My Wave Mod Tinkering

[Rockslide]

Here's a modded Leatherman Wave I've been tinkering with. Mostly just a bunch of stuff that has been done before. Fun things I bookmarked on here while lurking the last few months. Been playing at modding it for about the last 6 weeks off and on, mostly waiting for parts or the Solid Carbide bits to show in the mail (Those solid carbide jobbers are not real cheap but they cut through the stainless so smoothly that they are super worth it, btw). 


Not much is visibly different above. You can see the acid etched stone wash treatment on the outside. I eyedroppered some plain old pcb etchant solution from Radioshack on the outside of the handles to darken the metal (I let each side sit with a puddle of acid on em for about 7 min). Then the main pivots and the handles spent about 5 minutes each get'n shaken around in a Gatorade bottle 3/4 filled with pea gravel from my front walkway and some Dawn dish soap (I used more jagged rocks then the typical wash in order to give it a more unique scratched to death look). The little round thing on the side there is a magnet I dropped on a few months back. It's kinda handy to put on the end of the handle and open it up in the driver position. It turns the LM into a short magnet pickup tool. I used it like that once, it was unwieldy and short but it did the extra job at no real cost in weight, size, or expense.


Above is the opposite side, with the added 91mm Victorinox scissors in the place of the serrated blade. So far, I still have the main drop point blade on the Wave. I have a #4 scalpel handle and various big blades for it that I plan to try out, just haven't gotten around to drilling a pivot in the scalpel and cutting it off to fit.





Above is the main show. I've dropped a Rebar head in it (I melted the tip off of the original head shorting it out on my truck like a damn fool). I took off the clip and slid tweezers from the LM Style up in the clip's slot (tweezers are handy and I don't need the clip as I've been using a little Skinth lately). I added the Rabar's nice awl in on the side with the micro screwdriver. Lastly, I just got done adding the lock pick set. I ordered my four fave picks/rakes from Southard in a small form that had been designed to fit their jackknife pick set (cheaper than full sized picks and I didn’t want to mess up my main large pick set). I stacked the picks, drilled em, snipped em off short, and dropped em where the old inside LM scissors had been. Worked out nicely as the old redundant LM scissors didn't work well with the Rebar head. The picks set deeply in the handle when folded in and aren't easy to get at, need a better solution for that problem. It works fine for now though and I doubt I'll ever actually need em, just a fun pass time skill to practice occasionally.

This is still pretty clearly a work in progress and it probably will be forever as I try out new things. I want to try out that scalpel handle mod. The Vic scissors still don't fit perfectly in the open position as they need some file work to lock out a little straighter. I need to figure out a good rust prevention treatment as I'm having trouble with rust in the pivots. The picks need to be easier to get at and it would be nice to put a removable tension tool in there somewhere. I was also thinking about grinding the end of the file into a small prying tool like I've seen on here before. So there is still lots of stuff I plan to tinker with.

Right now, it fits my wants nicely and I'm happy with the way it turned out up to this point. It wasn't too expensive (about half as expensive as the alox SAK mod I'm working on). The Rebar was about $30 on ebay. The 3/16 and 7/32 solid carbide jobber bits were about 12$ each on ebay but I don't really count them against the price as they have many uses left in em. The small picks were about 8$ shipped. I already had the Vic scissors and the Wave so that made it an easy and cheap mod overall. A pretty fun little project. What do you all think? How does it look?

[Breezy12]

excellent work! and I completely agree with you about the carbide bits.

the lock picks look like they fit in there very nicely. are you a locksmith, or is this just a hobby of yours?

if you decide to try to grind the end of the file down into a mini-prybar, be forewarned -- the file is tempered to a different hardness than the rest of the tools and can be a real pain to grind. it's still doable, but it will take some time.

keep up the great work, and please keep us posted with any updates!

[mac]

nice awl mod.
I really need an awl for my wave.

