Mom...I'm in love with a Stripper!!!

UNRL Ghandi

UNRL Ghandi

Gold Member
Joined
Oct 24, 2013
Messages
987
Stripped my first Busse this past weekend and there is just something about naked INFI that is beautiful to me. I've always admired the look from posts on the forums, but this was my first attempt and the outcome was truly awesome. Backstory: I received a TGLB with tanker gray finish in a trade a while back and had it sitting in a used Spec Ops sheath not doing anything in my safe. The Spec Ops is a good sheath, but it's not inspiring. I have some BGTGs on order, so I decided to get a Patriot Leather sheath to test out and that came in the mail on Saturday. The dark brown leather piece of fine craftsmanship Mr. Storm created was quite remarkable and made me get the ol' TGLB out of the safe and wear it around the house. Additionally, my wife bought me a survival book for Christmas and I started reading it and some advice in there put me into action. It basically said don't just own gear for a survival situation. Don't just know what to do. Do and practice these skills over long periods of time so you can do them well and quickly when you actually face a survival situation. Made perfect sense and something I've done with other gear, but not with my knives. The ferro rod that came with my Patriot Leather sheath was something I wanted in case I needed a fire, but I had never started a fire with one before, so I grabbed the TGLB and went to work. It was a rainy day so I figured I'd get double practice, making a fire with a ferro rod in rainy wet conditions. If I can do that in the back yard, I can do that in the woods. An hour and a half later with only a brief moment of success and a small fire that went out in about 45 seconds the score was Mother Nature 1 - UNRL Ghandi 0. In the process I dulled my knife and scratched up the finish a bit and some of the ferro rod pieces ignited on the underside of the blade and discolored the finish, giving it an orange tint. It was then that I decided to strip the finish and touch up the blade with my Work Sharp sharpener. I also decided to add the Altoids can (as seen in the first picture) with some tinder, waterproof matches, fishing line/hook, and some duct tape since Mother Nature will not beat me again. :)

Here is the semi-finished product (I still plan to do the handle but started with the blade first):









Now the hard part is deciding if I carry my TGLB on my woods trips or my ASHBM and SAR3 combo (1st World Problems am I right?):



 
Don't use the blade to strike the ferro rod. It will ruin the heat treat and chip the edge. There is a discussion here somewhere.
 
kjd2121 said:
Don't use the blade to strike the ferro rod. It will ruin the heat treat and chip the edge. There is a discussion here somewhere.
Click to expand...

I wondered about that, but the spine is rounded so I didn't know what else to use. Guess I'll have to add a striker to my Altoids tin. :)
 
Nice blades and good idea to get some practice in; I practice using my fire pit (it does not have a gas line) all the time, and my kids try their hand at fire making/ maintaining too. I love my TGLB as well... If you had to take just one blade, that would be a good choice. The big/small combo you have there is pretty awesome as well.
 
Yes, that is the decarb; that needs to be sanded down/removed to get infi to shine. It is tough to deal with, but can be removed.
 
Excellent, I'd say carry the tglb for now, that sweet little sar3 looks suspiciously coated... :p
 
Cool rig! Good thinking on the Altoids tin....

Fresh breath very important when dealing with strippers. ;) :thumbup:

.
 
UNRL Ghandi said:
Haha, agree! I don't think I want it to shine, I like that raw look. But if it should come off, I'll have to get the sandpaper out... :(
Click to expand...

Leave it on... looks cool. :cool:

Here's my NFSFNO after stripping.... very dark underneath the coating.

IMG_2603.jpg


After beating the snot out of it for a few years she looks like this:

IMG_0200-1.jpg


As you can see.... it is very durable at least on this particular knife. The discoloration is not rust... just tree sap/bark residue.

Some people refer to this as a "decarb" layer. If it is "decarb" it is NOT the same type of decarb from the 2007 competition grade models that had a decarb layer that was prone to surface rust. This layer underneath the coating on these causes no negative issues. And it looks cool! :cool:
 
UNRL Ghandi said:
Additionally, my wife bought me a survival book for Christmas and I started reading it and some advice in there put me into action. It basically said don't just own gear for a survival situation. Don't just know what to do. Do and practice these skills over long periods of time so you can do them well and quickly when you actually face a survival situation. Made perfect sense and something I've done with other gear, but not with my knives. The ferro rod that came with my Patriot Leather sheath was something I wanted in case I needed a fire, but I had never started a fire with one before, so I grabbed the TGLB and went to work. It was a rainy day so I figured I'd get double practice, making a fire with a ferro rod in rainy wet conditions. If I can do that in the back yard, I can do that in the woods. An hour and a half later with only a brief moment of success and a small fire that went out in about 45 seconds the score was Mother Nature 1 - UNRL Ghandi 0. In the process I dulled my knife and scratched up the finish a bit and some of the ferro rod pieces ignited on the underside of the blade and discolored the finish, giving it an orange tint. It was then that I decided to strip the finish and touch up the blade with my Work Sharp sharpener. I also decided to add the Altoids can (as seen in the first picture) with some tinder, waterproof matches, fishing line/hook, and some duct tape since Mother Nature will not beat me again. :)
Click to expand...


Member River-8 has some tips...

http://www.riverside-graphics.net/Skills/Fire.html

http://www.riverside-graphics.net/Skills/HRfire.html

http://www.riverside-graphics.net/Skills/RWfire.html
 
I wonder if my ash2 will look like that if I strip it. That greyish metallic raw look is pretty cool
 
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