You made this from that??
Every once in a while, I come up with a crazy idea and decide to act on it. Against my better judgment, I bought a Boker Plus Armed Forces Tanto folder, because I liked the general design of the knife, especially when closed. It sort of reminded me of a Strider folder. Here's a pic of it when new:
Well, the knife comes, and it isn't what I expected. The liner lock has too much movement and if the knife is wrist flicked open hard, the lock moves all the way to the edge of the blade and slips off, wedging itself betweent he blade and the opposite liner. Bad situation. I started a thread on BF to see what could be done to remedy the problem, but upon looking more closely at the knife, realized that solution (drill and tap a hole for a screw to be threaded into the liner lock bar and thus constrict it's movement off the blade when opened) would not work.
I took the knife apart and found that the nylon washers were installed on the wrong sides. One of them was thicker and that created the large gap that the liner lock bar would slip into when opened firmly. I swapped the washers' sides and the problem improved somewhat, but I had another idea, which I acted upon.
I replaced the nylon washers with phosphor bronze ones, grinding the hole open so the pivot screw would barely slip through them. I forgot to say there was significant lateral blade play, due to a variety of factors, but preparing the bronze washers the way I did helped to eliminate the lateral blade play, after doing some other modifications.
Besides changing the washers, I also ground down the tubular spacers so the knife would be slimmer and the liners parallel after changing the washers. Doing these mods made the knife tighter, and there is no blade play whatsoever now. Lockup is very tight. I can now open the knife with a simple, firm thumb flick.
As I didn't like the arms that protruded from the top and bottom of the blade, I cut them off. Those nasty edges on the arms made it very uncomfortable to carry the knife in a regular pants pocket, as they were true diggers.
You'll notice that I also did more surgery on the knife, but I'll spare the blow by blow. I grooved the scales, and sanded off the black paint on the liners where they are visible all around the knife, and then polished them.
The blade comes with a titanium nitride finish, that I hit with 600 grit and then polished afterwards. My goal was to achieve a well-worn look to the knife, almost as if it had been to hell and back. I sanded and wire brushed the screws and all the normal places where wear would show up on a knife. And put a real edge on the blade. Wicked sharp now.
After all this, the knife is now a welcome addition to my EDC; before starting I seriously considered returning it for a refund.
Here are some pics, and thanks for looking!
Every once in a while, I come up with a crazy idea and decide to act on it. Against my better judgment, I bought a Boker Plus Armed Forces Tanto folder, because I liked the general design of the knife, especially when closed. It sort of reminded me of a Strider folder. Here's a pic of it when new:
Well, the knife comes, and it isn't what I expected. The liner lock has too much movement and if the knife is wrist flicked open hard, the lock moves all the way to the edge of the blade and slips off, wedging itself betweent he blade and the opposite liner. Bad situation. I started a thread on BF to see what could be done to remedy the problem, but upon looking more closely at the knife, realized that solution (drill and tap a hole for a screw to be threaded into the liner lock bar and thus constrict it's movement off the blade when opened) would not work.
I took the knife apart and found that the nylon washers were installed on the wrong sides. One of them was thicker and that created the large gap that the liner lock bar would slip into when opened firmly. I swapped the washers' sides and the problem improved somewhat, but I had another idea, which I acted upon.
I replaced the nylon washers with phosphor bronze ones, grinding the hole open so the pivot screw would barely slip through them. I forgot to say there was significant lateral blade play, due to a variety of factors, but preparing the bronze washers the way I did helped to eliminate the lateral blade play, after doing some other modifications.
Besides changing the washers, I also ground down the tubular spacers so the knife would be slimmer and the liners parallel after changing the washers. Doing these mods made the knife tighter, and there is no blade play whatsoever now. Lockup is very tight. I can now open the knife with a simple, firm thumb flick.
As I didn't like the arms that protruded from the top and bottom of the blade, I cut them off. Those nasty edges on the arms made it very uncomfortable to carry the knife in a regular pants pocket, as they were true diggers.
You'll notice that I also did more surgery on the knife, but I'll spare the blow by blow. I grooved the scales, and sanded off the black paint on the liners where they are visible all around the knife, and then polished them.
The blade comes with a titanium nitride finish, that I hit with 600 grit and then polished afterwards. My goal was to achieve a well-worn look to the knife, almost as if it had been to hell and back. I sanded and wire brushed the screws and all the normal places where wear would show up on a knife. And put a real edge on the blade. Wicked sharp now.
After all this, the knife is now a welcome addition to my EDC; before starting I seriously considered returning it for a refund.
Here are some pics, and thanks for looking!
