Show off your Sak mod's!

[oneho]

Hi!
So I finally listed my rebuilt GAK on eBay. If anyone is interested  , here is the link:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rebuilt-GAK-german-army-knife-Victorinox-manufactory-/221171122471?

[nuphoria]

If you would like to sell something on MTO, or link to your own sale elsewhere it would be better for you to put it on the sales threads please. Thanks

Lovely mod too

[PTRSAK]

Put my old (square phillips driver, thick tang blade) 91mm tinker back together and on a whim, made up a bail to put on the end.
Would probably do it differently if I make a second one, but it adds a bit of charm to an old battler.

[Sparky415]

Nice job on the bail 

[enki_ck]

Nice job on the bail 

+1 Good job there.

[Syph007]

Ya that bail looks nice to me.  How would you do it differently?

[PTRSAK]

Ya that bail looks nice to me.  How would you do it differently?

This one is made of three pieces, the ends are 1/16 (1.5mm) plate and the 2mm rod is tight in slots cut in the end. It's hammered flat before being soldered so the joint does have some mechanical strength other than just the solder, but you can see the silver colour against the brass.

I'm going to try making one like this...



the thick black line will be soldered, but with the short end grooved to fit around the rod I will be able to remove almost all of the visible solder and it doesn't have to be a strong joint because it won't be taking any great load.

It doesn't look it, but the hole in the middle is bigger than the rod. This was drawn to scale as a 2mm rod and hole for a 2.5mm pin.

[lowtech]

This weekend i did some sorting an cleaning in my workshop and found some time to play around (it was more fun than cleaning...)

I tried a new finish on the scales of a beater Spartan that i use i mainly to pop of scales.

I used an old soldering iron to create a very grippy texture.
I think it´s called "stipling" in english.
It was a quick "proof of concept" rather than a well prepared job, so the edges are not defined clearly and the pattern is not very regulary  (and i included some old dirt from the soldering iron´s tip...)
But the created finish is grippy and something i have not seen before on a SAK. you can use old, scarred and scratched scales, too.
I think if you carefully mark the outer edge or do the complete scale and use a nicely profiled, clean tip you can produce a nice, regular finish.

Excuse the bad pics.

BTW, i practiced peening a bit by making a 1-layer 91 (blades and corkscrew).
the peening was really nice and i managed not to damage any bushings, only to find out i placed the blades on the wrong ends... So i had a little more drilling practice, too.

I sharpened teh wire stripper in teh pictured beater SAK and think this is a nice and easy mod that will be made on my users. but I´ll sharpen teh side opposite the Nail nick next time. I used a Dremel with a diamond coated grinding bit.

[HankSolon]

This is my EDC a very used Victorinox Spartan, now with ebony plus scales. (pen and needle added).

I tweeked the can and bottle-opener a bit.
The cutting edge at the bottle opener was made whetting from both sides. That I wouldn't do again. One side is better (for skinning wires etc). The orange peeler is perfect. The originale straight shape is concave now and the edge is very sharp. I love it.

[stealth007s]

This is my EDC a very used Victorinox Spartan, now with ebony plus scales. (pen and needle added).

I tweeked the can and bottle-opener a bit.
The cutting edge at the bottle opener was made whetting from both sides. That I wouldn't do again. One side is better (for skinning wires etc). The orange peeler is perfect. The originale straight shape is concave now and the edge is very sharp. I love it.

Was it that difficult? Great idea though Were both done using the whetting?

[HankSolon]

Was it that difficult? Great idea though Were both done using the whetting?

It's quite easy. I used a proxxon and a whetting bit, after that some kind of long ceramic whetting stones to get it sharp. And yes, both where done using the whetting.

The point is, it's not useful whetting the bottle opener from both sides. Skinning wires is much more easy (for me), if I have an edge with a flat side, like that: |/
(instead of a traditional V-Shape: \/ ).

The idea with the bottle-opener I have seen in this forum before, but the can opener/orange-peeler mod is unique... maybe. I don't care, it's useful, that counts. 

[PTRSAK]

still a work in progress...  The Aloxplorer

[Sidhartha]

i like the bail!, i want to put one in a knife one day, but i was thinking just to smash the rod with a hammer to flatten it   

[Gareth]

This weekend i did some sorting an cleaning in my workshop and found some time to play around (it was more fun than cleaning...)

I tried a new finish on the scales of a beater Spartan that i use i mainly to pop of scales.

I used an old soldering iron to create a very grippy texture.
I think it´s called "stipling" in english.
It was a quick "proof of concept" rather than a well prepared job, so the edges are not defined clearly and the pattern is not very regulary  (and i included some old dirt from the soldering iron´s tip...)
But the created finish is grippy and something i have not seen before on a SAK. you can use old, scarred and scratched scales, too.
I think if you carefully mark the outer edge or do the complete scale and use a nicely profiled, clean tip you can produce a nice, regular finish.

Excuse the bad pics.

BTW, i practiced peening a bit by making a 1-layer 91 (blades and corkscrew).
the peening was really nice and i managed not to damage any bushings, only to find out i placed the blades on the wrong ends... So i had a little more drilling practice, too.

I sharpened teh wire stripper in teh pictured beater SAK and think this is a nice and easy mod that will be made on my users. but I´ll sharpen teh side opposite the Nail nick next time. I used a Dremel with a diamond coated grinding bit.

I would call it "stippling" as well.  Nice idea mate.

[lowtech]

Thanks Gareth!

