Darn stubborn silver Alox

[spydutch]

 Greetings you all 

Being unemployed, single and no money whatsoever on hand I often get a bit bored and have to come up with things to kill time and keep me from smoking too much 

So the other day I tried to give my silver Alox Pioneer a pocket worn look since I'm too old to ever pocket wear a knife the natural way 

I used various grits of sandpaper to polish the alox and what a mess it was. Hands all black, table black and after the sanding the knife all gritty.
And furthermore after all the work was done you only can see some results with the knife wiped clean and up close...
Some damn tough stuff that alox

But I want to share it with you after all.

Sorry for the bad pics but I only have a Samsung Galaxy Core to work with.





I hope I won't get kicked my sorry ass off of this forum for turning yet another perfectly good Pioneer into a sheepfoot. Just like the blade style. 



Hope you like it and thanks for reading

[zoidberg]

I like the blade mod.      

[magentus]

I agree with the Lobster - great blade mod. How did you do it and how long did it take? I'm plucking up the courage to do it to one of mine.

I guess silver alox is doomed to look sparkling fresh all the time. 

[kirk13]

I like the blade mod.      

+1!

[spydutch]

I agree with the Lobster - great blade mod. How did you do it and how long did it take? I'm plucking up the courage to do it to one of mine.

I guess silver alox is doomed to look sparkling fresh all the time. 

First I draw the rough shape of the tip on the blade:



Then I very carefully grind the rough shape.  Keeping a glass of cold water to dip the blade in after each touch on the grining wheel. Baby steps. Using the (flat) side of the wheel to get the downward angle of the sheepfoot nice and straight.



After that I finish/refine the blade to my liking with this cheap whet stone (used dry) and sandpaper/metal polish.



Al in all it took me about 10 minutes or so on the grinding wheel and roughly half an hour refining/polishing.

Hope this helps.

[SteveC]

I like the blade mod.      

+1   

[magentus]

Good job! Anyone done one of these without a grinder? Say just a file and/or hack saw?

[Poncho65]

That blade mod is great spydutch Sheepfoot is one of my favorite blade shapes as well

I like the step by step as well

[zoidberg]

Good job! Anyone done one of these without a grinder? Say just a file and/or hack saw?

Yeah with files, no problem.      

[kaput]

I was just thinking this same thing with the scales. Honestly the worn ones look so fantastic, and unique. I was thinking of sanding too, but it doesn't look like it did much at all. Are you going to try anyway her ideas, maybe a dremmel?

I'm wondering what else can be done to the scales to make them a one off type deal. Maybe wiping with a solvent or paint in a non uniform way?

[magentus]

Good job! Anyone done one of these without a grinder? Say just a file and/or hack saw?

Yeah with files, no problem.      

Nice - Thanks ZMan. I'll give it a go when I have a moment.

[strmliner]

That blade mod is great spydutch Sheepfoot is one of my favorite blade shapes as well

I like the step by step as well

+1 on your mod and your pictures...let us know what else you work on while your bored. 

[shibafu]

I was just thinking this same thing with the scales. Honestly the worn ones look so fantastic, and unique. I was thinking of sanding too, but it doesn't look like it did much at all. Are you going to try anyway her ideas, maybe a dremmel?

I'm wondering what else can be done to the scales to make them a one off type deal. Maybe wiping with a solvent or paint in a non uniform way?

Tumbling would probably be a good way of getting a worn look.

Caustic soda will remove anodising by etching the surface of aluminium.  Make sure you know what you're doing before messing around with caustic soda, it is dangerous stuff.

[SAK Guy]

Just adding that in my experience, folks who buy color expect it to weather into a vintage look but buy silver expecting it to stay pristine looking longer.

[Thunderpants]

German pen company Kaweco sells aluminium fountain pens with an optional pre-used look:

(not my photo - it's from "The Serial Doodler")

The finish is only available on the colourful variants of the pen - it's some kind of paint, rather than anodization - because on a plain aluminium model it would be pretty much unnoticeable. As you have discovered! I imagine the quickest way to get the worn look is to stick the relevant parts in a tumble dryer type machine with a bunch of pebbles.

Or, if you have a kid, have him or her lose the parts in the sand pit for a couple of years. Works a treat on toy horses/ car keys / reading glasses etc...

[tattoosteve99]

Get some small stones and put them in a old coffee tin. make sure you have enough stones so they dont flop rather kinda move. A couple shots of lube and roll it around some. Pop it and look at it until you get the desired results. And that mod id quite nice. Easier to sharpen.

[Poncho65]

Good job! Anyone done one of these without a grinder? Say just a file and/or hack saw?

Yeah with files, no problem.      

I have also fixed broken tips on blades with Diamond stones as well