Wow, these are gorgeous. Could you break down how you went about adding the antler scales to the one and the silver to the other? I'd be interested in trying that myself
Again, beautiful mods
Well, on the antler scales I just filed a flat on either side of the handle, starting with a bastard file and going to a somewhat finer file as I got close to my goal so as to keep it even and square. Doing a good job on this is the key.
Took some Elk antler I had and ground the face flat. Elk is best to get a somewhat flat-ish piece for scales as it can be huge. My girlfriend got this piece fairly cheaply at a now defunct Elk ranch in Minnesota. It was cheap because it was a big broken up piece, still good for scales.
I epoxied the pieces into the flats I had filed and clamped it up to dry. I did not try to fit the scales anywhere but against the flats I had filed, the main flat and the small flat area at right angles to that up near the lock. Everywhere else was sticking out hugely. Once it had dried I then belt sanded the whole mess (and it did look a mess) into shape.
Hand sanding with finer sandpaper, some stain (with a small paintbrush), and many coats of tung oil and I was done.
On the "silver" piece, well, that's actually aluminum.
With that, it helps that I'm a machinist. I milled a groove in a piece of aluminum and then just ground and filed the Opinel to fit in it. The Opinel didn't have a bunch of wood left and it was pretty fragile when I glued it in. Once the epoxy set, it's all pretty sturdy and I've put it through some fairly tough use.
Once it was all glued in I ground the aluminum to shape and buffed and polished it. In this case, since aluminum conducts heat so well I had to do a little at a time so as to not make it all too hot. I work on this stuff a little each morning before work anyway so it was all good.
Again with the stain and tung oil and paintbrush.
Hope this made sense. Ask me any questions.
I haven't worked on Opi's in years, you're giving me the itch.