The "WIP" Thread - What was your project today?

[HeavyHanded]

Love seeing the transformation, Martin! Wow that sheath turned out great, I never would have thought about doing that!

They're a great project. Only thing is to cut the nail with a hacksaw instead of clipping with dikes. They peen over so much easier and evenly if they start out flat. Is nice to have aluminum rivets for another reason - if the edge should contact it won't dull it like might happen on a steel one. If tapped down nice and tight its unlikely the edge will ever squeeze in that far anyway.

I'd swear Rubbermade has switched to a thinner gauge too, the older sheath has almost no dimple or warping, and is a bit more rigid than my latest. On the older one you can also see I put washers under the peened head.

I've used this method with a bit more care to make smaller sheathes too. A favorite technique of mine is to insert some hot waxed leather inside the Kydex, fold to form and rivet in place. Makes a bit of a homely end product but protects the knife tremendously. I started doing this many moons back on my carry handguns to prevent rust and keep the Kydex from burnishing matte surfaces. Is amazing how much rust resistance this imparts to carbon steel blades, even carried IWB.

Two Mora classics, aluminum nail heads on the left, heavy gauge copper wire on the right.

 

[Elite_KG]

One of the last I will be working on for a while. Hunting season is fast approaching. This is a model I have not modified; an older Benchmade Mini-Stryker.

 

[Elite_KG]

 

[REK Knives]

Wow Martin, those turned out great! Yeah I've only ever seen one maker that uses leather inserts in his kydex sheaths, but man it was SWEET. like sliding your knife into a pillow! That's great to know it helps protect it from rust as well.

Elite, that turned out great!! Nice work.

 

[Howieee]

Working on this one for the boys 18th b-day. It is 2.5" belly to spine and 10.25" long. It should be a good chopper

 

[REK Knives]

Working on this one for the boys 18th b-day. It is 2.5" belly to spine and 10.25" long. It should be a good chopper

looking forward to it! What are you going to use for the scales this time?

_______________________

I was given "Artistic Freedom" on this Strider SNG... This is what I came up with. Textured scales, regrind to about .010" thick at 15 dps, enhanced the lock access slightly, and Cerakoted in darkened Burnt Bronze and Graphite Black. Love this subdued color combo!

First some before's:

WIP's:

Final shots:

 

[Howieee]

As always REK well done.

I have a blue died stabilized box elder burl I am going to use. It is gorgeous. Will get pics up tomorrow.

 

[ThePeacent]

Just put a small flathead screwdriver on a Kershaw A100 which had a fake, Chinese cheapo blade put instead of the original high quality and well made blade from Kershaw.

Having a dedicated folder and a SAK/MT with some kind of blade it seemed redundant to me, so with the proper bolt...

(had to be hexagonal so that the tool could close like with the original factory pivot, which broke from so much tinkering and manipulations).

The implement works nicely, easy to access, moves smoothly and the improvised pivot acts as planned, allowing the closing mechanism to properly engage the hexagonal head.

Improved versatility! :thumbup:

 

[REK Knives]

As always REK well done.

I have a blue died stabilized box elder burl I am going to use. It is gorgeous. Will get pics up tomorrow.

Nice look forward to seeing it!

Just put a small flathead screwdriver on a Kershaw A100 which had a fake, Chinese cheapo blade put instead of the original high quality and well made blade from Kershaw.
Improved versatility! :thumbup:

Great job thinking outside the box

 

[Howieee]

This is the material for the scales. It is a spalted maple I was mistaken.

I did get the handle portion profiled today. Will start the flat grind tomorrow.

 

[smith357]

I put new scales on an old Cold Steel Hudson Bay Knife.

Before

After

 

[REK Knives]

Wow nice re-handle smith!

Finished this XM18 up the other week... was the first of this type of serration pattern for me (only done esee style and Veff before), ground in the serrations and gave it a working finish!

 

[Ratman79]

Josh that Strider that you had artistic freedom on turned out amazing...

 

[REK Knives]

Josh that Strider that you had artistic freedom on turned out amazing...

Thanks my friend =)

My new project knife, which is mine, starting off w/ hardening the lock face and a major detent makeover! This is as far as I got tonight lol

 

[victorinox]

Damn Josh you are a magician with that grinder! That strider looks amazing!!

 

[REK Knives]

Thanks man!

Got some more work done on the cqc7 today... installed a new ceramic detent on the lock bar and drilled a detent hole on that side of the blade tang, 'deleted' the secondary detent.

And before I actually drilled the detent hole in the tang I actually seated the blade further in the scales as it was pretty close to getting the point out of the scales! Now this can be sharpened for years to come without worry! And no, it is still sitting off of the standoff, the edge does not connect with it at ALL when fully assembled and closed

now this thing is just perfect, flies open!!

 

[ThePeacent]

Yesterday I got this SAK, really beat up and in bad bad shape

I cleaned it twice, took out the gunk, removed the rust and then took these pics

I'm doing what I can to bring it back to business

I believe it to be a Wenger Champ

Blade snapped very easily, was this broken already: I decided it'll be a wharnie shape since I always carry another pointed blade apart

I'll use this one around scared people/less blade-friendly environments as it looks so innocent now.

Long live SAKs and their war tales...

New utility knife style blade slices hard plastic like the Dickens

 

[Howieee]

All the grinding is done on the boys cleaver and ready for heat treat. I put a small fuller in for him. Also I am trying a Hamone so here is the blade during heat treat with the clay on.

Hope everything turns out good. Here is a pick after temper.

Will start sanding this next week then dip in ferric chloride to try and bring out the Hamone. If it doesn't work well just no Hamone.

 

[REK Knives]

This was one of today's projects

 

[REK Knives]

Finished up my wife's kitchen knife today...The ALVS Paua handles were sorta a pain to work with, couldn't get them too hot or they would melt. Hand sanded those through 2k grit then did a light buff. Grind was a flat grind that I convexed about halfway down to a zero edge, then applied the bevel by hand at 11 dps (mirror polished) with a 15 dps microbevel. I purposely didn't go with a plungeless grind because I figured over the coming years this would need to be thinned out. Oh, and I did hidden stop pins but unfortunately the clear resin revealed them under the surface lol