Plasti Dipped my throwers!

Q

qborchert

Joined
Mar 26, 2004
Messages
615
I don't know about anyone else here but I like the handles of my throwers to have a bit of color on them. To me, it makes the rotation of the knife a lot easier to pick up in flight for one, and a bit easier to find errant throws for another reason! Up until today I used a bit of bright spray paint on most of my throwers, easy enough to touch up but not very durable. Bright colored tape was another option I tried, but did not like the sticky residue it tends to have. I picked up a can of Plasti-Dip at my local hardware store for about ten bucks.

I did all ten of my throwers today:
(4) Cold Steel Sure Balance throwers
(3) Cold Steel True Flight throwers
(3) Gil Hibben cord wrapped throwers sans cord.

I used up most of the can, each knife got four coats of dip 30-40 minutes between applications.

Sure Balances.

True Flights with Hibbens in the background.


I really like how it makes the knives feel in the hand! I am going to let them cure overnight and give them a try tomorrow, curious to see how the plasti dip will hold up!
 
Very bright - ought to be easy to find after a miss. Interested in how the plastic will feel while throwing, if it will be "too" sticky, compared to bare metal. I have a few vintage knives that originally came with a plastic cover on the handles and they feel"weird" to me when throwing them.

I just spray painted mine, blade and handle with flourescent yellow metal paint. The patina on my knives was almost identical in color to my local dirt and they a real pain in the tail to locate on misses. The paint will flake/chip over time, but I just hit them again w/ another dose of spray paint.
View attachment 471370
 
How's the Plasti Dip working out for you? I was thinking of paracord wrapping my handles with reflective orange for both weight and visibility.
 
They have taken a few cuts and dings from other knives, and a few cracks on the pommel from hitting pommel first, but so far are holding up really well. Getting a better target set up so I can throw at multiple targets will save a lot on wear and tear. Visibility is not bad at all in green grass, but now that the leaves are falling and changing colors it takes a bit more to see them, but still not bad. If I decide to re-coat them I plan on trying DuraCoat or Cerakote to see how it holds up, but for now the Plasti Dip is holding up pretty well!

As far as grip goes it does not seem to affect my spin throwing at all, no spin seems more difficult but that may not be a fair opinion as I'm still new to no spin and kind of suck at it yet. No spin is fairly easy with the sure balances after they were dipped, at least the same as before I dipped them. My Hibbens on the other hand, seemed much easier to no spin throw before I dipped them. Time and more practice will tell, but I may peel it off the Hibbens in time.
 
I double-wrapped 5 Cold Steel Pro Throwers in Bright Orange Paracord in 5 ton epoxy yesterday for practice knives with novices....will let everyone know how that worked out in about 2 weeks.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Peeled the dip off of the true flights today, not holding up anymore. Back to the drawing board for high visibility handles.:(
 
qborchert said:
Peeled the dip off of the true flights today, not holding up anymore. Back to the drawing board for high visibility handles.:(
Click to expand...

The cord wrap is holding up well.....try orange, yellow or red.....mix up SLOW cure epoxy and put the cord for each knife in, one at a time, you have to work fairly quickly....will post pics tomorrow.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
2w2olkk.jpg


The handle on the right is the first one that I did....the one on the left is the last one I did.

This is about two ounces of 30 minute epoxy for dipping, and while it is SUPPOSED to be slow cure, something about paracord makes it set quicker.....you wind up with maybe 10 minutes of time to mess with it. The reason that I used paracord and epoxy is that I was very happy with the Cold Steel Pro Balance thrower BLADE, but the SCALE configuration was not good. The bolts holding the soft plastic scales on break very easily.

There are two screw holes in the handle. I threaded the paracord through these holes to establish an anchor.....no knots, just double wrapping the paracord.....even when the epoxy fails at some point, the mechanical bond of the paracord will keep it in place.
2vkm5ft.jpg

This shows the ugly joint I left at the cord terminus.....doesn't effect throwing at all, and has taken 5 good throws to the concrete without an issue. This is paracord with the core intact, I wanted to give a slightly bulkier grip for 1)deflection when the newbies clash the blades together, 2)more comfort.
33ksw14.jpg

This is a closeup of the "bad" handle wrap.....when these require a rewrap, I'll most likely make the cord longer next time, so that both layers are even and terminate in roughly the same spot.

Not sure what they weighed before I wrapped them because I didn't think about it, but they are right at 1 lb. now.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
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Going to give that a try! I am thinking of using finer cord than paracord, but this may be what I have been looking for. I'll post pics when i get it done.
 
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