USAF Mod for WS (pic heavy)

B

Bare Rib

Joined
Sep 22, 2007
Messages
589
To make a long story sort-of short I was going buy a TAK as for a new mid-sized fixed blade to replace the USAF Pilot's Survival knife I've been using for about a decade now; then Ontario messed that all up for me. On the upside RAT will be coming out with a RAT made TAK. So what to do in the meantime? Why yes, mod the existing knife I have to make it more useful for wilderness survival.

Here is the knife pre-mod.
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This knife as you can see has seen some use, but as many have said its not that great for WS...cutting your way out of a plane yes cutting fuzz sticks no. So, I sat down and thought about what I don't like about it.
1. The bayonet attachment point on the back of the guard only gets in the way and reduces blade control IMO
2. The edge is way too obtuse and its hard to get a good sharp edge on.
3. The sheath only has one carry option and it can get uncomfortable with any kind of bag/pack that has a waist belt.
So, out came the dremel and off went the back of the gaurd. As for the edge I thought about it and decided that a scandi grind would probably greatly increase its cutting ability and make for an easy field sharping. So out came a file, puck sharpener, and honing stones. It took awhile but eventually it got there; I probably could've done this quicker with my bench grinder but as one of my axes will tell you I'm not that skillful at putting an precision edge on something with it.
 
It is much more comfortable in the hand now, gives me the ability to choke up on the blade some and the saw on the back works like jimping on the back for grip
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bye bye secondary bevel
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hello sharp
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As for the sheath I took off the useless shoe string that it came with and added some paracord to the top and bottom 12' of it to be exact (two 6' sections.)
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Besides the advantages of have 12' of paracord with you this has also given me more carry options. The top setion now works as a drop-down so that I can suspend it from my belt while using pack/bag with a waist belt, and the bottom loop allows me to run a strap through it and attach it to my leg so it doesn't flop around as I'm moving.
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Here it is with my Mountainsmith lumbar bag; before the knife would be stuck up under the waist-belt (uncomfortable and hard to get to.)
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So what do ya guys think?
 
Sure looks pretty. :)

Nice job getting rid of the top of the guard, and the grind should very effective. Let us know how it holds up.
 
Awesome mods! Looks like something I wouldn't mind having, as apposed to the hatred I would have for using it pre-mod.

Great work!:thumbup:
 
texastonydobbs said:
Excellent job.....looks pretty sharp as well !
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just stepped out back and shaved up a fuzz stick (granted I'm not the greatest at keeping the fuzz on the stick)
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then battoned through a piece of wood...which let me tell you went a lot better with the back of the guard removed
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then to try out the edge some more fuzzing
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I'm not to worried about it keeping the edge; as I'm sitting here typing I just tried to slice through a another piece of paper like in the earlier photos and just like before clean cut right through.
 
In order to keep an edge you have to have one int he first place. I'd say your new knife is a vast improvement over the typical Air Force Survival Knife. The mods look real good. I might just do that with mine as well. I´ve seen a Ka-bar done up like that. Mac
 
pict said:
In order to keep an edge you have to have one int he first place. I'd say your new knife is a vast improvement over the typical Air Force Survival Knife. The mods look real good. I might just do that with mine as well. I´ve seen a Ka-bar done up like that. Mac
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I say go for it! I don't think you will be disappointed; and if you are its not like you trashed an expensive knife (I've seen then going anywhere from $19-35.) I found it very easy to do and only took about 4-5hrs total (most of which was the filing and sharpening) which I worked on while downloading & processing photos one day and watching TV another.
 
Very cool, that looks exactly like how I've been trying to reprofile mine. I'm almost there... after many nights and many hours with a couple of small stones. Probably should have dropped the money on a bench grinder or something.

Looks a bit odd to me though with half the powdercoat gone. I wonder what the best way to refinish it would be to improve protection...
 
Burncycle said:
Very cool, that looks exactly like how I've been trying to reprofile mine. I'm almost there... after many nights and many hours with a couple of small stones. Probably should have dropped the money on a bench grinder or something.

Looks a bit odd to me though with half the powdercoat gone. I wonder what the best way to refinish it would be to improve protection...
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I don't know but I don't think its a powder coat I believe it is a parkerized phosphate coating. Which something tells me will be a little more difficult to redo. However, it would also be pointless to redo since it has been turned into a scandi grind and anytime it is resharpened the coating would just be taken off again.

As for protection as long as it is properly maintained the way one would maintain any type of uncoated carbon blade it should be fine.
 
Burncycle said:
I wonder what the best way to refinish it would be to improve protection...
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Rub it down with mineral oil. Unless you're going to use it under really humid conditions, it won't rust real fast. Clean it when yoiu can and put it away with a bit of oil.
 
Also if anyone is interested in the process I used to do the braiding of the paracord just let me and I'll try and throw up a "how to" on braiding a single piece of cord and how I did the attachment making it into a loop.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Rub it down with mineral oil. Unless you're going to use it under really humid conditions, it won't rust real fast. Clean it when yoiu can and put it away with a bit of oil.
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have you ever tried renaissance wax? great for coating a blade between uses.
 
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