I bought the new Voyager tanto to see how I would like it. I immediately liked the combination of tanto blade and the shape of the handle. Ergonomically the handle shape is fine, the curve and the choil locked in to my hand, but the handle was in my opinion a little bulky. Also the surface pattern felt sharp and uncomfortable. So this is where I started:
I took the whole knife apart and took a Dremel with the sanding drum. I started to remove material until the pyramid pattern was gone. The handle needed some kind of jimping or grooves. so I took a cone-shaped coarse dremel sharpening tool. With this it was easy to make some grooves to the handle. Finish was done with two grits of wet sandpaper.
I have grown fond of waved knives, but I did not want to cut the blade. So I found an L-shaped piece of steel that was originally part of a bicycle mudguard. I started cutting and grinding it to shape and finally I got an add-on wave that I bolted on the hole left by the original thumbstud.
I made a new stud simply by putting a 3 mm bolt through a 5 mm nut, the head sinks in the nut sufficiently. The "stud" is larger in surface and more comfortable than the original in my opinion. It does not show but I rounded the octagonal nut a bit for comfort. The stud and wave are attached with a 3 mm nut on the other side, I used also some superglue on the threads and surfaces.
The wave action works as I wanted. I also made a Boye dent to the lock, I think it is much more comfortable now to use. The dent gives more surface for the thumb to press on.
I like the slimmer handle more than the original. Of course this is subjective, but this slimmer model fits my medium sized hand better. Also the new profile gives more information about the orientation of the blade and edge.
I took the whole knife apart and took a Dremel with the sanding drum. I started to remove material until the pyramid pattern was gone. The handle needed some kind of jimping or grooves. so I took a cone-shaped coarse dremel sharpening tool. With this it was easy to make some grooves to the handle. Finish was done with two grits of wet sandpaper.
I have grown fond of waved knives, but I did not want to cut the blade. So I found an L-shaped piece of steel that was originally part of a bicycle mudguard. I started cutting and grinding it to shape and finally I got an add-on wave that I bolted on the hole left by the original thumbstud.
I made a new stud simply by putting a 3 mm bolt through a 5 mm nut, the head sinks in the nut sufficiently. The "stud" is larger in surface and more comfortable than the original in my opinion. It does not show but I rounded the octagonal nut a bit for comfort. The stud and wave are attached with a 3 mm nut on the other side, I used also some superglue on the threads and surfaces.
The wave action works as I wanted. I also made a Boye dent to the lock, I think it is much more comfortable now to use. The dent gives more surface for the thumb to press on.
I like the slimmer handle more than the original. Of course this is subjective, but this slimmer model fits my medium sized hand better. Also the new profile gives more information about the orientation of the blade and edge.
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