Making Maple Scales for Kershaw Half-Ton

[Smashtoad]

Hi Guys. First time poster here. I caught the knife bug a few months back, and now have about five new knives. I want to make some custom scales, and maybe more in the future, as I dabble in wood carving a little.

I just bought a Kershaw Half-ton, and plan to use some real pretty spalted maple to make scales for it. I find the Half-ton to be wonderfully shaped, but woefully ugly. I also hate the Brand name blown all over the side.

Any obvious tips you guys want to give me before I start? The scale wood should be here in a couple days. I'll post pics as I go.

Thanks Fellers.

The knives I have bought recently:
Kershaw Bull Dozier
Buck 271 Alpha Dorado
Gil Hibben Combat Machete
Cold Steel Tuff Lite - EDC
Boker Arbolito Stag Caping Hunting Knife

I also have an old Frost double bladed folder, one blade is a deep bellied drop point, and the other a straight razor. Cool knife, I just don't know if it is a crappy Frost, or one of the older, better Frosts. Probably the former, but it seems solidly made. The blades are very tight, though, and snap closed with too much force, in my opinion. I'd love to make scales for it, too...but not until I can loosen up the snap close on the blades.

Regards,
Jarrod

 

[phillipsted]

Hey, Jarrod! Welcome to the Forum!

The Half Ton seems like a pretty cool project - and a nice set of wood scales would make that knife look a LOT better! Here are a few tips, for what they are worth:

1. When re-scaling a folder, pay attention to the thickness of the scales. If you vary too much from the original thickness, you'll need different screws to reassemble it - which complicates things.

2. I can't see the liners on the Half Ton - but they appear to be at least partially nested or embedded into the glass-reinforced nylon scales. This means that you'll need to mill out recesses on the inside of your wood scales to accommodate the liners. This adds quite a bit of complexity to the job.

3. Make sure your wood is either stabilized or kiln dried. Natural materials have a tendency to move (shrink and expand) over time and can wreak havok with your knife if they aren't sealed properly. My recommendation is to use a stabilized wood - and if you are using natural wood, ensure that it is dry and then give it a thorough (inside and outside) coat of a sealing finish.

As a recommendation for a future project - you might want to look at a Spyderco Mule blade. These are blades in premium steels without scales that are released by Spyderco every few months. If you catch the factory sales (the only way to get them direct), they are usually in the $60-$70 range - but aftermarket prices are usually higher. They are a great way to practice on your scale-making skills - while ending up with a cool fixed blade in a premium steel.

Cheers!
TedP