My BK-2 evolution thread

[wasatchdan]

Thanks for the kudos, fellas.

I like the idea of some good wood scales. I was thinking cocobolo, but I've seen a some desert ironwood scales by Mountain Trailrunner on Youtube that looked awesome. But I think I'll reserve those for the BK-9.

Wallbright, the strip-and-polish is incredibly easy to do. I'm right there with you in not being the most adept metalworker in the world, and even I found it to be easy. The finish came off with some good paint stripper, using a plastic putty knife and brass brush to get it all off. It took two goes with the stripper to loosen it all up. After that came the sandpaper. First 100 grit. I did 400 grit next, but next time I'll go with a 220 first, and then the 400. Maybe an even higher grit after that if you want it really shiny. Then steel wool to finish it off. Just keep sanding all in the same direction and you should be fine. If you mess up, just start over 'til you get it right.

The knife will rust easier than if the finish is left on, but it's not going to rust if you keep some mineral oil on the blade. I use stuff I found at Walmart marked as a laxative. A big bottle cost me two or three bucks. Just rub on a little bit with a paper towel and you're good. And the nice thing about the mineral oil is that it won't taint food, so you can still prepare food and eat with your knife.

If you want a step-by-step tutorial, I used Bryfry's excellent how-to on his Junglas knife, found here.

There are also several Youtube vids on how to do this, all of which helped me tremendously. I love this community.

 

[jwaj]

wasatchdan that finish came out looking great.

 

[Wallbright]

Thanks for the kudos, fellas.

I like the idea of some good wood scales. I was thinking cocobolo, but I've seen a some desert ironwood scales by Mountain Trailrunner on Youtube that looked awesome. But I think I'll reserve those for the BK-9.

Wallbright, the strip-and-polish is incredibly easy to do. I'm right there with you in not being the most adept metalworker in the world, and even I found it to be easy. The finish came off with some good paint stripper, using a plastic putty knife and brass brush to get it all off. It took two goes with the stripper to loosen it all up. After that came the sandpaper. First 100 grit. I did 400 grit next, but next time I'll go with a 220 first, and then the 400. Maybe an even higher grit after that if you want it really shiny. Then steel wool to finish it off. Just keep sanding all in the same direction and you should be fine. If you mess up, just start over 'til you get it right.

The knife will rust easier than if the finish is left on, but it's not going to rust if you keep some mineral oil on the blade. I use stuff I found at Walmart marked as a laxative. A big bottle cost me two or three bucks. Just rub on a little bit with a paper towel and you're good. And the nice thing about the mineral oil is that it won't taint food, so you can still prepare food and eat with your knife.

If you want a step-by-step tutorial, I used Bryfry's excellent how-to on his Junglas knife, found here.

There are also several Youtube vids on how to do this, all of which helped me tremendously. I love this community.

Thanks for the response! I really appreciate it. My BK2 came in this afternoon and I am debating stripping it as there are already some scratches from messing around in the wood pile. I will probably just leave it as is though until after my first camping trip with it to see how bad the scratching gets. It is pretty minimal right now just not the prefect coating from when I first opened the box.