Ornamenting a Kershaw Chive?

[MatthewVanitas]

Greetings. After trying and rejecting many possible EDCs, I was sufficiently impressed by my roommate's Kershaw Blackout that I ordered an Avalanche the next day. The Avalanche is intended to be my EDC here in California, until my service time is up. I decided that a Chive would make a good dress knife, plus it was available at the local Wal-Mart, thus enabling me to gain several crucial extra days of fidgeting with the Speedsafe.

I got the Chive mainly to carry as a dress knife when I move back to Seattle. Since concealed handgun permits are freely available in WA, I don't really need a knife with defensive ability. So, it's just a "general principle" knife, letter opener, executive stress toy, etc.

That being the case, I'm curious as to how I can personalize my Chive. On the Net, I've seen a few "scrimshawed" Chives, or a Chive with ivory or mother-of-pearl scales.

Looking at the the Chive, the top scale seems pretty simple; so, can someone remove the top scale and replace it with ivory, stag, wood, micarta? Is there any custom worker out there who stocks Chive scales? Sites like www.boonetrading.com carry a pretty impressive collection of walrus ivory, antler, horn, oosik (fossilized walrus penis), and other exotic materials, so a wide variety of scale options could be fun.

Regarding "scrimshaw", engraving, etc. I imagine it's reasonably doable to engrave a design into stainless steel. Any reccommendations as to a shop that does a good and well-priced job? Can they just scan in a drawn design and run it through their engraving machine?

Thanks for any reccommendations, and I'd be glad to see any photos of custom Chives that are out there. Take care, -MV

 

[narco99]

Frank Recupero used to do this kind of custom work at a resonable price. I don't have an address for him but if you do a search for his name here it might come up. Bladeart used to have some Recupero's for sale.