Modding my first Becker

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Dogzovwar81

Joined
Jun 14, 2013
Messages
503
Well, I haven't had my new BK10 for a week yet, and I already got the itch to mod it. I knew I was going to eventually, I just didn't know how soon, lol. First thing I wanted to do was strip the roughly textured coating off the blade. But I had to do something about the logos first, or otherwise I'd lose 'em. BIG thanks to Cschol here for suggesting the use of an old cell phone charger to etch with. I almost went to Wally World for a 9v battery.
Without further ado...

My Crewman
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Note, will not work when wire is connected to coated metal. Should have figured that one out sooner, lol. So I used the old bat. charger, a few q-tips, and a plastic cup with salt water.
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SCIENCE!!!
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When it hisses, smokes, and turns black, you know you're doing it right.
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I could have gone deeper, but I'm an impatient man, and I thought it was deep enogh.
 
Sanding the blade
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A lot of elbo grease later...
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My hot sauce, mutstard, and ketchup mix on the blade. I left it on a couple of hours
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After...
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Closeup of logo etchings.
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Nice job! I'm gonna have to try modding a cell phone charger and do this cause my electric etcher doesn't have enough juice to go deep, I think. It just sort of blackens the metal.

Paint stripper works great to get rid of the coating too if you don't want to sand it off.
 
Nice first time mod, Dogz. Etching came out great....goes to show what you can do without spending a lot of (or any) money. I like the stripey patina, too.

Dexwithers said:
Nice job! I'm gonna have to try modding a cell phone charger and do this cause my electric etcher doesn't have enough juice to go deep, I think. It just sort of blackens the metal.
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Dex, I don't think it's a question of juice; a 9V battery has very little current flow....just make sure you are using a DC power source.....AC blackens metal, DC does the etching. Terminal polarity is really important for DC to work: + terminal to steel, - to Q-tip = metal removed. If you reverse it, the system tries to add metal, which will cause some nasty stuff to happen at the other terminal. That's also how Alternating Current blackens, as it's cycling between + and - current flow. Isn't electricity fun?
 
granitestateofmind said:
Dex, I don't think it's a question of juice; a 9V battery has very little current flow....just make sure you are using a DC power source.....AC blackens metal, DC does the etching. Terminal polarity is really important for DC to work: + terminal to steel, - to Q-tip = metal removed. If you reverse it, the system tries to add metal, which will cause some nasty stuff to happen at the other terminal. That's also how Alternating Current blackens, as it's cycling between + and - current flow. Isn't electricity fun?
Click to expand...

Man, I have no idea what you just said?? :D:D

Electricity isn't my strongest subject. I will take your work for it, sounds like you know what you are talking about. The output on my etcher is 16VAC 1.1Amp. What ever that means? Do I need a bigger power supply to make deep etches or what? :D Sounds like mine is made to just blacken it. Ugh........ I'm probably gonna fry myself trying to rig up a DC power what-ya-ma-call-it.

Haha. Thanks.
 
That 10 looks great. Love that patina. Glad to see the cell charger worked out for you. Mine has a nice deep etch, I put some cold blue in the etch and sanded back the flats leaving the logos black.

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I love the ergos on this knife, but I think it could be a bit thicker. So here's my attempt at making liners for it. First, I traced the handle slabs onto a white DVD case.
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Then I painstakingly cut them out roughly with scissors.
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Cut out and shaped with a razor. Oops, forgot the lanyard hole. I'll have to go back and finish.
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Looking good, will change out for green liners when I make them.
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And more importantly, feels a lot more filling in my hand.
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Took a while and was a little more difficult than I thought, lol.
 
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I like the look of the white liners with the black. Nice.

And I tried etching the way you did and it works like a charm. Thanks for the info.

And Thanks Granite for explaining the electrical stuff. You are so right. I found a DC plug and it ate away metal. I then used the etcher I had which is AC and it darkened it up.
 
Lol. The white is supposed to be a temporary thing until I get some green liners made. But it is growing on me, I may just keep them. Now all I need is stainless hardware and some epoxy...
 
So, here's my 10. In it's sheath. Which, btw, was a bear to snap shut at first, but has since gotten easier.
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My crude survival kit. Firesteel, fishing line, hooks and weights, small LED flashlight, wire line, handle wrench, toothpick and a pencil. All fit in a Mentos container
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All in all, a great mid-sized knife for woods bumming, hiking, camping, hunting, fishing, house chores, EDC if you can. In my opinion, one of the best knives I've ever handled.
 
This is a fun knife to mod and use. Thank you all for inspiring me to do what I did. And for getting me to go Becker in the first place. Took me long enough, had I known about Beckers when I was still in the Army, I know I would have snagged a 10 or a 7.
 
Hey Dogzovwar.....

Looking pretty spiffy....... Glad you are having fun with the Ten....... Thanks for letting us be part of the journey....... Remember tho you are on a slippery slope and the hunger for modding May lead you astray......LOL...... Nice post and pics....

Ethan
 
Nice job on that etch. I stalled halfway through doing it without any current because it was so time consuming. Turned out great! Some good first mods. I'd use stripper instead of sandpaper though. Save you sore hands....
 
Thank you, Ethan, and I hope I get some time with it on my weekend. I work four 12 hour days, then I'm off for 4. Planning on going hiking with my son on one of my days off.
 
The tiger stripes in the blade looks great, and the stainless steel nuts and bolts are a good match to the overall style.

What are the white marks in the scales?
 
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