What's happening in the David Mary Custom shop?

[David Mary]

Change of plans. I didn't make it to the shop today. Working on some administrative stuff instead.

 

[David Mary]

Let's just say I have a secret run happening that I am not announcing because I already have my hands full enough with it just from following up with previous conversations.

 

[David Mary]

Closer. Suretouch is such a pain to clean up. Easy to grind, forever to finish. But so worth having for function and comfort.

 

[David Mary]

And another one fights the rust

 

[David Mary]

And another Juan rides the bus

 

[RSL19]

Wow brother

 

[gooeytek]

I think those would be well suited for dispatching wild hogs and would look real sweet with a custom mosaic pin

 

[BlindMouse2of3]

That Barax would really pop if it had my initials on it

Really though all 3 are awesome.

 

[David Mary]

 

[David Mary]

I think those would be well suited for dispatching wild hogs and would look real sweet with a custom mosaic pin

I already have a job in mind for those

 

[David Mary]

Here’s why I have a love/hate relationship with suretouch. After hours of wet sanding it looks done but then look at it a day or two later once it’s dried off completely and this:


And of course in the past I didn’t know to expect it and once I noticed it I am pretty sure I tried some less than effective ideas to fix it, often finding myself going back and forth between grits and even making it worse.

I didn’t tell you this but for a period I was considering never using suretouch again.

I know it’s only cosmetic and doesn’t affect function and the function of this material is just too good not to share with the world. So I stuck with it and believe I did the best I’ve done yet on the empire outfitters knives.

But now these with the added surface area are showing me spots I thought I had done more consistently. So Saturday I called a knife maker friend and ran it by him for advice. Josh made some suggestions that I’ll try.





Gonna try his dry sanding idea now and see if it works for me as well.

 

[David Mary]

20 minutes of non stop hand sanding. Suretouch you’re killing me

 

[BlindMouse2of3]

I had no idea it was so brutal to finish. You're finished product makes it look easy.

 

[BlindMouse2of3]

I'll probably never be able to show it again if I don't smooth it out but I've started thinning my new to me prevails handle a little bit using a slow speed wire wheel and in its current state it looks very post apocalyptic but Its so grippy I can't pull it out of my hand with wet or dry gloves on. Can't help but think it may end up with course scales and become my #1 bad weather knife. At 1/4" it's not like it's fragile and if it won't slip at all (my only complaint with my LT wright is it slips a little when excessive moisture is around.) It's filling a void I didn't fully appreciate until now.

 

[David Mary]

Now to clean up the minor surface rust, sharpen and makers mark.

 

[David Mary]

 

[fullswing]

View attachment 2350419

Feast your eyes on that trio of beauties! Well done!

 

[David Mary]

Thanks very much fullswing !

 

[David Mary]

 

[David Mary]

Oh right let’s not forget the bane of my existence lol



That’s after significantly more hand sanding plus I have protected the knife with mineral oil now.