- Joined
- Mar 8, 2014
- Messages
- 218
I picked up my first Morakniv today (Allround 5.8 carbon) whereupon I discovered that the sheath is only made for right-handers. As such I decided to do a lefty conversion, and seeing as how the knife was so inexpensive, I figured I'd do it on the cheap (KLR style). All told, it cost me $1.99.
First off, here's the knife:
The things I used for the conversion:
I also used some masking tape, a pencil, and a shorter, more maneuverable knife.
See those rivets?
I used the long-nosed pliers to mash up the inner parts for easy removal. This actually took about 5 times as long as I anticipated:
One down...
...and they're out:
Now to mark where the lefty mounting holes go. I tried to give it a slight forward cant, but it ended up being neutral...close enough:
Now, the plan was to heat a needle and melt the holes through the plastic sheath. However, I couldn't find a needle and I had a blowgun dart nearby so...
I then used the shorter, more maneuverable knife to clean up the melty residue around the edges of the holes (sorry, no "during" pictures of this step):
I got the rivets ready...
...lined the male pieces up with the holes in the sheath and the belt loop...
...and clipped the female pieces onto them:
I then used the vice grips (starting loose and tightening about 1/4 turn with each squeeze) to close the rivets (it took 4 or 5 squeezes to get them closed):
Ta da!
Then I decided that I didn't like the looks of the empty holes left from when the belt loop was on the other side, so I decided to put some decorative rivets in those too. Since they were on the outside, I decided to tape one of the jaws of my vicegrips to keep from scratching them:
And now you'd never know it was ever made for the majority:
Took me about 20 minutes, I think...wasn't really keeping track. Anyway, enjoy!
First off, here's the knife:
The things I used for the conversion:
I also used some masking tape, a pencil, and a shorter, more maneuverable knife.
See those rivets?
I used the long-nosed pliers to mash up the inner parts for easy removal. This actually took about 5 times as long as I anticipated:
One down...
...and they're out:
Now to mark where the lefty mounting holes go. I tried to give it a slight forward cant, but it ended up being neutral...close enough:
Now, the plan was to heat a needle and melt the holes through the plastic sheath. However, I couldn't find a needle and I had a blowgun dart nearby so...
I then used the shorter, more maneuverable knife to clean up the melty residue around the edges of the holes (sorry, no "during" pictures of this step):
I got the rivets ready...
...lined the male pieces up with the holes in the sheath and the belt loop...
...and clipped the female pieces onto them:
I then used the vice grips (starting loose and tightening about 1/4 turn with each squeeze) to close the rivets (it took 4 or 5 squeezes to get them closed):
Ta da!
Then I decided that I didn't like the looks of the empty holes left from when the belt loop was on the other side, so I decided to put some decorative rivets in those too. Since they were on the outside, I decided to tape one of the jaws of my vicegrips to keep from scratching them:
And now you'd never know it was ever made for the majority:
Took me about 20 minutes, I think...wasn't really keeping track. Anyway, enjoy!