My first shot at modifying. (Alot Of Pics)

B

bladeboss

Joined
Mar 6, 2012
Messages
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So for Christmas I got a Torx wrench set.
(YES! :D)
And I've been ripping all sorts of stuff apart and learning how my knives work.
My friend's Chive was the first victim.
He went fishing in the ocean from shore, and a big wave swept him down.
Talk about rust.....
He hated the Speed-safe so I took it out.
Next victim was my Griptilian.
I've dumped so much oil in there, it was black with pocket fuzz.
Amazing how much of a difference it made just having the fuzz and dirt taken out.
And then, the next victim was my Cold Steel Mini AK-47...
First time I took it apart, it was a test run because taking apart a "back"lock was foreign to me.
After I learned how to take it apart and put it back together, I decided that Cold Steel folders look exponentially better without coating.
So The next day (being today) I ripped the coating off.
Man. That took way longer than I expected.
I decided on using a razor blade (to preserve the stonewash), and 2 hours later, I was MUCH happier with my beloved Mini AK.
I went slow, and made sure that every little nook and cranny of the blade and lockbar were silver again.
I know, there's much better modifications on these forums, but this was my first, and it's like getting a new knife all over again. :)
Thanks for reading my long-winded post.
Lemme know watcha think.
Bladeboss
BEFORE
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AFTER
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Nice work. :thumbup:

I've modified just about every knife I've ever owned. Drilling holes in handles for greater grip when flipping a folder open, replacing plastic back spacers with metal ones, grinding off sharp thumb serrations, grinding edge choils for better sharpening, grinding off metal from bolsters to reduce weight, changing blade profiles, replacing guards and pommels on fixed-blades with hand-made ones, etc, etc.

I grew up using tools and making things with them so modding knives came naturally. It's a natural compulsion that some of us have to want to make our things better and more suited to our personal needs and tastes. I often think about how lucky I am that I don't have to settle for my things the way they come and that I have the ability to change them at will.

And it's just like you said, after a mod it's like having a new knife.

There was a thread a little while ago asking what we love about our knives, and I forgot to mention the satisfaction I get from making a knife better.
 
Did you just scrape the coating off with a razor blade? I feel like doing that to my Recon 1 now thanks to you. It looks really good without the coating.
 
Looks great. I did the same with my Lawman. It looks 100% nicer, now.

But yeah, you can just scrap the coating off with a butter knife. Its super easy and only takes an hour, or so.
 
Looks much better.Nice job.A tip for future mods,heat up the screws with a soldering gun to break the loctite loose so you don't strip them.
 
heavyfoldersarebest said:
Would it be a bad idea to scrape the coating off with another knife?
Click to expand...
Yes.

Two reasons:

1. You use a knife with higher or similar hardness to the one you are scraping, and you are going to scratch up and mar the steel.
2. The knife you use to scrape it will get a bunch of annoying edge damage.

Just use a butter knife or flat head screwdriver. The steel will be too soft to bother the CS you are scraping, and you won't care about damaging something so common and cheap.
 
heavyfoldersarebest said:
Would it be a bad idea to scrape the coating off with another knife?
Click to expand...

That's what I did, didn't scratch my lawman at all. I used the blade in a little Gerber multitool I had laying around. It dulled the blade quite a bit but that's no big deal to me as I don't use it for anything.
 
Nice work, Bladeboss. Making something your very own by improving it is so satisfying.

Cold Steel really should offer a run of their Triad folders without the coating. They might be surprised by the positive reception.
 
Nice job bladeboss! I actually did that mod on my regular AK. It really does give it a nicer look. I also took a steel brush to the handles to give them a good soft feeling. Definitely gives the knife a personal touch!
 
Thanks for the great feedback guys!
heavyfoldersarebest said:
Did you just scrape the coating off with a razor blade? I feel like doing that to my Recon 1 now thanks to you. It looks really good without the coating.
Click to expand...
Late response (kinda) but as others said, a harder steel will scratch the finish, so a thin, cheapy steel (razorblade or screwdriver) will work good.
 
Looks great bladeboss! For future reference, that cold steel coating is pretty cheap, it rubs right off with a little paint stripper. Unfortunately I found that out on my second recon 1 stripping, first one took about an hour of sanding...
 
looks good i just tried to scrap some coating off, of my old beat up ak47 and it works, but man it takes forever, take the easy way next time and just use some liquid or gel stripper, than coating will come off in a few minutes no need to spend hours using a screwdriver or boxcutter and waste hours and hours, Looks nice though, I just bought a new recon 1 spearpoint as my beater work knife and I'm gonna strip it when it gets here.
 
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