Saddlehorn Mod

[black mamba]

I have always liked the frame shape of the 3-1/2" saddlehorn with two blades-- fits my hand well with the rounded butt and a little thicker handle. The only problem with it is, I don't see the need for two blades with nearly identical bellies. Now to be fair, this is not the same as a muskrat with totally redundant blades, but it's close. And as I prefer my curved blade to be slender, I usually use the skinner blade on a saddlehorn rather than the clip. So I decided to modify the clip on one of my two cheapo Ocoee River saddlehorns, grinding and sanding it down to a Wharncliffe style straight edge.

Now I wasn't smart enough to take before pictures, so I had to photo the other undmodified saddlehorn after I did the mod.

Here is the original blade layout on a white smooth bone knife.

I liked the thicker scales on my ram horn version, so it's the one I modified.

Now I'm no artist, and didn't even have any sandpaper finer than 220 grit, so be kind in your comments!
At the very least, it made a $9 knife a little more useful to me. Whacha think??

 

[Steeltoe]

Nice, what did you use to cut it to shape? Dremel?
Good work, thanks for sharing it looks like a good combo.

 

[sitflyer]

I think it don't look too shabby at all for a 9$ knife :thumbup:

 

[black mamba]

Steeltoe, I used a grinding wheel first, then a belt sander to fine tune the shape and add the swedges.

I had a jar of cold water handy to dip the blade in after each 1-2 seconds of grinding, so it wouldn't get too hot. Still, the very tip took a little extra color from the heat, turning a brownish tint. It didn't seem to affect the temper, as it took a nice edge after I was done.

 

[quattromori]

Jeff,
many times I've expressed my opinion on the fact that, in two bladed knives, the best combination is a curved blade (clip/drop) together with a straight (wharncliffe/sheepsfoot). And I do like the saddlehorn shaped handle.
So, what's not to like? Great job!

Fausto

 

[paulhilborn]

I like it:thumbup: I think it turned out very nice.

Paul

 

[Gevonovich]

I've always like the look of the saddlehorn. With the two blades it seems like the perfect edc. You have me thinking. Thanks for posting and the knife looks good.

 

[black mamba]

Thanks to all. This one is for sure gonna see some pocket time.

 

[wagglebee]

Looks great Jeff.

 

[popedandy]

Nice work.

 

[clich]

very very cool

 

[supratentorial]

Looks good, Jeff! :thumbup:

 

[mrrampro]

I think it looks great!

 

[dannyp]

I like it! It looks like it should be more comfortable in hand now after removing the sharp point on the spine of the clip blade. It's also very enjoyable using a knife that you've customized to your own preferences.

 

[jakemex]

Ram Horn on a $9 knife? Looked good in the white too. What kind of steel are the blades?

 

[black mamba]

It just says stainless, pretty sure it is 440A.

 

[knarfeng]

Whacha think??

Looks good to me. Looks like a useful combination of blade shapes, too.