I ground the serrations off the knife blade and bevelled the cutting edge on both sides to make it more conventional. I'd like to take it to someone skillful with a grinder and make it into more of a wharncliff shape. Has anyone else done something interesting with theirs?
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who has modified their Vic Spirit?
- Thread starter Foilist
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2006
- Messages
- 1,196
I don't own a spirit,but I have reshaped a couple vic blades,ones that I got used and were bent etc.I had good luck using a bastard file to shape the blades.
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2004
- Messages
- 382
I added a pocket clip to my Spirit earlier this year. Here's a couple pictures:
I'm quite pleased with the way it came out. Then I started working on a one-hand opening knife blade for it, but got sidetracked with other projects. Hopefully I can get it finished now that the kids are back in school and I've got more time.
Bob
I'm quite pleased with the way it came out. Then I started working on a one-hand opening knife blade for it, but got sidetracked with other projects. Hopefully I can get it finished now that the kids are back in school and I've got more time.
Bob
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2006
- Messages
- 552
Woahh... these pictures are real nice! You don´t use your cellphone to take your pictures? Am I right? Pleas let me know the setup and what camera you´re using.
Its actually quite easy to take good pictures. I have had good sucess with cameras with around 3mp and just tkae the pics on a sunny day with clouds or build a lightbox.
Have to agree those pix look professional as always bob does a great job and he should be doing a book with lots of 'em or something similar.
@Jooliesews
Hi Bob, I noticed you modified a leatherman belt clip for your Spirit, what'd you do to the part that locks up to the usual LM? Just chop it off?
I recently got an RS as a gift from the wifey and I'm thinking of doing the same thing.
I still like my 'ole reliable '04 Wave and heavy duty Surge though, this might make me EDC the new RS more.
@Jooliesews
Hi Bob, I noticed you modified a leatherman belt clip for your Spirit, what'd you do to the part that locks up to the usual LM? Just chop it off?
I recently got an RS as a gift from the wifey and I'm thinking of doing the same thing.
I still like my 'ole reliable '04 Wave and heavy duty Surge though, this might make me EDC the new RS more.
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2004
- Messages
- 382
Hey Sparkee, good eye for detail you have! Yes, I committed blasphemy and used a Leatherman pocket clip on my Victorinox Spirit. (Thought I was going to be struck down by lightning for such an unholy mix, but nothing so far!)
Anyhow, if you folks don't mind me hijacking this thread, here's what I did:
Below is what I started with, a brand new Spirit and an extra Charge/Wave/Surge clip:
First I carefully machined off the head of the plier pivot rivet until it was perfectly flush. Then a #4-40 hole was drilled and tapped right down the center of the rivet. (Don't try this with a hand drill, you'll never keep the drill bit going straight and square. Put the Spirit in a good drill press vise with padding and make sure it is sitting exactly level. Drill the hole with a drill press or milling machine at low RPM's.)
Here's what it looked like at this point. The hole is about 5/16" or 8mm deep.
Then it was time to modify the Leatherman pocket clip. The two pictures below show the clip "before" and "after." Grinding off the excess wrap-around metal, then contouring and rounding the end are the obvious things to do. However, the real key to this whole project was to leave a small lip of the original metal hanging down.....
The real bane of mounting a pocket clip is to somehow keep the darn thing from moving and pivoting. On many knives I see, this is accomplished by using two or oftentimes three mounting screws. Not an option here. So I left the little "hook" of metal hanging down, then positioned the mounting hole so that the hook of metal is clamped tightly against the top edge of the Spirit.
The last step was to obtain a nice stainless button head Torx screw, which I bought from KnifeKits. It was a bit dull, so I polished the head of it up to match the finish of the pocket clip and the Spirit.
Then I put a drop of Locktite on the screw and tightened 'er up. Here's what she looks like:
Another angle.
Bob
Anyhow, if you folks don't mind me hijacking this thread, here's what I did:
Below is what I started with, a brand new Spirit and an extra Charge/Wave/Surge clip:
First I carefully machined off the head of the plier pivot rivet until it was perfectly flush. Then a #4-40 hole was drilled and tapped right down the center of the rivet. (Don't try this with a hand drill, you'll never keep the drill bit going straight and square. Put the Spirit in a good drill press vise with padding and make sure it is sitting exactly level. Drill the hole with a drill press or milling machine at low RPM's.)
Here's what it looked like at this point. The hole is about 5/16" or 8mm deep.
Then it was time to modify the Leatherman pocket clip. The two pictures below show the clip "before" and "after." Grinding off the excess wrap-around metal, then contouring and rounding the end are the obvious things to do. However, the real key to this whole project was to leave a small lip of the original metal hanging down.....
The real bane of mounting a pocket clip is to somehow keep the darn thing from moving and pivoting. On many knives I see, this is accomplished by using two or oftentimes three mounting screws. Not an option here. So I left the little "hook" of metal hanging down, then positioned the mounting hole so that the hook of metal is clamped tightly against the top edge of the Spirit.
The last step was to obtain a nice stainless button head Torx screw, which I bought from KnifeKits. It was a bit dull, so I polished the head of it up to match the finish of the pocket clip and the Spirit.
Then I put a drop of Locktite on the screw and tightened 'er up. Here's what she looks like:
Another angle.
Bob
Ahhhhhh!
