Project-niku

[propbuildervash]

Fellow pork enthusiasts, its going to be a fun week! I had a chance to pick up the "perfect" Short Butaniku blade from a fellow hog. Look at those handles....gorgeous! This user has a lot of character that was hiding under that already stripped coating. I will be giving this blade some overdue TLC and making it my own this week. What do you all have going on this coming week? Care to join me and we will see what we can do to turn this stripper into a hottie?

First things first, we are going to get new threaded inserts ordered for some beefier handle hardware! I got some 9/16th and 1/2 inch length hardware on the way, to be delivered next week.

As a note, I actually like the Frankenstein chatter marks that run up the right side of the blade, it adds a lot of character, so for now, they stay!

Tomorrow, we will start with some yoga and stretching and see if we can shoehorn this monster into my blast cabinet for a long overdue cleanup! I will see how that evens out the vertical machining marks, if it does not soften them up enough we can always give it a light sanding and blast it again!


Full Gallery
https://postimg.cc/gallery/9zTTmzw

 

[MattinLA]

I am pro-chatter marks

 

[JV Knives]

very cool project and I also agree to “save dat chatter”!

 

[coolbreezy37]

Awesome, I’d like to add to the consensus that the chatter marks are very cool.

 

[PeteyTwoPointOne]

Please tell me Project-niku involves different handle hardware

 

[propbuildervash]

Absolutely!

 

[tinfoil hat timmy]

as a busse Combat knife ''make it mine-er'' I'm very much looking forward to the journey!

 

[propbuildervash]

Lets get started.

 

[propbuildervash]

OK, media blasting is done. That took forever! Makes me wish i had a bigger air compressor so i could use a larger media gun that does not have a top-load hopper. That decarb layer was a beast to remove! Don't worry the chatter marks are still there, they are just hard to see with a uniform bead blast. They will pop back out once i start polishing.

I will start polishing it tomorrow.

.

 

[tinfoil hat timmy]

Lets get started.
View attachment 1752774

oh that poor poor edge.

 

[propbuildervash]

Its actually still pretty sharp. Which is not ideal for polishing. I usually dull the blade for safety reasons. I will hit it with the wicked edge and put a killer edge back on it when im done polishing.

 

[propbuildervash]

Things are progressing nicely today. I had to come inside to thaw out. Its only 19F in the shop today.

 

[propbuildervash]

Oh Yeah! Looking really nice now. Got the base polish finished. Cleaned off all the compounds using rubbing alcohol. I decided to leave the under handle coating in place to protect the steel under the scales.

Next stop, fresh satin finish.

Check back tuesday, handle hardware will be in and we should be done!

 

[ScoMa]

Lookin good!

 

[PeteyTwoPointOne]

^^^ Like what he said ^^^

 

[propbuildervash]

OK, satin finish has been applied, and the new handle hardware installed.

Tomorrow I will sharpen it.

https://postimg.cc/gallery/wjsJTGC

 

[ScoMa]

Looks pretty sharp to me.

 

[SRWeldon]

What handle hardware did you use?

 

[MattinLA]

Looks great! And it still got the sexy chatter

 

[propbuildervash]

used some

What handle hardware did you use?

Its a threaded 1/4 standoff and tapered head screws that fit the coutnersunk holes like a glove. Bear in mind the screws are TorxPlus, i highly suggest getting two Torx-plus drivers as the standard torx bits will leave bite marks in the screw heads. I linked to the hardware in this thread here:

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/an-old-hog-needs-love.1832279/page-2