[Rockslide]

excellent work! and I completely agree with you about the carbide bits.

the lock picks look like they fit in there very nicely. are you a locksmith, or is this just a hobby of yours?

if you decide to try to grind the end of the file down into a mini-prybar, be forewarned -- the file is tempered to a different hardness than the rest of the tools and can be a real pain to grind. it's still doable, but it will take some time.

keep up the great work, and please keep us posted with any updates!

Thanks much and no I'm not a locksmith,  just a hobby. I'm a geologist. Started playing around with lockpicking about 10ish years ago. At the time I was doing mostly handyman work and it seemed like a useful/fun skill. Used em twice, once to get in my old car's trunk and another time to get into a lockbox, both times because I was dumb and locked myself away from my stuff.

Yea I reckon it will take a while to grind the file down to a clean wedge shape, it's why I've been to lazy to start it yet. Might be usefull though, so hopefully I'll work up the energy to play with it.

[Rockslide]

nice awl mod.
I really need an awl for my wave.

It is super easy to drop in there. The rebar awl just sits pretty much perfectly in the flat head screwdriver 's spot. I had to file a little off the back of the tip of my awl to fit it in the handle with the rebar head. Not sure, but I doubt you would even have to do that if you keep the smaller stock Wave plier head.

[Aloha]

That's a cool mod for the Wave.  I also like lock picking but I haven't made time to practice lately.   

[ducttapetech]

That is a sweet mod! Nice work!

[babola]

Wow, great result Rockslide  - and how timely as I have been sourcing all the bits required for 'Acid-Mini-Surge' mod of mine.

I am still searching for a cheap Wave donor, but got the rest of the other bits.

My plan has been to acid wash then stone wash the handles, main pivots, bottom end stops and bottom pivot screws, so pretty much like yours. If stone washing doesn't produce the required result I'll try a more intrusive tumble treatment.

This will be a long term project and I'll post here once done.

Thanks for posting yours, it gave me a peak into what the acid/stonewashed look on mine could look like when done - cheers!   

[Rockslide]

Wow, great result Rockslide  - and how timely as I have been sourcing all the bits required for 'Acid-Mini-Surge' mod of mine.

I am still searching for a cheap Wave donor, but got the rest of the other bits.

My plan has been to acid wash then stone wash the handles, main pivots, bottom end stops and bottom pivot screws, so pretty much like yours. If stone washing doesn't produce the required result I'll try a more intrusive tumble treatment.

This will be a long term project and I'll post here once done.

Thanks for posting yours, it gave me a peak into what the acid/stonewashed look on mine could look like when done - cheers!   

Thanks. It does take a surprisingly long time to get everything together doesn't it? I ended up doing my mod in stages, as things arrived in the mail. I was to impatient to wait on all the parts,  and when I started I didn't really know what I wanted. Still don't, as I hav couple more mods in mind.

My stone wash over the acid etch turned out to be really suttle, esspecially in pictures. I used a more angular medium than most, so it gave it a more scratchy look and less tonal change wash. Wasn't sure I liked it at first but it has grown on me. Might give the handles another shake in the Gatorade bottle to rough it up some more.

That is a sweet mod! Nice work!

Thanks very much

That's a cool mod for the Wave.  I also like lock picking but I haven't made time to practice lately.   

Thanks. Yea, I don't practice nearly as much as I did when I first started. I'm hopeing that having a few good picks handy will make practicing a bit easyer and more likely, but I kinda doubt it as I'm super lazy. The picks will prob just end up being a novelty.

[JBW1]

I really like the dull acid look! Nice job, very original tool set man
Would that rust etching stuff like from the auto parts stores do anything cool?

[babola]

I really like the dull acid look! Nice job, very original tool set man
Would that rust etching stuff like from the auto parts stores do anything cool?

Hmm, I don't believe so JBW, it will have to be based on either Ferric Chloride, Copper Chloride in Hydrochloric Acid or Ammonium Persulfate. Each of these are steel etchants, some work on stainless some not but all etch steel, not just the rust.

