Who want's hard anodized alox scales?

bushidomosquito · **on:** September 16, 2011, 02:03:57 AM

I wonder if any of our SAK modders want to get in on this? I have 3 sets of Pioneer/Farmer style scales from some of my current projects and I'm sure to have more soon. I thought about sending them off to have them HAIII anodized but this sort of thing always works out to be cheaper if you have more items done at once. So who's got some scales laying around that they want hard anodized?

I'll also be drilling and tapping mine for these clips,
http://www.usaknifemaker.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=30&products_id=1943
before the anodizing of course and since I'll have a mill set up for it I can do yours too if you like (you'll have to order your own clips and screws) for a reasonable fee. Seriously, like $3 a scale, it doesn't take long. Only new unscathed scales since there's no way to be sure you get back the ones you sent in. I plan on doing at least a dozen sets for myself. It might be worth it to you if you have the funds to just pick up some alox models for the soul purpose of having the scales taped and anodized and then reassemble them for sale. I dunno, what are these going for now?

How much it costs depends on how many takers we get. The more parts go out the less the cost per part so don't be shy.

WWW · **Reply #1 on:** September 16, 2011, 02:32:51 AM

Holly Scalops

!!!!!!!!!!! I really wish I was rich

!! It looks amazing!BTW I saw someone here modding a alox in order to receive back tools, is it too hard to make it? If not, would you make it?

p.s. I'm not planning on getting one of those now, but hopefully in the near future!

tattoosteve99 · **Reply #2 on:** September 16, 2011, 02:48:37 AM

Ok I have at least 2 sets I'd liked black coated. Is the the standard Vic anno or the military hard? Btw the black alox farmer is going for around $125 a piece.

bushidomosquito · **Reply #3 on:** September 16, 2011, 02:59:35 AM

I want to do the military hard and assemble them with bead blasted ti clip and liners. They should turn out very similar to Scribers in the photos. I think some black cerakote on the blade and tools is in order as well.

Neil · **Reply #4 on:** September 16, 2011, 01:43:48 PM

It a good idea to pool parts for a job like this but I can't imagine it'd work out very economic for me to send them to US and then get them shipped back. Add to that the cost of buying in the SAKs to pull apart in the first place and I'm afraid I won't be able to play

Great idea though, I hope you put together some cool stuff with them

bushidomosquito · **Reply #5 on:** September 16, 2011, 03:15:25 PM

Quote from: WWW on September 16, 2011, 02:32:51 AM

Holly Scalops !!!!!!!!!!! I really wish I was rich !! It looks amazing!BTW I saw someone here modding a alox in order to receive back tools, is it too hard to make it? If not, would you make it?

p.s. I'm not planning on getting one of those now, but hopefully in the near future!

I can't see how backtools in an alox is possible. The whole package is narrower, the back tools require 4 holes instead of 3, you'd have to make all new springs, it's just so much work that it's easier just to start from scratch. The only back tool I've ever found useful is the phillips driver and the inline can go in an alox as Steve and others have showed us. I'm making the transition to Alox man myself. And I'll build you anything you want so long as it's possible.

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #6 on:** September 16, 2011, 03:24:44 PM

I might be in for some scales. I love my Scibeer HAIII mods and I wouldn't mind some extras!

Def

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

Styerman · **Reply #7 on:** September 16, 2011, 08:45:41 PM

Sweet looking mod , are you going to be making many of them ?

Chris

bushidomosquito · **Reply #8 on:** September 16, 2011, 09:33:40 PM

Quote from: Styerman on September 16, 2011, 08:45:41 PM

Sweet looking mod , are you going to be making many of them ?

Chris

That's not mine, it's made by Scibeer but I hope to improve on them a bit.

felinevet · **Reply #9 on:** September 17, 2011, 01:29:30 AM

Will the place you are going to have do this acid strip the scales for you or do you have to do that yourself?

J-sews · **Reply #10 on:** September 17, 2011, 03:14:13 AM

Yeah, like Tim says, the original clear anodize needs to be stripped off first. $:-\$

Metropolicity · **Reply #11 on:** September 17, 2011, 05:22:24 AM

Oh oh!! Can you do Ti scales? I would send you the scales off a TTi RIGHT NOW!

tattoosteve99 · **Reply #12 on:** September 17, 2011, 05:35:43 AM

Quote from: Metropolicity on September 17, 2011, 05:22:24 AM

Oh oh!! Can you do Ti scales? I would send you the scales off a TTi RIGHT NOW!

Only if they are aluminum.

Metropolicity · **Reply #13 on:** September 17, 2011, 05:41:45 AM

Sigh...ok.

Time to see if I can find some magic paint.

tattoosteve99 · **Reply #14 on:** September 17, 2011, 05:45:19 AM

Ti can be coated, but it's a different process. I might be able to help you out with that though.

