The BK11 mini chef mod. FINISHED! Pics And It Did Happen!

granitestateofmind

granitestateofmind

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Apr 20, 2013
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Thanks to tjswarbrick who really got me thinking hard about doing this...which led to me thinking "why not?".

Finally grinding some steel with my new grinder - here were the candidates:



I decided that for my first mod, I would go easy. Then I changed my mind. Decided on the bottom one, and immediately started on the spine:



already got the spine close:




So the plan is to leave it as an all around kitchen/grill tool, so I'm planning on leaving the bottle opener. It'll have to get scales for sure; there will be some pretty thin sections along the bottom of the handle. I have a ton of wood available, so that's going to be the plan as far as the scales go (plus it fits my budget: free, since I already have it.) I've already got some brass round stock and tube stock, so I'll use one or the other for the pins. I plan on making the scales so they fill the skeletonized part of the tang; probably leave one of the rear holes open for a lanyard. Still a lot to be worked out; I'm sure with the help and support of my fellow Beckerheads, this'll turn out fine. Any ideas? Let's hear 'em.

 
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That bottom option looks gooder than hell.
 
OK, this is FUN. I can't believe I've never ruined a perfectly functional knife before. Most of the profiling is done; I'm trying to figure out how to grind out the tight radius near the blade. Had one little "oops" and made myself a little safety zone right near the heel of the sharp part....which is not sharp now. might get a little more blade belly, might not.

pattern scratched/inked:


Profiling the handle:







I'd like to smooth out the sweep of the handle on the bottom, but I'm gonna stop here. I want to leave at least a little bit of steel under the scales:



Looks like the top hole will be for the lanyard tube...
And here it is in my hand, although I hesitated before posting this pic....my hands look about a decade older than they are! But I'm not that vain, so here it is:



Now, I gotta go dig up some grinding drums I got around her somewhere......
 
Dang you work fast.
That's looking great, Granite.

I was thinking of doing pins, but I corbied, pinned and epoxied handles on an EnZo already, and one of my favorite features about Beckers is the removable scales, so I think I'm going to go with stainless fasteners. But for a kitchen knife, I do like pins. So I'll leave myself open to that options for the future. Great idea! :)
 
Found the grinding points. Had to speed up my drill press; I'm always working on wood or aluminum, so this was a first. Managed not to ruin the choil area any more...but I have now learned how fast you can eff something up. Still came out pretty close to the design spec (so far, anyways):





As a standalone, I would not be able to tell where I screwed up, so I'm gonna label that a "win" and chalk up another learning experience.



Now I've got some cleanup work to do, and it will need to have an edge put on where I took it off. I had planned for a longer radius sweep for the edge, but since I've never put an edge onto blunt steel much less tried to blend it into an existing one, I'm gonna leave as is. Probably by the time I get it sharp, it will look like the curve I drew in the design ;).

 
Looks very good.
The "win" makes it somewhat less chef-y, but I think your index finger will thank you in the long run.
Are you still working on the spine/swedge transition, or are you pretty happy with it as-is?
It's just such a lovely arc in your template.
 
tjswarbrick said:
Looks very good.
The "win" makes it somewhat less chef-y, but I think your index finger will thank you in the long run.
Are you still working on the spine/swedge transition, or are you pretty happy with it as-is?
It's just such a lovely arc in your template.
Click to expand...
Think I'm gonna leave it....I've knocked off the sharp edge on the spine as I don't plan on using a firesteel with this one....but I can remedy that if I change my mind later.
 
Sprayed it with CitriStrip; rigged up the Granite State ghetto easy bake oven for making the stripper work in my basement, which is probably not warmer than about 60°F. Got a couple other blades in there that were in need of a spa treatment as well:





Maybe start figuring out the scales tonight. The Sierra Ruthless Rye is going down easy, and I haven't sunk my teeth into a project like this in a while...
 
Hey Granite......

Very snakes, very cool....... Your comment about high speed screw ups reminds me of a favorite Aultzism- "power tools enable you to make mistakes ever so much faster."..... A nice job for certain.......

E
 
That's a great mod, sooner or later I'm going to have to get the courage to mod one of my knives.
 
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