I like the improved Grip so much that i will do a more elaborate Version of this scales.
I´ll clean teh tip of the soldering Iron, mark the outlines, take a seat in a well lit area and take some more time - And i´ll try to do better pics afterwards.

[KTesh]

Please forgive this cross post...  I didn't discover this subforum until after I posted in the Swiss forum.

Rather than wait for my "Plus" scales to arrive, I decided to mod my older (damaged) Ranger's scale to see if I could add the pen slot myself.  I figure that if I messed it up, I could go ahead and get a replacement scale from Victorinox when I send it in.



A previous attempt to remove the scale (due to a large gap between the scale and the body plate) damaged the scale, so I've used poster putty (old and nasty as it was) to help hold the scale to the knife.  I fixed the gap by boiling water, then putting the scale in for a few minutes, then bending it the opposite direction of the old bend, and "set" it by rinsing in cold water.

After removing the scale for the mod, I used hobby files, and a Xacto knife to cut the grove needed for the pen.  It took a lot of test fits (is the "Plus" scale thicker than the original scale?) to get the scale to fit "flush" with the body. The scale is now very thin where the slot is.





Pleased with the results, I swapped the scale of my newer Ranger model knife. Even though the results aren't as clean as a factory made one, I think that it is suitable for weapons load testing (read "good enough for government work")(sorry, I was a 462 in the USAF (RAF Upper Heyford UK, '88-'90)).

Weapons!
K'Tesh

[stealth007s]

Please forgive this cross post...  I didn't discover this subforum until after I posted in the Swiss forum.

Rather than wait for my "Plus" scales to arrive, I decided to mod my older (damaged) Ranger's scale to see if I could add the pen slot myself.  I figure that if I messed it up, I could go ahead and get a replacement scale from Victorinox when I send it in.



A previous attempt to remove the scale (due to a large gap between the scale and the body plate) damaged the scale, so I've used poster putty (old and nasty as it was) to help hold the scale to the knife.  I fixed the gap by boiling water, then putting the scale in for a few minutes, then bending it the opposite direction of the old bend, and "set" it by rinsing in cold water.

After removing the scale for the mod, I used hobby files, and a Xacto knife to cut the grove needed for the pen.  It took a lot of test fits (is the "Plus" scale thicker than the original scale?) to get the scale to fit "flush" with the body. The scale is now very thin where the slot is.





Pleased with the results, I swapped the scale of my newer Ranger model knife. Even though the results aren't as clean as a factory made one, I think that it is suitable for weapons load testing (read "good enough for government work")(sorry, I was a 462 in the USAF (RAF Upper Heyford UK, '88-'90)).

Weapons!
K'Tesh

Looks like that worked well for you K'Tesh. Very nice!¡!

[PTRSAK]

still a work in progress...  The Aloxplorer

(Image removed from quote.)

Progressed to completion

Standard explorer for comparison

[tattoosteve99]

still a work in progress...  The Aloxplorer

(Image removed from quote.)

Progressed to completion

Standard explorer for comparison

(Image removed from quote.)
(Image removed from quote.)
(Image removed from quote.)

That's lovely   Now all you need to do is anodize it .

[nuphoria]

Rather nice... did you decide if the scales could be made thinner or not?

[papercut]

It looks like he thinned them down a bit.

[PTRSAK]

Yes, I did thin both scales down, took them down to 3mm which looks much better. That is the thickness of most of the slices I cut from the 3/4 plate. This was made from the first couple I cut at 4mm before I decided it was too thick.  But it worked out well for prototyping as it gave me some extra material in case I made a complete dog's breakfast of the grooves.

I also rounded the ends and continues the grooves around the curve, I really like the way that looks, and with the highly polished surface it kinda looks like a SAK that Agent K would carry. J would have to have something "New & Hot".. maybe one in CF.

Guess if this one finds its way onto eBay it will be described as a Men in Black styled Swiss Army Knife.

[nuphoria]

Yes, I can see that! The rounded ends look fabulous

[lowtech]

I like the ribbed aluminium scales!
Reminds me of Rimowa Suitcases or an Airstream Trailer somehow.

[Steinar]

I like the ribbed aluminium scales!
Reminds me of Rimowa Suitcases or an Airstream Trailer somehow.

That was my thought as well. Awesome knife.

[PTRSAK]

Actually the Airstream thing did occur to me too, but I couldn't remember the name of them.

[stealth007s]

Actually the Airstream thing did occur to me too, but I couldn't remember the name of them.

That was my first thought when I saw it too

[lowtech]

...i had to google the name, too.

[bodie]

couple questions for you bodie

1) can you provide more info (and pics if possible) of the screws you found?  i'd love to try tracking some down tomorrow

2) where did you get 2.2mm pin stock? i thought that was the holy grail of sizes and we were stuck sanding 2.5 (or 3/32) down?

thank you!

oh and what spyderco model is that?

That local store didn't have anymore of the ones I got the first time around On my last mod I ended up ordering some 2-56 and 3-48 bolts from newegg and it worked out ok. The side with the nuts actually just press on like normal (with a great deal of force). You can see in the picture below where the inside of the scale took the shape of the bolt. On the other side I had to use krazy glue on the bolt heads to keep the scale on. The snap in the tools is still excellent. Oh, and to give the pin enough room to slide into the scale I had to file down one of the nuts using a dremel.

[enki_ck]

Those are cool I've never seen anyone do it like this before. Very imaginative