What to know before making custom g10 scales?

H

Heisenberg

Joined
Aug 19, 2012
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Hey everyone,

I just purchased a Kershaw Junkyard Dog 2.2 CB. I am looking to make it my EDC but i wanted
to give it a little style and uniqueness.

I have 5 pairs of 1/8 " x 1.5" x 5" G10 scales en route to my house as I type this. Ordered from USAKINFEMAKERS.COM,
the colored scales are Red, Toxic Green, Earth Brown, Tan, and Camo.
I was thinking of doing one side of the knife brown and the other green, first.

What precautions should i take when working with G10?
-Can i get away with using a dust mask or is the recommended respirator nesescary?
-Long sleeve shirt and gloves?

Any tips I should know about drilling the holes for the screws and pivot?

What is needed to drill into the frame to install a pocket clip for tip up carry?
-Im going to look around at my other knives to steal a clip off to replace the stock JYD one.

Anything else I need to know?

Thanks for the input. Im REALLY looking forward to this project.
 
Heisenberg said:
What precautions should i take when working with G10?
Any tips I should know about drilling the holes for the screws and pivot?
What is needed to drill into the frame to install a pocket clip for tip up carry?
Click to expand...
Buy a respirator. They have plenty of uses outside of knifemaking so you'll get your moneys worth eventually.

You'll need a drill for your clearance hole, as well as for recessing the screw head.
Some people recommend using a flat bottomed drill or endmill for recessing the screw heads, IMO you cant tell the difference between a flat bottomed hole and one drilled with an ordinary twist bit when dealing with the sizes we deal with.

You'll likely use 2-56 thread screws to attach your pocket clip. means youll have to have a #43 drill for clearance, a #50 drill for tapping and a 2-56 tap.
 
G10 dust is also very dangerous (basically little shards of glass) so a respirator would be... a good idea, to say the least
 
Kershaw junkyard dog is a good choice. very easy to customize.

I have a respirator but honestly I think a dust mask would work fine, after all its particle matter you'll need to be blocking out and a dust mask is just fine for that. If you want to get into acid etching eventually or anything else that will create chemical gasses you'll need to block out then just go ahead and get a respirator.

G-10 dust bothers some peoples skin but it doesn't bother mine. I work with it bare hands and short sleeves, but you'll have to find out for yourself if it agitates your skin enough to need gloves and sleeves. I will say that with gloves on it will get a bit harder to do detailed work.

what kind of tools do you have? a drill and a dremel tool are the bare minimum. but I would suggest a pair of digital calipers if you want a REALLY sound fit for your depths and widths. drilling pivots is something I still have a bit of trouble with, but with the JYD its a bit more fool proof. you'll see what I mean once you've taken it apart

correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think you'll need to drill into the frame for the pocket clip. you should be able to just drill into the G-10. drilling into the frame will add some headache, you'd need a specialty bit for drilling into hardened steel, so avoid doing that if possible.

the only other thing I can suggest is take your time, double check everything before making any irreversible changes. I have made a lot of stupid mistakes like cutting out two scales for the right hand side or drilling the pivot in the wrong spot. also, you're first couple customizations may not turn out perfect. there may be blade play, centering issues or problems with your fit and finish, don't get disillusioned though. they only get better!

have fun!
 
G-10 is essentially fiberglass. The glass fibers released by grinding and sanding are hazardous to your lungs, especially if you smoke. A dust mask will help with that, bit it won't help with the VOCs released when the resin gets hot. Respirators are cheap compared to hospital visits.
 
I would definitely recommend a respirator as well. When it comes to your personal health and well being, you shouldn't look to save money IMO. For me, G10 dust doesn't irritate my skin but I do like wearing rubber gloves just so I get a better grip on the material. I do all my work with a Dremel but a drill press would be ideal to use if you already have one. You could even buy sanding drums to use with it and do all of your work (besides cutting) with the press. My one tip would be to drill the holes through the G10 (cut it just big enough to cover the liner) and put the hardware through the G10 and liner and then shape it. Best of luck with it!
 
Wow, A LOT of great info you guys provided me. Thank You all.

Ive picked up a respirator as some of you suggested. They weren't nearly as expensive as i previously thought.

I have a Dremel and picked up a few sanding attachments last night.

I, too, thought that the JYD would be fairly simple to install scales on.
My dad has a nice woodshop in the basement so finding drill bits to countersink the screws won't be a problem. Neither would drilling into the metal frame for
a pocket clip be, but if you say i shouldn't need to, then I won't. He says theres a tool for every kind job, and believe me, i think he has them all. I assume I just drill holes into the G10 smaller than the screws for the clip.

