RC-3 MIL mod

I thick that's a great idea, looks pretty darn good too.
definitely a functional mod for some one with larger mits.

What kind of material did you use for the liners?
 
That is a very pretty mod (in a manly, bushcrafty kind of pretty). Gotta get me one of those 3Mils.

Now that you've taken the handles off make sure that you get some throwing practice in.

Claudiasboris
 
SteelJunky said:
I thick that's a great idea, looks pretty darn good too.
definitely a functional mod for some one with larger mits.

What kind of material did you use for the liners?
Click to expand...

I used standard vulcanized spacer/liner material available from most any knife maker supply site. It looks just like a thick card board until you handle it. It is hard just like G10. I don't know why they call it vulcanized. When I hear that term I think of rubber. Personally I think a better term would be a Phenolic as it is a resin impregnated paper. The thickness of what I used is .063, so the two peices together are about equal to the thickness of the blade.

Claudiasboris said:
That is a very pretty mod (in a manly, bushcrafty kind of pretty). Gotta get me one of those 3Mils.


Now that you've taken the handles off make sure that you get some throwing practice in.

Claudiasboris
Click to expand...

HAH, I don't think I will do that. I don't want to become "That Guy" or give Jeff another reason for a Rant.
 
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lsheldon said:
As I said in the original post, the sheath is too narrow now. I'm going to fix that by taking out the top two rivets, inserting a spacer (washer), that is 1/8-3/16 wide, and re-riveting it. That should allow enough extra space to allow it to seat properly.
Click to expand...



Now that is a great idea!!!! I wish I thought of that fix. Well done!!!

Pics when finished please. :thumbup:
 
lsheldon said:
I decided I wanted to make one of my RC-3 MIL's a user. However I wasn't really happy with the way it looked or felt in my hand. The handles were too light colored and it felt too narrow in my hand.

So, I decided to dye the handles black and put in some liner material. The thickest liner material I had was a gray color (I'm glad I chose this color). The thickness of both liners together is almost exactly the same thickness of the blade. It broadened out the handle enough that it fills my hand just right.

The process was a great learning experience for me. Grinding the liners while sandwiched between the handles without buggering them up took a lot of patience. Of course I needed some different screws. But other than that it went back together really well. I now understand why ESEE glues the liner material to the handles as well. It is a royal pain trying to line up the handles, liner & blade without doing so.

Overall I'm very happy with the way it turned out. The only thing I need to do now is to modify the sheath as it is too wide to fit in. I'm thinking of taking out the top two rivets. Putting a spacer in (washer) that is about 1/8 to 3/16 thick and re-riveting it. I think that should widen the top enough to make it fit properly.

And the obligatory photos are below.

Best to all,

Les.

rc3mil004.jpg

rc3mil007.jpg

rc3mil008.jpg

rc3mil009.jpg

rc3mil010.jpg
Click to expand...

Nice job.
 
Secondary thought after looking at one of my sheaths...you may want to line both inner sheath spaces, with the same liner material. This will in theory keep the same spacing you had when it was stock & keep the blade from smacking around in the sheath. Just thinking...
 
lsheldon said:
I used standard vulcanized spacer/liner material available from most any knife maker supply site. It looks just like a thick card board until you handle it. It is hard just like G10. I don't know why they call it vulcanized. When I hear that term I think of rubber. Personally I think a better term would be a Phenolic as it is a resin impregnated paper. The thickness of what I used is .063, so the two peices together are about equal to the thickness of the blade.





I'll have to look into some of this stuff.
Out of curiosity, do you see any cons to using pieces of Kydex opposed to the actual liner material?
Kydex being textured on one side would probably need a light sanding to fit perfectly flat, but would also be water proof, as I imagine the liner material is.
What you say?

SJ
Click to expand...
 
SteelJunky said:
I'll have to look into some of this stuff.
Out of curiosity, do you see any cons to using pieces of Kydex opposed to the actual liner material?
Kydex being textured on one side would probably need a light sanding to fit perfectly flat, but would also be water proof, as I imagine the liner material is.
What you say?

SJ
Click to expand...

You could very well use Kydex as a liner material if that is what you have available and don't want to spend the money on actual spacer/liner material. As you mentioned, one side of the kydex will be rougher and may require some sanding. As to whether you went so far as to sand it would be up to you. It may very well look fine without sanding, it will just depend on the actual texture of the material you are using.

Either material is waterproof. Paper Micarta is essentially the same thing as spacer/liner material. It is just made thicker so it can be used for handles. Both are resin impregnated paper.

Jeff S1 said:
Secondary thought after looking at one of my sheaths...you may want to line both inner sheath spaces, with the same liner material. This will in theory keep the same spacing you had when it was stock & keep the blade from smacking around in the sheath. Just thinking...
Click to expand...

EDIT: I think I get what you mean, you are suggesting using the liner material as a spacer instead of washers. Not a bad idea. I will have to look at how I can do that.

Thanks for the suggestion.
 
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Jeff S1 said:
Secondary thought after looking at one of my sheaths...you may want to line both inner sheath spaces, with the same liner material. This will in theory keep the same spacing you had when it was stock & keep the blade from smacking around in the sheath. Just thinking...
Click to expand...

The liner would need to be molded to the knife shape inside the original sheath, so it's back to custom making a sheath inside a sheath, plus molding the outside of the liner to match the inside of the original sheath. If indeed he wants that level of "fit", he will need to set up for kydex sheath making ,or send it to one of the sheath makers here
 
As Jeff S1 suggested, I used the same liner material as a spacer for the sheath that I used to widen the handles. Worked like a charm. I couldn't find my rivets and flaring die so I just used a spare set of screws and posts that came with another sheath. Fits perfectly, snaps in just like it originally did.

rc3mil-sheath006.jpg

rc3mil-sheath005.jpg
 
@mj - thanks for posting that link. it helped me decide to go with the esee4 right away...just ordered. just couldn't pass it up with those handles on a tan blade. got my 3 about a week ago...now i guess the 6 is next! i think i might have a problem!

btw, nice work on your mod. my 3 is a 3mil as well...and i think i'd prefer a darker handle.
 
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