CRKT Crawford/Kasper Large Fighting Folder (& maybe a Millie)

[kage]

Hi STR,

I've admired your work for a while and have been thinking about getting some of your goodness. I've dug through your forum and I think I understand everything that you need from me.

I have a CRKT Crawford/Kasper Large Fighting Folder that I picked up for cheap and have been uglifying as a project knife. So far I have waved it, jimped the 4 corners of the handle, the thumb ramp and the spine of the blade, removed the serrations and did a dual grind (scandi and conventional v-grind - not pretty and I still have to even out the grind) and then stone washed the blade.

I'm hoping to get the pocket clip reversed so that it's tip up and would possibly like the holes drilled and tapped on both sides so that it can be carried left or right hand, tip up. I do NOT want to deep carry it so that I can access it quickly, and I would prefer the clip to be bead blasted instead of anodized.

The handles are zytel (and hollow underneath) and the liners are 420J, I believe. I had a machinest look at it and he didn't think it would be difficult to drill and tap it, but he has a multi-month wait, plus I would prefer somebody that actually works on knives and would prefer to support our knife community here on BF.

Do you think this is possible?


I know that you've also done a lot of work on Spyderco Militaries and was wondering if you're still doing conversions on them for tip up carry? It's an older model (an early 440V steel model, from back when I was actually in the military), so I don't know if that makes a difference. I may want the clip to be reversible from left to right hand carry also. Again, I would not want it to be a deep carry clip and would prefer it bead blasted.

Thank you for your time and all that you do!

Kage

 

[STR]

Hi STR,

I've admired your work for a while and have been thinking about getting some of your goodness. I've dug through your forum and I think I understand everything that you need from me.

I have a CRKT Crawford/Kasper Large Fighting Folder that I picked up for cheap and have been uglifying as a project knife. So far I have waved it, jimped the 4 corners of the handle, the thumb ramp and the spine of the blade, removed the serrations and did a dual grind (scandi and conventional v-grind - not pretty and I still have to even out the grind) and then stone washed the blade.

I'm hoping to get the pocket clip reversed so that it's tip up and would possibly like the holes drilled and tapped on both sides so that it can be carried left or right hand, tip up. I do NOT want to deep carry it so that I can access it quickly, and I would prefer the clip to be bead blasted instead of anodized.

The handles are zytel (and hollow underneath) and the liners are 420J, I believe. I had a machinest look at it and he didn't think it would be difficult to drill and tap it, but he has a multi-month wait, plus I would prefer somebody that actually works on knives and would prefer to support our knife community here on BF.

Do you think this is possible?


I know that you've also done a lot of work on Spyderco Militaries and was wondering if you're still doing conversions on them for tip up carry? It's an older model (an early 440V steel model, from back when I was actually in the military), so I don't know if that makes a difference. I may want the clip to be reversible from left to right hand carry also. Again, I would not want it to be a deep carry clip and would prefer it bead blasted.

Thank you for your time and all that you do!

Kage

I appreciate all your input. Fact is I hate threading. I'm trying to get away from doing it at all and when I do I only want to do it rarely on metal and semi rarely on anything else. Its about the riskiest part of what I do. I've been very lucky really as I've learned a lot from doing it many many times but I've also been very fortunate that tap breaks have been few for other people's property and mostly stuff I did on my own knives. Often times it is difficult to thread already hardened steel liners. Titanium has a tendency to gall and hug taps the deeper they go so threading thicker Ti requires lots of OJT to know how to work with that material and over time I've gained a lot of that. What I do in cases like yours is simply say I don't know.

It depends on what the only gauge I have tells me once I drill the first hole. If a cobalt drill will put a hole in it I can probably thread it. If not and the hole would require a carbide to drill out then forget it. Its not going to thread but will likely break a tap off and lodge it in there getting it stuck. So the risk is there, always regardless of how easy it is or how easy it appears to be. I tell everyone about this risk. I bat a good average but you know, life throws you curve balls at times and things can easily go south when modifying folders.

If you decide to proceed you should look over here if you have not yet done so and once the form is printed off after being filled out mail at your convenience. Thanks for stopping by and asking about it.

STR