providing CRK with inlay material

M

Muaddib1116

Joined
Dec 26, 2010
Messages
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I don't have anything particular in mind, but I'm curious, can you send CRK material of your own to inlay a knife with?
 
I doubt it.
CRK is the one you need to ask though. Shoot them an email or give them a call.
 
I asked the same question, but didn't direct it to CRK. If you find out that it's possible let me know.

These are my carving knives. I'd love to get a Sebbie inlayed in the stuff!

IMAG0998_zps04e574d6.jpg
 
I doubt it, but the only ones that can tell you No is CRK. I think because they work with such precise cuts and such that they are very picky ( for lack of a better word ) when it comes to inlay materials. Plus all their inlays are stabilized so they are well cured, while something we may send it may not be.
 
nyefmaker said:
I doubt it, but the only ones that can tell you No is CRK. I think because they work with such precise cuts and such that they are very picky ( for lack of a better word ) when it comes to inlay materials. Plus all their inlays are stabilized so they are well cured, while something we may send it may not be.
Click to expand...

That was my thinking. Pretty much why I didn't bother to email them. Op, glad you did though. :)
 
I got a response back, and it's what we all thought. They only use inlay material from their sources.
 
I'm sure that removing factory inlays can be done with little risk to the knife itself, but I'm sure that it would damage the factory inlays and definitely void the portion of the warranty that covers them. Unless you had some truly valuable material or something you just need to have that CRK doesn't offer, the amount of work to upgrade one of the basic inlays would not be worth it.

If you are thinking of machining insets into plain scales, that's a different issue, and I would be shocked if CRK would warranty anything about that.
 
Why do you say that it wouldn't be worth it?

There's nothing that I can see about the inlays that looks difficult to me in terms of making my own, not in wood anyway. I love working with wood. The inlays are taped in. Unless there is some funky stuff going on on the other side of the inlay that I'm not seeing, I think I could fashion a set.
 
I'm not saying that it's not doable to swap out the factory inlays or that somebody couldn't find satisfaction or enjoyment in doing it, but from a purely monetary point of view, it's probably not worth the time and effort. Discounting the cost of whatever material you are going to replace the factory inlays with as well as the cost of new industrial double-sided tape, you would first have to take the time to remove the existing inlays without damaging the scale finish. It might be easier than I'm imagining, but I would want to take enough time prying them off so that I don't scratch up the titanium. Then you have to clean out the existing tape and/or residue (probably not too much work). In order to do as good a job as CRK, the real time sink is in shaping your replacement inlay pieces so that they fit perfectly in the machined inset with as little gap as possible.

Since the basic inlay small seb is 425, and most box elder (seems to be higher end of inlay material, only mammoth is more expensive) inlay small seb's are about 495, then you have to ask yourself is $70 dollars worth that amount of work.

Honestly, it doesn't sound like a half-bad project. So if you have a material that CRK would charge a lot more to inlay (mammoth ivory), or that CRK just doesn't offer that you really want, or you just want to undertake a sort of fun-sounding challenge then go for it, otherwise I think it makes sense to just pony up the cash.
 
Haha, I really have to stop looking at inlay Seb's and Mnandi's, especially the Mammoth Bark and Mammoth Ivory ones. So gorgeous, so expensive.
 
How would you go about prying the factory inlays out of the scales?
I would end up in the ER with a stab wound, or just destroy the current inlay with my dremel.
What material would you choose to replace the old?
How about damascus or moku Ti? That would be neat.
 
Honestly I'm not sure, since I've never actually seen/handled an inlay CRK in person. But from basic life experience, I would attempt it with a great deal of care. Based on internet pictures, it's a very fine fit, with very little gap around the perimeter of the inlay. I would probably start with a fairly soft material, like a hard plastic, something like the tool that came with the replacement battery kit for my old ipod. Depending on the success of that, I might continue with the plastic or try with a soft metal, like a brass letter opener. Whatever the case, I'm fairly sure that the inlay would be destroyed, so one way to go might be to drill a number of holes most of the way through the inlay material and try to force in some machine screws to use as leverage/grip. I really have no idea, I'm just riffing here.

There are a bunch of materials that I think would make really cool inlay materials, but very few that I feel that I could shape on my own. Obviously, I'm in love with the mammoth that CRK already does. I like the idea of something sort of unusual and rare, maybe a cool looking petrified wood or maybe jade. A decorative metal could definitely be cool, but I think I'd prefer something a bit more organic.
 
I like your ideas for removing the inlays. Might make sense to lay the scale on a hot piece of steel and let it soak for a while. If it still didn't release, I'd probably contact 3M and see if they had any ideas.

As for inlays, obviously I like the burl that I posted a pic of earlier. Outside of some wicked burl, honestly, I really, really liked the micarta inlay that I had. Fairly pretty, extremely durable, warm and keeps the wear off the ti. ;)
 
I've removed a micarta scale to make a glow inlay, it took a small precision screwdriver and slow careful pressure. No problems.
 
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