the handle scales. I sent back my HH as a result of my poor throwing ability knocking the scales off-center. Upon discussion, reflection and fee acceptance, I told them to swap out the magnum black scales for Snakeskin.......this knife has now become my "to the grave" blade.

But, the HH wasn't an LE version, so they may not be willing to do that. You'd have to ask.

Since the HH revamp, I received a FBM with magnum G10 scales and found that those didn't feel nearly as fat as the magnum HH scales. In fact, they felt very good. But when I got my Tan Black/Tan G10 FBM, I felt how "very good" should be when it comes to magnum handles and me.

I measured the difference in circumference between the Blk G10 and the Black/Tan G10 and found it was about 1/4" different.

Out came the dremel ! I rounded the center edges, leaving the flats alone. I used the 120 grit sanding band. I followed this up w/ hand sanding, to blend in the dremel work. I then buffed it on my polishing wheel, restoring the original sheen.

It now feels just as good as the Black/Tan G10 Magnums.

I supposed the bottom line for YOU is........do you want to keep it 'as is' for investment purposes, or do you want to use it? If the latter, then get out your dremel and proceed carefully. It's not that hard. :D

.
 
I loved my hogfsh with regular slabs, and I really wish the hogfbmle had come with that option. if the slab replacement was 50$ or so, I'd go for it as soon as I had the extra money. It makes the blade feel waaaaaaaaay more choppy. (in a good way)
 
I'm sure you can work out a scale swap on the FBM LE. Even if they wouldn't do it for you for some reason you could probably just buy the scales off them, remove your tigerhide scales, and attach the snakeskins with some of the 3m tape CRK uses and some slotted screw fasteners :D. That would be pretty cool too. Even more comfortable than tube fasteners. You could even have the option of swapping scales if you choose not to use the adhesive tape.

I REALLY wish I could get some snakeskin Eu magnum thickness scales for my Eu-magnum user. Now THAT would be the ultimate knife. It's already my favorite by FAR. I'd trade an FBM LE for one if I didn't already have 2. I still might ;). Cool knife, just over a quarter inch. Great feel, handles, bladeshape and balance. Forget about the FBM LE :D

JERRY! RE-INTRODUCE THE EU-17 MAGNUM AND MAKE AN LE THAT'S 5/16'' WITH SNAKESKIN MAGNUM HANDLES!!!!!!
IMG_2047.jpg
 
pbubsy said:
Even if they wouldn't do it for you for some reason you could probably just buy the scales off them,
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If they did do that (and I dont think busse combat would), they would probably mark the scale to know that they did not put them on themselves. I beleive it falls under the warranty as work that they did not do on the blade (meaning they can't cover it). The blade would still be covered, I'm just not sure about the scales.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. This one is a keeper, so perhaps I will sand it down slowly by hand.

Thing is, there are those textured ridges on the handles and if I sand it, they will smooth out...I wonder if that would affect the "grippiness" of the handles?
 
the pattern on my sfno was a bit 'sharp'. i sanded them a bit and they feel awesome!
 
Well, I wear large-x-large gloves and I never liked the feel of the magnums. LE#998 is going to have sanded handles this weekend. :thumbup:
 
Cobalt, if it's not too much trouble, can you post before/after pics so I can see what you did? :cool:

Thanks!
 
Raining said:
Thanks for all the suggestions. This one is a keeper, so perhaps I will sand it down slowly by hand.

Thing is, there are those textured ridges on the handles and if I sand it, they will smooth out...I wonder if that would affect the "grippiness" of the handles?
Click to expand...

All of my favorites/users have completly smooth grips. They are all older straight handle blades.

As far as 'grippiness', well, chopping with a SHSH when it's July and 95/95 (temp and humidity), can get real interesting bare handed. Ask my wife.

I did have some irritating sharp points on my HH Mag scales and broke these sharp edges with some sandpaper.

Really can't even see what I did, but the comfort level went way up.

Rob
 
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