misground TAK finds new life

cody1

cody1

Joined
Jan 8, 2008
Messages
707
Hey Guys, Mike and Jeff know my story with Ontario. I recieved a couple substandard knives before Christmas. I decided to try and make something out of one of them. The changes I made, are working well. First I stripped the coating, then I cut the handle down, making it lighter, and lastly I reshaped the blade. I was very careful to quench the blade after each pass on the grinder to keep the temper in tact. I am going to rehandle it in some Oak burl wood, and made some new legs for it. Here are some pics. http://www.knifeforums.com/forums/showtopic.php?fid/69/tid/821921/pid/1520515/post/last/#LAST
 
Looks nice; what did you use to strip the blade and how effective was it?
 
Nice work - she looks great! I love my TAK - it was an ugly SOB as well - chatter marks or something all down the spine, and a poorly mated handle. It still cuts like a mother, though!
 
Not long ago I was about to get one of those TAK1's when the whole Ontario vs RAT issue arised... so I didn't get it. I also read a lot of reviews where people complained about the boxy and heavy handle.

I don't own much equipment but if I ever get one of those, contouring the handles with sandpaper (or even making new ones in blue canvas micarta just like I did to my RAT-7) should be easy. That would fix the boxy handle problem. The weight is something a little bit harder to deal with but skeletonizing the handles just like BRKT does on his knives (Aurora and Bravo1 for example) could help. I don't own a drill press but for those of you who are lucky enough to have one... should be easy as well. Drill some big holes on it and then use the grinder to enlarge them (Dremmel comes to my mind, even files and elbow grease). I wouldn't shorten it though.

The seath is said to suck big time... so you will need to craft another one out of leather or kydex. No easy fix here.

I hope that helps,
Mikel
 
I don't mind boxier handles... I really like the grip on the RTAK(1) as well - many thought it was too blocky.
 
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