Rough Rider Mini Wharncliffe Trapper

[jamesbeat]

I apologize if I got anyone excited; this is not a production model (though I believe it should be!).

I fell in love with this green bone mini trapper, but I'm not overly keen on clip point blades.
I also like having a sheepsfoot, lambsfoot, or wharncliffe blade on my carry knives, because they are so great for the types of things I use my EDC knives for, such as opening boxes etc.

I figured out that the clip point blade could be turned into a wharncliffe, and it would mean sacrificing less than half an inch of blade length.

I was going to put this in the 'maintenance, tinkering and embellishment' section, but since I'm showing a finished knife not doing a tutorial, I thought it would be better here.

I taped the knife up inside a plastic bag to avoid grit getting somewhere important, then took it to my bench grinder.
I had to go VERY slow and dip the blades in water often to avoid ruining the heat treat.
I finished up with a diamond hone, fine stone, then micromesh cloth.

While I was grinding, I also got rid of the hump on the spey blade to turn it into a spear point.

Sorry for the horrific cellphone photo, but you get the idea:

 

[jbmonkey]

Nice job. Thanks for sharing.

Not sure id rather not have the clip blade on a trapper.....but its not my knife so its a non issue.

 

[jamesbeat]

I have no idea why, but I just don't like 'em.

I have no argument against the utility of the blade; it's a very well thought out design and a good all-round utility blade, but I just don't like the way they look.
I can tolerate them on smaller knives (I LOVE peanuts) but the bigger the clip, the less I like it.

I know this is odd, and probably means that I have some kind of mental illness, but there you have it

Maybe it's because I'm English, and really into the old Sheffield patterns with spear points with long pulls and swedges.
Clip point blades just seem too newfangled for my liking.

 

[whetrock]

Thanks for sharing. I really like to see people enjoying these knives, and at their price point they could be excellent knives to mod, and personalize, like Opinels. I think I might try this, but maybe with the spey blade, and make it look like a GEC Furtaker trapper. You did great work on that one, I think it could pass as a factory knife from the photos.

 

[jamesbeat]

Thanks

My next knife is going to be a desk knife for work.

I'm going to get the full-size (4.25") version of this knife, again in green bone, and do a similar mod.
It's going to have a short Whancliffe (or more likely a sheepsfoot) for opening the large number of manufacturer's sample boxes that I receive, and a long spear point blade for food use.

The sheepsfoot will have a long pull, which I'm going to eletrolytically etch into the blade. I tried this earlier on a scrap blade, and it worked surprisingly well.