Hi,
Been a long time since I posted anything here (used to, but not lately).
After seen what I did with a diving knife for my personal use, a friend of mine from a spearfishing forum showed some interest about getting something done in a knife of his. Giving he is an electronic engineer by trade and had been modifying spearfishing lights for years now, we worked out a trade. I would modify his knife and he would modify (update to LED emmiter with constant current circuits and such) my ancient Omer Moonlight. Win win.
This is the knife. I think it is from SEATEC
Hadn't been used in a while. It doesn't have any kind of guard and the smallish handle didn't allow to exert much force with it without slipping. Sheath is also kind of crappy since it didn't allow for a quick draw and requires three hands to operate.
First the rubber rings re removed. Even beeing stainless, rust stains all over the place.
The litthe tabs meant for retaining the rubber O rings in place are already gone and I have scketched some finger notches to aid in the retention.
Knife handle are ground (die grinder with carbide burr). It will also get two stainless pins. On the back side there was an existing hole (3mm or so) but in the front it didn't have any. It is hardened stainless. Usually, if I can center punch it, I can drill it... but this time I tried to center punch it and I just blunted my center punch... ohhhhh crap. Recently I bought a set of 10 2mm solid carbide drill bits online and they DO work. However, I didn't place any backing on the exit side and I broke the drill bit when it was comming out. Other than that, they work great. Something like $15 per set. Carbide is brittle and in this diameter, quite delicate. I don't have a mill. I was using it in a drill press.
Handle material. Home brew micarta. Original handle is small, so it is time to extend it a bit on the back side (even though it will not have metal to support it.
Blade thickness is 4mm, so I routed (I will I could mill it!) a 2mm relieve on the back half of the handle using my table router (I built it for speargun making).
Handles traced on the micarta block.
Handle slabs cut with the jigsaw.
Drilling for pins. You know how it goes.
It is going to have a lanyard tube (aluminium 6mm od, 4mm id). Sandwitch ready for glueing. Even though it is meant to be symetric, I marked both sides to be sure not to exchange them.
Front edge of the scales finished.
Epoxy to the rescue
Degreased with acetone, expoxy mixed, off we go to smear one side and put the pins through
Now the other side. And left undisturbed for 12 hours at least. I let it sit for three days, since I didn't have time to work on it
Been a long time since I posted anything here (used to, but not lately).
After seen what I did with a diving knife for my personal use, a friend of mine from a spearfishing forum showed some interest about getting something done in a knife of his. Giving he is an electronic engineer by trade and had been modifying spearfishing lights for years now, we worked out a trade. I would modify his knife and he would modify (update to LED emmiter with constant current circuits and such) my ancient Omer Moonlight. Win win.
This is the knife. I think it is from SEATEC
Hadn't been used in a while. It doesn't have any kind of guard and the smallish handle didn't allow to exert much force with it without slipping. Sheath is also kind of crappy since it didn't allow for a quick draw and requires three hands to operate.
First the rubber rings re removed. Even beeing stainless, rust stains all over the place.
The litthe tabs meant for retaining the rubber O rings in place are already gone and I have scketched some finger notches to aid in the retention.
Knife handle are ground (die grinder with carbide burr). It will also get two stainless pins. On the back side there was an existing hole (3mm or so) but in the front it didn't have any. It is hardened stainless. Usually, if I can center punch it, I can drill it... but this time I tried to center punch it and I just blunted my center punch... ohhhhh crap. Recently I bought a set of 10 2mm solid carbide drill bits online and they DO work. However, I didn't place any backing on the exit side and I broke the drill bit when it was comming out. Other than that, they work great. Something like $15 per set. Carbide is brittle and in this diameter, quite delicate. I don't have a mill. I was using it in a drill press.
Handle material. Home brew micarta. Original handle is small, so it is time to extend it a bit on the back side (even though it will not have metal to support it.
Blade thickness is 4mm, so I routed (I will I could mill it!) a 2mm relieve on the back half of the handle using my table router (I built it for speargun making).
Handles traced on the micarta block.
Handle slabs cut with the jigsaw.
Drilling for pins. You know how it goes.
It is going to have a lanyard tube (aluminium 6mm od, 4mm id). Sandwitch ready for glueing. Even though it is meant to be symetric, I marked both sides to be sure not to exchange them.
Front edge of the scales finished.
Epoxy to the rescue
Degreased with acetone, expoxy mixed, off we go to smear one side and put the pins through
Now the other side. And left undisturbed for 12 hours at least. I let it sit for three days, since I didn't have time to work on it
