- Joined
- Oct 18, 2001
- Messages
- 20,978
I have enjoyed my ZT302 since the first day I got it....wonderful knife...really well designed...nearly bullet-proof.
But there were just a couple things about it that kept me from working it into my EDC rotation.
No way I could just let it go to someone else....I would miss it terribly!!
So, I finally got off my duff today and decided to do something about it.
And I'll take you guys on my lil' journey with me. :thumbup:
Glamour pic from Kershaw:
Fully disassembled:
Problems/Concerns:
1 - I had always been a "tad" jealous of the ZT300 version.....which has a plain satin-finished blade...I don't mind the camo on the blade...but the plain definitely has its appeal.
2 - The "texture" on the handles is really cool...but tears up my pocket pretty bad when EDC-ed. So, I needed to do something about that....and all the sharp edges around the knife.
3 - The clip is too tight...nearly impossible to get this thing in/out of my pocket...whether I'm wearing shorts, jeans or even my 5.11 tacticals.
4 - The edge is a bit too thick - measured 0.053".
5 - The whole thing feels like a brick in my pocket...quite heavy compared to typical Benchmade/Spyderco knives.
6 - The overall lines of the knife are great, and the coyote brown is nice too. Nothing wrong with any of that...just wondered if I might be able to add a little something to it color-wise.
I do understand that many of the above were actually "features" of the knife...meant to be tough...and this folder is indeed TOUGH....no doubt about that. But maybe a little TOO tough.
Solutions:
1 - easiest fix - simply beadblasted the blade.
2 - I took each of the 3 main parts to the scotchbrite wheel to deburr all the sharp edges...took a while, but I managed to knock the peaks off and round everything out pretty good. I then beadblasted both scales to get everything even and add back a little texture (that got reduced when I removed the "peaks"). I also deburred the liner and the corners of the blade (flats).
3 - this one gave me fits...I decided to stay with the stock clip...but carefully bend it into a more useful shape. There just wasn't enough "room underneath the clip"...once I figured that out...getting the right shape was easy. But it took a lot of trial and error until I could determine what the problem was (bend/straighten, in/out of the pocket, bend/straighten....etc.)
4 - was also pretty easy....for me, that is.
I passed this task off to Tom Krein - Grind Monkey!! He did a nice hollow grind and took the edge down to around 0.016".....still quite tough, but a much better cutter.
5 - I'm sure I removed a fraction of the material on the handle slabs at the scotchbrite wheel.....but the biggest factor was the blade. Just feels great and is no longer blade-heavy. Lightened it up in a good way - still feels tough, but no longer a brick.
6 - Here's where I had the most fun....coloring the titanium frame piece, the metal liner and the metal clip. All were beadblasted after being worked on, and then heat-colored with a simple propane torch. The colors are "just right" for me.
This is like a whole new knife. And, most importantly...it's now in my pocket again for EDC.
Enjoy the pics!
Here are all the pieces before assembly:
Great pic showing the color in the handle and the nice new grind by Tom - added a longer swedge too!
Can see the heat-coloring of the liner - and deburred edges too.
But there were just a couple things about it that kept me from working it into my EDC rotation.
No way I could just let it go to someone else....I would miss it terribly!!
So, I finally got off my duff today and decided to do something about it.
And I'll take you guys on my lil' journey with me. :thumbup:
Glamour pic from Kershaw:
Fully disassembled:
Problems/Concerns:
1 - I had always been a "tad" jealous of the ZT300 version.....which has a plain satin-finished blade...I don't mind the camo on the blade...but the plain definitely has its appeal.
2 - The "texture" on the handles is really cool...but tears up my pocket pretty bad when EDC-ed. So, I needed to do something about that....and all the sharp edges around the knife.
3 - The clip is too tight...nearly impossible to get this thing in/out of my pocket...whether I'm wearing shorts, jeans or even my 5.11 tacticals.
4 - The edge is a bit too thick - measured 0.053".
5 - The whole thing feels like a brick in my pocket...quite heavy compared to typical Benchmade/Spyderco knives.
6 - The overall lines of the knife are great, and the coyote brown is nice too. Nothing wrong with any of that...just wondered if I might be able to add a little something to it color-wise.
I do understand that many of the above were actually "features" of the knife...meant to be tough...and this folder is indeed TOUGH....no doubt about that. But maybe a little TOO tough.
Solutions:
1 - easiest fix - simply beadblasted the blade.
2 - I took each of the 3 main parts to the scotchbrite wheel to deburr all the sharp edges...took a while, but I managed to knock the peaks off and round everything out pretty good. I then beadblasted both scales to get everything even and add back a little texture (that got reduced when I removed the "peaks"). I also deburred the liner and the corners of the blade (flats).
3 - this one gave me fits...I decided to stay with the stock clip...but carefully bend it into a more useful shape. There just wasn't enough "room underneath the clip"...once I figured that out...getting the right shape was easy. But it took a lot of trial and error until I could determine what the problem was (bend/straighten, in/out of the pocket, bend/straighten....etc.)
4 - was also pretty easy....for me, that is.
I passed this task off to Tom Krein - Grind Monkey!! He did a nice hollow grind and took the edge down to around 0.016".....still quite tough, but a much better cutter. 5 - I'm sure I removed a fraction of the material on the handle slabs at the scotchbrite wheel.....but the biggest factor was the blade. Just feels great and is no longer blade-heavy. Lightened it up in a good way - still feels tough, but no longer a brick.
6 - Here's where I had the most fun....coloring the titanium frame piece, the metal liner and the metal clip. All were beadblasted after being worked on, and then heat-colored with a simple propane torch. The colors are "just right" for me.
This is like a whole new knife. And, most importantly...it's now in my pocket again for EDC.
Enjoy the pics!
Here are all the pieces before assembly:
Great pic showing the color in the handle and the nice new grind by Tom - added a longer swedge too!
Can see the heat-coloring of the liner - and deburred edges too.