[Rockslide]

I really like the dull acid look! Nice job, very original tool set man
Would that rust etching stuff like from the auto parts stores do anything cool?

Thanks much

I'm with babola on the rust remover, I also doubt it would work. That is just a guess though. I've never used the stuff and I hav no idea what's in it but using such a strong acid to remove rust from a car part would be like... I don't know, using a machine gun to kill a fly in your home (all I can think of). The fly may end up dead and gone but now the house ain't gonna keep u so warm.... what with all the little holes... from the machine gun... I'm bad at this.

Aaaaaanyways, the RadioShack pcb etchant works well and was affordable. It's a 16 oz bottle of ferric chloride solution for about 11$ and it's easyish to find. If you just puddle the acid on the various areas you want to darken, 16 oz would etch four wave sized tools pretty easily. That's worked out well for me.

[English333]

Are you interested in selling this or perhaps modifying a fellow members Leatherman? I am drooling over the lock pics and am willing to pay a very pretty penny.

[Rockslide]

Are you interested in selling this or perhaps modifying a fellow members Leatherman? I am drooling over the lock pics and am willing to pay a very pretty penny.

I have thought about it and I would be willing to mod other people's knives. Not sure it is worth it though. My finished product here is very rough. The picks are nigh impossible to get out of the handle without a second tool, I use the tension wrench to pick out the picks. The picks have rough cut edges, don't lock, and open well past straight. The scissors currently open all the way nicely but only lock at 90 degrees. All that and the cost in parts can be high, even without labor. You need lots of actual knives to make one of these, a wave (90$), a rebar (40$ ish), and a Vic with the large scissors (35$ish). Then you need the picks (15$ish and questionable legality depending on where you live) and tweezers (5$ish) from a Lm style. So that is about 180$ investment, before labor, for a rough user Franken-wave exactly like mine. I did it because it is a fun project, I already had a few surplus knives in my collection that I could destroy, and I like its new functionality and rough look. I'm not sure you would be happy with it in your hands when you got it and realized you invested so much in a mutilated wave.

Now that I know you have an idea what you are paying for, sure I'd be happy to make you one. If you are still interested pm me and we can talk about it.


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[NKlamerus]

This Puppy is Gorgeous!

[Zed]

Very cool    

[ReamerPunch]

That's pretty.

[Poncho65]

Great necrothreading, RP That is a very cool looking Wave

[oscillationsions]

I have thought about it and I would be willing to mod other people's knives. Not sure it is worth it though. My finished product here is very rough. The picks are nigh impossible to get out of the handle without a second tool, I use the tension wrench to pick out the picks. The picks have rough cut edges, don't lock, and open well past straight. The scissors currently open all the way nicely but only lock at 90 degrees. All that and the cost in parts can be high, even without labor. You need lots of actual knives to make one of these, a wave (90$), a rebar (40$ ish), and a Vic with the large scissors (35$ish). Then you need the picks (15$ish and questionable legality depending on where you live) and tweezers (5$ish) from a Lm style. So that is about 180$ investment, before labor, for a rough user Franken-wave exactly like mine. I did it because it is a fun project, I already had a few surplus knives in my collection that I could destroy, and I like its new functionality and rough look. I'm not sure you would be happy with it in your hands when you got it and realized you invested so much in a mutilated wave.

Now that I know you have an idea what you are paying for, sure I'd be happy to make you one. If you are still interested pm me and we can talk about it.


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hey rockslide, wondering what you mean by vic with the big scissors for $35? is this about how much the cheapest larger vic MTs are going for on ebay or something? thanks. looking for tips because i'm trying to get a pair of large vic scissors to put onto a frankenstein mod i have in mind as well

[Poncho65]

He has been active in the last month so hopefully he answers your question but that post was from 6 years ago