Micarta SAK Scales

Buzzbait

Buzzbait

Joined
Feb 25, 2001
Messages
6,675
I originally started this project 3 years ago. But when my Abby was born, it got shelved until I had more free time. Free time finally arrived this week, as I had a couple of days off by myself. The purchase of a new benchtop sander brought this project to the forefront.

The subject was my all-time favorite outdoor Swiss Army Knife, the Victorinox Hunstman. I've carried one of these on outdoor excursions for many years. The tool selection is just wonderful, but I've just never been enamored with the plastic scales. I rescaled a Hunstman years ago with white paper micarta, but always wished that I'd used green canvas. There's just something very cool about green canvas micarta. Very tough and very serious looking.

So I got to work this week, and did the rescaling. I even made the notch for the tweezers. I didn't bother with the toothpick notch this time around, as I've never actually used the toothpick for anything. I'm very pleased with how the knife turned out.

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Beautiful knife in one of my favourite materials. I'd love to see that on a shadow Canoe or something... gorgeous.
 
Thank you. My next SAK project is much more ambitious. It will be based on the Victorinox alox Farmer model. The alox scales will go in the trash, in favor of orange G-10 scales. The can and bottle opener layer will also be removed. Just the blade, awl and saw will remain. That project starts on Monday.
 
Very nice. Vic 111mm lockbacks would look completely appropriate (not to mention totally sweet) with Micarta.
 
SAKsRCool said:
Great job on the Huntsman! For your farmer project, are you going to use any liners at all or will the G10 serve as a liner?
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I'm thinking of going linerless on this one. Kind of like an old FRN handled Spyderco. Just the G-10 scales, which should be plenty strong. The idea behind the project is a basic lightweight outdoor survival SAK. Nothing but what you might need in the woods.
 
Excellent work Buzzbait. I have re-scaled quite a few in various woods, but never G10. How hard is it to work?


--Mike L.
 
Buzzbait, that is really cool looking

Would you mind sharing the process with us? I would love to try this out considering SAKS are relatively inexpensive and if you screw up it won't be the end of the world.

I assume that someone who does not have a grinder could still do this with a saw, files, sandpaper and some strong epoxy?

I would truly appreciate a response, but if you do not want to share your secrets I understand.

Cheers!
 
Mike L. said:
Excellent work Buzzbait. I have re-scaled quite a few in various woods, but never G10.
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I'll tell you in a few days, as soon as I've worked with it. ;) I'm guess that it'll be much like working with linen Micarta.

i am a person said:
Would you mind sharing the process with us?

I would truly appreciate a response, but if you do not want to share your secrets I understand.

Cheers!
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No secrets here. You can do all of the work by hand, as I did with my first couple of rescaling jobs, but it takes much longer.

1. I start but cutting out two rectangles of scale material, slightly larger than the size of the plastic SAK scales.

2. Then I pop off the plastic scales and affix them to the Micarta with double faced tape.

3. Next I sand down the sides of the Micarta to the same shape as the plastic scales.

4. Now I remove the plastic scales and round off the tops of the scales.

5. Time for the hard part. You have to drill out round grooves in the Micarta, to fit the brass bushings. I use a drill bit, and follow up with a grinding bit in a Dremel drill press. Whatever you do, do not drill all of the way through the scales. Don't ask how I know this. This can be a long and arduous process. There is some fine shaping of the scales afterward, using the SAK as a guide.

6. I won't even go into the toothpick and tweezer grooves. I don't have a good way of doing them. I use a couple of small files in various shapes.

7. Now you want to drill a bunch of shallow tiny holes in the scales, for the epoxy to flow into. I scar the steel sides of the SAK with a small screwdriver blade, to help hold the epoxy.

8. Now glue the scales down with two-part epoxy. Don't overdo it with the epoxy. You don't want a bunch oozing out the sides of the SAK. I place a piece of old scrap leather on each side of the SAK, and clamp the whole thing down with small hobby c-clamps for drying. Wipe away any excess epoxy that oozes out.

9. After 24 hours or drying time, you'll need to clean up the edges of the scales, as epoxy will inevitably ooze out. Just grab some sandpaper and tidy things up. That's it!!!!
 
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If I remember correctly, this isn't your first micarta/sak mod. I think I remember another in red from awhile back. It may have been even prettier than this one. Refresh my memory with more pics?
 
Scott Free said:
If I remember correctly, this isn't your first micarta/sak mod. I think I remember another in red from awhile back. It may have been even prettier than this one. Refresh my memory with more pics?
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Here are some old pics. I still have the white paper Micarta Hunstman. The red linen Micarta Hiker was given to a coworker as a retirement present. It was very hard to let go of that Hiker. The scales came out very nice on that one, and the red color was especially fitting for a SAK.

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I found some green paracord in my pack basket this morning, so I gave the new one a proper tail. :p:p:p

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Great work !Amazing ! :thumbup:
Now that's a good material - nice and durable.i've dropped my Camper on a stone from 1,5 meters and a small piece of the scale broke ...
 
is it possible to skip step # 5? I never knew SAKS had brass bushings, or do they poke out of the steel scales when you pop the plastic ones off?

I wonder if they can be filed down?
 
i am a person said:
is it possible to skip step # 5? I never knew SAKS had brass bushings, or do they poke out of the steel scales when you pop the plastic ones off?

I wonder if they can be filed down?
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Nope. You can't skip that step. They do poke out of the steel liners, making them impossible to work around. The plastic scales have cutouts molded into them, that actually snap onto the bushings, keeping the scales in place. If you filed them down, you'd file off the piening on the pivots, causing the entire knife to fall apart.

Try removing the plastic scales on your SAK some time. If you're careful, you can pry them off without harming anything.
 
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