New handle on a V1 Bushcraft knife

A

Amon81

Joined
Jun 20, 2009
Messages
47
Hello all

I got into knifes last year, I've always liked and had a few, but getting more and more into bushcraft I wanted a good knife and it grew from there.

Well I got and Enzo Trapper in O1 and was hooked.

I was browsing through /k/ on 4chan one day as I do now and then and I saw an image of a bushcraft style knife cutting through a 2" green wood branch as hooked on finding out what it was and if it was in my price range.

Infact I saved it:



Thanks to British Blades forum I found out it was the Bushcraft knife. I didn't want to have any issues with good old UK customs so I had a look in BB's classifieds. I found one and got it a V1 in CPM 3V with a nice leather sheath for about £120, Now I say nice but wasn't impressed with just how loose the knife was in the sheath as it felt like it was made for a knife with a 6-7mm bigger handle.



I really liked the knife BUT couldn't use it for anything other than cutting cord and things like that as it was way to thin and made my hand ache with any kind of carving.



I like to be able to carve with all my knifes, doing so means I can just grab any one and make what I need. Well I took the plunge and rehandled it and it's great now, just the right size.







Never had a CPM 3V knife before and I really like it, plus I can see why people struggle to get a razor edge one it. I use Japanese waterstones which makes it pretty easy.



I'm now able to get a real strong grip on it.



It also feels great when doing controlled power cuts, before it felt like it was going to slip out my hand.

I like darker woods and ended up using walnut 'dymondwood' handle scales, 6mm solid brass pins and a 6mm lanyard tube. I just soaked it in raw linseed oil and it provides a great grip.

Its a great size knife for all bushcraft projects and feels really strong. A top blade!

It now fits the sheath perfectly.





No chance that it'll fall out now.

If I'm honest I actually like it's looks better now as I like a wood handle on a knife.
 
Well they do say a knife is a very personal thing.

I just used my beltsander to the point where it felt perfect for my hand and then switched to sandpaper for the final smoothing.

I don't have the longest fingers but I do take a large glove thanks to big palms and wide hands, so it was a matter of fitting my palm more than fingers.

I have seen largley on this forum that the later generations of the Bushcraft knife have thicker scales. Thats not all that suprising as mine was only about 1cm thick.
 
Amon,
The pictures you saved of the Koster Gen-1 Bushcraft cutting the sapling are of my friend Kevin Estela. He is a survival instructor at the Wilderness Learning Center and Moderator on the Wilderness Survival Skills Forum. His Gen-1 was rehandled as he found it too thin. I got a Gen-1 last year and had mine rehandled by Kevin's guy as well. We all came to the same conclusion which is consistent with the new design Gen-2's having wider/thicker handle scales. I recently revisited my Gen-1 and it is a cutting machine. I just got back from a weekend outing and the Gen-1 got a serious workout. I batoned a lot of wood and must have made a hundred feather sticks. I still haven't put it on a stone and it can shave hair.
Good job on the handle, it came out real nice. ood luck with the knife.
 
Mine needed some attention when I got it. It had 3 people own it before me and I don't think any of them sharpened it as other than being a bit dull the blade looked like new.

It was sharp but I like my knifes RAZOR sharp. Now it will slice through paper as if its not there, which takes alot more work on 3V than my favorite metal for a knife O1. But it holds the edge for ALOT longer.

This is what it would do out the packing:



Good yes, but now with the same amount of force behind it now I'd cut through that wood.

I spent a while on my Japanese waterstones (800, 1200 and 6000) and got a mirrior edge one it, just how I like it.

I'm now very happy with this knife, a real work hourse!
 
superfluities said:
Thick? Maybe not! Big hands? Tinder source? Just like em' thick?
I just had fellow knife maker criticize my Koster 3V BM for all the things I liked about it?????
To each his own!-IMHO
Click to expand...

Back 'er on down there, big dog...... just an observation not a criticism, indictment or any other form of judgement.
 
Amon81,

I also hav a Gen1 that I would like to put thicker scales on. How did you remove the old scales? Did you just grind them off?

Looks real good from my computer.
 
Thanks

It was really easy I drilled out the aluminium rivits, which took seconds and then boiled the handle in water for about 20 seconds, the glue just breaks down and the scales just pop off.

I used slow drying expoy on my handle. The same would apply, if you made a mistake and needed to start again.
 
Amon81 said:
Thanks

It was really easy I drilled out the aluminium rivits, which took seconds and then boiled the handle in water for about 20 seconds, the glue just breaks down and the scales just pop off.

I used slow drying expoy on my handle. The same would apply, if you made a mistake and needed to start again.
Click to expand...

Amon81

Thanks so much. I have a full blown shop and feel I am pretty good at working on things, but it never even occured to me to drill out the handle pins:confused:

Thanks again.:thumbup:

Paul
 
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drilling pins works great!

You can also cut the handles off with a bandsaw by carefully running it edge-first with the bandsaw blade right next to the steel. "Pull" the knife through the saw, rather than push. And cover the knife blade to avoid cutting yourself!


Great thread, guys.

:thumbup:

Dan
 
Happy to help valcas1.

Nice to hear from you too Dan on this great little knife.

I found drilling easy, well I should as aluminium is nice and soft. I also found drilling with the aluminium rivits ment I wasn't going to drill into the knife metal as the outer top of the rivit popped out the hole as soon as I drilled through the head and the other side also popped out. I also drilled out the lanyard tubes too again easy, but it tried to snag once, hence why I clamped the knife down first.

I found a couple of extra photos:

None of me drilling but this is boiling it:



The water ended just before the blade so I didn't mess with the heat treat.

And here is a minute or so after 20 seconds in boiling water.



I got this tip off British Blades forum. I was thinking I was going to have to saw or sand it down, but this meant it was easy and ment no mess to clean up after. The only glue left was a tiny bit in the inside holes
 
Yeah the Gen 1 was my favorite model but the scales were too thin.

I sent mine back to Dan along with a set of 3/8" scales and he sent me another with the handle unshaped so I could shape it myself.

That one is still my favorite Kosters and also one of my top 5 knives I own:thumbup: Also like the thumb grooves on the first model were so much more extensive:thumbup:

You did a great job on those scales Amon.


On the sheath I take my knife in and out of the sheath all the time so I like a sheath to be deep so the knife is secure but loose so I don't have to do a lot to get it back in the sheath.

tf3.jpg
 
spiralarchitect said:
Back 'er on down there, big dog...... just an observation not a criticism, indictment or any other form of judgement.
Click to expand...
After reading my post it does seem way too serious for my actual sentiment. Sorry about that -Just should have added a few LOL's!:D:D
I'm better at face to face communication.
 
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