ICanFixThat · **Reply #15 on:** September 17, 2011, 10:10:12 AM

ME!! --- but I don't have a pile of scales to send you. A new batch of HA scales would be really nice. If they worked out I'm sure people would start collecting scales for the next batch.

bushidomosquito · **Reply #16 on:** September 17, 2011, 12:45:42 PM

Quote from: felinevet on September 17, 2011, 01:29:30 AM

Will the place you are going to have do this acid strip the scales for you or do you have to do that yourself?

Red devil lye strips it right off without harming the aluminum. I've done it on flashlights and bike parts so I'll just dip and neutral rinse them before I send them off.

bushidomosquito · **Reply #17 on:** September 17, 2011, 12:49:19 PM

Quote from: Metropolicity on September 17, 2011, 05:22:24 AM

Oh oh!! Can you do Ti scales? I would send you the scales off a TTi RIGHT NOW!

I can heat anodize like I used to do to my timascus jewelery. It gives you a gold/purple/blue effect but if you want a solid color you need electro-annodizing. You can do that with Pepsi and a 9v battery.

bushidomosquito · **Reply #18 on:** September 17, 2011, 12:59:03 PM

Quote from: ICanFixThat on September 17, 2011, 10:10:12 AM

ME!! --- but I don't have a pile of scales to send you. A new batch of HA scales would be really nice. If they worked out I'm sure people would start collecting scales for the next batch.

I'll be putting Pioneers and Farmers and all sorts of goodies together with the scales I get back and they'll have ti center liners and torx pivots. I'ma have to pick up some cadets too. I think I'm going to finish all the customs I'm working on now and just order a few dozen Alox modles to get the most out of this anodize run.

tattoosteve99 · **Reply #19 on:** September 19, 2011, 08:14:18 PM

Any progress on this?

bushidomosquito · **Reply #20 on:** September 19, 2011, 09:15:26 PM

I'm going to need everybody that wants in to let me know how many pairs of scales they want done. I got the word from the anodizing fellows that a batch run is $125. I'm just waiting for a call from the big man on how many scales that will get done. I'm planning on buy a few dozen Alox models and stripping them down for parts for titanium mods which will leave me with scales to sell. This is just the first run. There will be many more including colors. There needs to be somewhere for us modders to buy colored scales and I'm happy to fill that niche.

tattoosteve99 · **Reply #21 on:** September 19, 2011, 09:21:35 PM

Let me check and I'll let you know.
Ok I have 3 sets. 2 93mm and 1 84mm that I want black, black, black, and oh did I say black. Lol

sawman · **Reply #22 on:** September 20, 2011, 12:24:34 AM

I don't have any to donate but I'd be very interested in buying some finished one's from somebody if that's possible?

bushidomosquito · **Reply #23 on:** September 20, 2011, 09:48:59 PM

So good news! Turns out that for the $125 minimum order I can get 50 scales done. That works out to $2.50 per scale. That means I can charge $20 per pair for finished scales and $25 drilled for the pocket clip. The only problem is that also works out to me having to buy almost $500 worth of Cadets, Pioneers and Farmers and set up a disassembley line to get the most out of a run. The dye/seal process reduces the hardness of the coating from 60-65 RC down to around 45 which is about like regular anodizing so it's not really worth it to have them colored in this run just yet. So, can everyone chime in with how many scales they can throw in on this? If I don't get many I'll just have to get around 20 done the first time and the runs after that I can afford to buy Alox knives by the box full for future runs.

tattoosteve99 · **Reply #24 on:** September 20, 2011, 09:56:26 PM

No color ;( Sorry I'm out then. I don't know why color reduces the hardness. It just soaks in the pores of the anno. And a sealing should be just a dunk in boiling water

research time.

bushidomosquito · **Reply #25 on:** September 20, 2011, 10:26:48 PM

From what I was told it's the sealing that reduces the hardness. Meh, military grey is cooler anyway. Although there sure are a lot of black flashlights out there with HAIII coating.

bushidomosquito · **Reply #26 on:** September 20, 2011, 10:30:06 PM

http://www.aaa-anodizing.com/

These are the kind of greys that you get with the HAIII. The particular shade depends on the specific alloy being anodized.

Raukodur · **Reply #27 on:** December 26, 2011, 04:35:01 PM

Resurrecting old thread here... what happened with this? Project go ahead?

So generally, how difficulat are HA scales to come across for modding purposes?

Syph007 · **Reply #28 on:** December 26, 2011, 06:03:20 PM

I looked in the local yellow pages and found an electroplating place. They will do HAIII for me for 90 bucks a run. Im just collecting a bunch of scales first to make it worth while. Im sure anyone can find a local place to get this done, the trick of course is to gather up enough scales to make it worth while. I dont want to pay 90 bucks for one set!