traumkommode
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2015
- Messages
- 4,631
Back a little while ago,
HeathH
posted a mod-knife giveaway. His was a poll to pick cover choices and I think whether or not to do single or double blade. Anyhow, I had seen him post a couple Schrades and VICs he recovered, and I mentioned something in the GAW thread about wanting some of his work, especially because I couldn't have it (at that point he had stated that he wasn't for hire.)
Shortly thereafter, he sent me a PM asking what I had in mind. Well, five or six pages of PMs and half my inbox allotment later, I have a knife from him. I found a 33OT jack in decent NOS shape on the bay, and had it shipped to him. Initially, I told him I'd like to have the knife covered in purpleheart to go with this fixed blade that I designed and had @samuraistuart make:
Heath responded that, not only could he do the knife in purpleheart, but that he could do a canvas micarta bolster to match the fixed blade's mesquite bolster. So... it was ON!
One of my favorite parts about the process was getting to chat with Heath. He's a really friendly guy, and has a cool take on knives. Boy does he love these Schrades! The poor guy went through a bunch of bolsters because we were trying to go with different cuts of the micarta, and since these Schrade bolsters are so small and thin, the micarta kept splitting. Finally went with straight cut, and it worked out nicely:
This is a review of sorts of Heath's work. It's not a review of the 33OT pattern, or of Schrade. Heath did a superb job recovering this knife. The liners are straight, and the hafting looks factory. One cool thing about this is his knowledge about/experience with modding Schrades - he's got parts on hand for them, and had to fit a replacement spring for the main blade on my knife. No wobble to the blades, and really nice snap. Both springs are flush when closed. The pen is flush at open, and the main is slightly proud at open, but not enough to be a bother, and only as a result of having to use a different spring. Since the knife spends more of it's time close than open, I think Heath made the right call when opting for closed flushness.
I love purpleheart, and I like the his choice in grain for this knife. The grain seems to flow with the serpentine middleman frame. Nice chatoyancy to the wood. Also, with pieces this small, getting the wood/G10/micarta fitment nice like Heath did must have been a real challenge. You can't tell it from the pictures, but the wood slabs on that fixed blade are probably three times as thick as these covers, and were probably full size before shaping. As with anything, the smaller stuff gets, the harder, more tedious it becomes to manipulate with your hands.
Pins are peened and hafted nicely. I asked Heath to leave the covers a little thicker than stock, and he did it just right. These knives are only 3 3/8" long, but with the secondary blade and extra thickness from these handles, this thing feels great in hand. The wood is nice and light but durable, so the whole package feels robust and solid, yet comfortable, and comparable to bigger knives like the GEC #15.
Blades nice and centered (it's easy to loose centering when you take a riveted knife apart and put it back together.) One of the most impressive things to me is that Heath has a method for peening the pivot where he doesn't need to use a slackener.
In all, Heath sent me a knife that looks like a unique one-off piece. I've tried to love some Schrades, as they're great knives. But I haven't really until getting this one back from him. Bravo, my friend! My girlfriend loves serpentine frames, and this one really turned her on. I'll be checking back in as miles accrue on the knife.
I think maybe
r8shell
has one of his, too, and could chime in?
HeathH
posted a mod-knife giveaway. His was a poll to pick cover choices and I think whether or not to do single or double blade. Anyhow, I had seen him post a couple Schrades and VICs he recovered, and I mentioned something in the GAW thread about wanting some of his work, especially because I couldn't have it (at that point he had stated that he wasn't for hire.)Shortly thereafter, he sent me a PM asking what I had in mind. Well, five or six pages of PMs and half my inbox allotment later, I have a knife from him. I found a 33OT jack in decent NOS shape on the bay, and had it shipped to him. Initially, I told him I'd like to have the knife covered in purpleheart to go with this fixed blade that I designed and had @samuraistuart make:
Heath responded that, not only could he do the knife in purpleheart, but that he could do a canvas micarta bolster to match the fixed blade's mesquite bolster. So... it was ON!
One of my favorite parts about the process was getting to chat with Heath. He's a really friendly guy, and has a cool take on knives. Boy does he love these Schrades! The poor guy went through a bunch of bolsters because we were trying to go with different cuts of the micarta, and since these Schrade bolsters are so small and thin, the micarta kept splitting. Finally went with straight cut, and it worked out nicely:
This is a review of sorts of Heath's work. It's not a review of the 33OT pattern, or of Schrade. Heath did a superb job recovering this knife. The liners are straight, and the hafting looks factory. One cool thing about this is his knowledge about/experience with modding Schrades - he's got parts on hand for them, and had to fit a replacement spring for the main blade on my knife. No wobble to the blades, and really nice snap. Both springs are flush when closed. The pen is flush at open, and the main is slightly proud at open, but not enough to be a bother, and only as a result of having to use a different spring. Since the knife spends more of it's time close than open, I think Heath made the right call when opting for closed flushness.
I love purpleheart, and I like the his choice in grain for this knife. The grain seems to flow with the serpentine middleman frame. Nice chatoyancy to the wood. Also, with pieces this small, getting the wood/G10/micarta fitment nice like Heath did must have been a real challenge. You can't tell it from the pictures, but the wood slabs on that fixed blade are probably three times as thick as these covers, and were probably full size before shaping. As with anything, the smaller stuff gets, the harder, more tedious it becomes to manipulate with your hands.
Pins are peened and hafted nicely. I asked Heath to leave the covers a little thicker than stock, and he did it just right. These knives are only 3 3/8" long, but with the secondary blade and extra thickness from these handles, this thing feels great in hand. The wood is nice and light but durable, so the whole package feels robust and solid, yet comfortable, and comparable to bigger knives like the GEC #15.
Blades nice and centered (it's easy to loose centering when you take a riveted knife apart and put it back together.) One of the most impressive things to me is that Heath has a method for peening the pivot where he doesn't need to use a slackener.
In all, Heath sent me a knife that looks like a unique one-off piece. I've tried to love some Schrades, as they're great knives. But I haven't really until getting this one back from him. Bravo, my friend! My girlfriend loves serpentine frames, and this one really turned her on. I'll be checking back in as miles accrue on the knife.
I think maybe
r8shell
has one of his, too, and could chime in?