I don't really want to make a pattern with the Dremel across the whole face of the scales, just a few finger groves around the edges. What do you guys suggest I do
to five the face of the G10 a little texture. It appears that they come smooth as glass. Sandblast them? Sand them with a low grit sand paper?

Is there any kind of centering i will have to do when reassembling? How do i prevent glad play. I sort of thought I wouldn't be messing with the inside of the knife very much and that taking off the sides would not affect the mechanics of the knife.

Haha, great point, ThirdTooth, to make sure i don't cut out 2 right sides. I would have totally done that if you had not mention it.

Thanks for passing down your wisdom everyone!
 
Good job on getting the respirator. Really pays.

Biggest tip I can think of is to take it slow. The slower you're working, the slower you'll screw up, and the easier it will be to fix your mistakes.
 
Heisenberg said:
I, too, thought that the JYD would be fairly simple to install scales on.
My dad has a nice woodshop in the basement so finding drill bits to countersink the screws won't be a problem. Neither would drilling into the metal frame for
a pocket clip be, but if you say i shouldn't need to, then I won't. He says theres a tool for every kind job, and believe me, i think he has them all. I assume I just drill holes into the G10 smaller than the screws for the clip.

I don't really want to make a pattern with the Dremel across the whole face of the scales, just a few finger groves around the edges. What do you guys suggest I do
to five the face of the G10 a little texture. It appears that they come smooth as glass. Sandblast them? Sand them with a low grit sand paper?

Is there any kind of centering i will have to do when reassembling? How do i prevent glad play. I sort of thought I wouldn't be messing with the inside of the knife very much and that taking off the sides would not affect the mechanics of the knife.
/QUOTE]

For the clip screws, you don't HAVE to drill into the liners but if you have the resources to do it, I say do it. The steel liner will be more secure than threading the screws into just the G10. Just be sure that the screws you use (if you don't use the stock ones) don't protrude through the liner too much otherwise they could run into the blade.
If you want to get a texture on the G10 without creating a pattern, sandblasting would do the trick but if you are going to contour the scales at all, I'd recommend sanding them with a fine grit sandpaper then polishing them. They look really nice finished like that and almost have a "wood grain" type of look from the layers. I would do that then add some finger grooves.
You shouldn't have any issues with the centering or lock up. If you find the centering is very off, it most likely means you need to remove some G10 from behind the lockbar to give it room to settle in the closed position. Also, just make sure when you are countersinking the pivot hole that you don't remove too much material. Other than that, you should be fine.
Click to expand...
 
I've heard of people submerging G10 while sanding it as well. The respirator will help you, and doing all the sanding with the whole thing in water will help with clean up.
 
Heisenberg said:
Haha, great point, ThirdTooth, to make sure i don't cut out 2 right sides. I would have totally done that if you had not mention it.
Click to expand...

Everyone's advice has been really good, but that hits home for sure...I made this very mistake today. Luckily, I wasn't using g10 or other nicer materials so I'm not too upset, but it was certainly a facepalm moment.
 
Haha, a live and learn moment, huh Half Cut?

Submerging while sanding is in interesting idea.

Thanks, again, DropPoint. I probably will drill and tap into the liner because I know my dad as a Tap and Die set. I will have to be careful though
because i intend to drill for tip up carry. Ill have to make sure i don't go through anything important.

Luckily, I bought a few sets of G10 and want to have different colored sides so it won't be the end of the world if I decide I don't like the finished product.
Ill have to experiment with the texture and finish of the scales.

On usaknifemaker.com (where i ordered the scales from), the prices where incorrectly set on the Camo G10, so I got a 5" x 10" sheet for $4.19. Normally priced over $15.
 
Drilling clip holes for tip up carry you are unlikely to hit anything critical (not like drilling the pivot end of the handle). Definitely drill and tap the steel liners for the clip screws. This is better than screws in only G-10.
 
Your right Bill, I don't know why i thought when i was typing that tip up carry would be drilling on the pivot side.
 
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Something i have found helpful is to have the hose to my shop vac on my bench facing my grinding area...my dremel is noisy anyways so the shop vac isnt to annoyong...this way most of my dust gets cleaned up right away. Remember ... Work smarter, not harder :-)
 
Rival1314 said:
Something i have found helpful is to have the hose to my shop vac on my bench facing my grinding area...my dremel is noisy anyways so the shop vac isnt to annoyong...this way most of my dust gets cleaned up right away. Remember ... Work smarter, not harder :-)
Click to expand...

I like this idea, but I'm hesitant to do something like that myself. I worry that I would forget the thing is on and then have all my hardware sucked up when I go to reassemble it :P but if you have a separate reassemble area then this would be good. G10 dust makes a mess
 
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