Bob, you're driving me crazy with that Spirit. First on SOSAK, now here. I feel like Chef from "Apocalypse Now", "Miss December! I gotta' come here and find her here!"
That Spirit haunts me. A pocket clip on my Spirit is a thing of dreams. I simply do not have the machinist's skills (nor the tools) to accomplish it.
Well done! It is a thing of beauty.
:thumbup:
The day you decide to do it for profit, I am there.
Bob, you're driving me crazy with that Spirit. First on SOSAK, now here. I feel like Chef from "Apocalypse Now", "Miss December! I gotta' come here and find her here!"
That Spirit haunts me. A pocket clip on my Spirit is a thing of dreams. I simply do not have the machinist's skills (nor the tools) to accomplish it.
Well done! It is a thing of beauty.
:thumbup:The day you decide to do it for profit, I am there.
@Jooliesews
Bob I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again, with the wealth of knowledge you have as well as your obvious photography talents/skills, you should be doing a book. Pardon me for saying so, but I just feel that you need a bit more of a push in the publishing direction. Convinced the wife yet?
Thanks again for filling us in on that ridiculously simple (for you anyway) mod. I'm gonna remember that detail of having the little "hook" for the edge of the clip.
Btw, I think the tool gods will still be smiling since its all about the tools anyway, who cares if we mix and match 'em up? Purists? Collectors? Lolz.
And sign me up too along with tortoise if ever you feel like doing this 'commercially', hehe.
Bob I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again, with the wealth of knowledge you have as well as your obvious photography talents/skills, you should be doing a book. Pardon me for saying so, but I just feel that you need a bit more of a push in the publishing direction. Convinced the wife yet?
Thanks again for filling us in on that ridiculously simple (for you anyway) mod. I'm gonna remember that detail of having the little "hook" for the edge of the clip.
Btw, I think the tool gods will still be smiling since its all about the tools anyway, who cares if we mix and match 'em up? Purists? Collectors? Lolz.
And sign me up too along with tortoise if ever you feel like doing this 'commercially', hehe.
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2004
- Messages
- 382
Aww, shucks. 
You guys are making me blush with all that sappy talk!
I would be hesitant to charge folks for the clip job. The cost of shipping the Spirit back and forth would be more than I would charge for the mod work! Seriously though, this is a pretty easy mod. Anyone with access to a drill press and a beltsander can do it themselves.
And Sparkee, regarding that book suggestion....well....let's just say that Defender (over at MTorg) has got me working on a project that you might find to be veeeeerrrry interesting....
Bob
You guys are making me blush with all that sappy talk!I would be hesitant to charge folks for the clip job. The cost of shipping the Spirit back and forth would be more than I would charge for the mod work! Seriously though, this is a pretty easy mod. Anyone with access to a drill press and a beltsander can do it themselves.
And Sparkee, regarding that book suggestion....well....let's just say that Defender (over at MTorg) has got me working on a project that you might find to be veeeeerrrry interesting....
Bob
And Sparkee, regarding that book suggestion....well....let's just say that Defender (over at MTorg) has got me working on a project that you might find to be veeeeerrrry interesting....
Bob
Now that's what I'm talkin' about
. Let me know when we can buy copies. I'm sure its gonna be a bestseller for us tool nuts. Have you got a wroking title yet? "The history of the modern multi-tool" or something?
Good luck and thanks again for some of the most informative posts on the site. :thumbup:
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2004
- Messages
- 382
After an embarrasingly long break, I'm back to working on it. Finished the profile and the rough grind, now it's off to heat treat next week. When it comes back the blade will still need final grinding, polishing, and sharpening. It's looking good.
One bit of fussiness that I hadn't expected was how critical the backspring tension is. Those little individual fingers have to have just the right amount of pressure on the back of the blade pivot. Too much and the blade won't fold out easily with the thumb hole, too little and it flops out loosely. There's a very narrow window to get it just right.
Bob
Thanks for posting the pics on the clip mod JOOLIESEWS. I ended doing the same mod. Mine didn't quite turn out as nice as yours though. Everything was going great until the last step... drilling the hole in the clip. I ended up using every kind of bit we had at work here, and took forever trying to get through that thing. I finally did get a hole, but it ended up slipping and being just a little low. The lip of the clip wasn't quite flush against the body of the the Spirit, so there is a bit of side to side play. I've tried hammering the lip down, but this clip just doesn't want to budge. I'm trying to think of other ideas to stop the side to side play. It's still usable though.
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2004
- Messages
- 382
Dang, that's a bummer! 
I can relate to your difficulties drilling though. The secret is to keep the RPM's low, somewhere around 150 to 200.
Hopefully you can still make it work perfectly. Whatcha gonna try next?
Bob
I can relate to your difficulties drilling though. The secret is to keep the RPM's low, somewhere around 150 to 200. Hopefully you can still make it work perfectly. Whatcha gonna try next?
Bob
Dang, that's a bummer!
Hopefully you can still make it work perfectly. Whatcha gonna try next?
Bob
Yeah, I tried every speed on the drill press, starting from the lowest. Nothing wanted to go through though.
I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do about it. I haven't really gotten the chance to sit down and try to think of something. The clip still works great, so it's not as if it's unusable. If I think of a good fix, I'll post it here, just in case anyone else runs into the same problem (not likely... I'm sure everyone here has better tool skills than me
).