Favorite custom Southard scales makers?

FriarPhenn

FriarPhenn

Joined
Dec 28, 2014
Messages
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So I have the ever-so-customizable Southard flipper coming in this week. I'm very seriously considering pimping it out, and I've seen a lot of gorgeous custom jobs done by several members here.

So my question is, who's your favorite custom scale maker and why? Please feel free to post some pics, too!
 
I have a great 0560 scale from BellaBlades, so his is the only work I can speak to personally, but I see amazing Southard scales from ShepardCC all the time. Either of those dudes will not let you down.
 
southardsilvertwill_zpsb17ed8f0.jpg


These are by KEYMAN he does excellent work.
 
STEVE KETCHEN, plain and simple. He has completed many knives for me. But this is why I enjoy his work and support him on my tag line. See link on all my post. A. He post photos of work in progress, and provides full support as to the status of your knife in progress. B. He shares info with other scale makes and everyone, this shows his character. Unlike so many he does not post within others threads and NEVER post with his link, a move I find disgusting. C. He resolves issues that will arise. When things go wrong, Steve stands by his work. Recently a customer actually "dropped his knife " and broke a scale. Steve offered to fix it, not his fault, but he offered a nice price to fix. Simply look at his volume of work, the photos and the price. Really no question..knives 108.jpgknives 113.jpg Browning 610 and Benchmade Lum .:thumbup:
 
Thanks Treeshaker!
I'm a bit biased as to my favorite maker, but I have done more than a few southard sets.

 
stop giving me reasons to buy a southard!!! i like it more and more every day, i recently got my first spyderco (manix 2 LW in S110V) and now im pretty sure im hooked and have been jonesing for the all black southard for a while now. i guess its time to just give up and start a piggy bank i can put my small bills and change into so i can save up a little before i buy it. That way it seems like im spending less money on it so i can truly enjoy the knife without thinking of how much it cost (yea i know its price doesnt compare to many other highend knives but $250 give or take a little is still a lot of money considering the most expensive knife i had a year ago was probably $40 or $50)
 
bld522 said:
Yep. Steve Ketchen's work is top drawer. :thumbup: :thumbup: I believe he's responsible for all of these. (Thanks, Greg!):

Thanks! I did most of those except I believe the CF was made Barry H. and the Kevlar by Shepardcc.

Evilgreg has one heck of a southard collection!
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Here's another vote for Steve he just made me some PM2 scales. Top notch work and a great guy to deal with.
 
Is it common to make the scales on the Southard so both sides actually differ in thickness? Is there a reasoning, or just difficult to make one thin enough for both sides to be even?



All beautiful blades in here by the way! Excellent work
 
It can be done, but the scale turns out so thin that the screw heads sit proud.
 
The Southard is a Reeve Integral Lock (R.I.L.) design with a Ti frame on the one side... and a Ti liner and G10 or carbon slab on the other side. Does you question refer to a matching of the scale and Ti liner thickness to the Ti frame thickness?
 
spketch said:
It can be done, but the scale turns out so thin that the screw heads sit proud.
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Gotcha, makes sense. I could see screw area becoming weak on the scale, and same with hardware if you thinned out the heads.


BOOMER52 said:
The Southard is a Reeve Integral Lock (R.I.L.) design with a Ti frame on the one side... and a Ti liner and G10 or carbon slab on the other side. Does you question refer to a matching of the scale and Ti liner thickness to the Ti frame thickness?
Click to expand...

Yes, total thickness of liner + scale side to match thickness of frame side.
 
SpeedHoles said:
Yes, total thickness of liner + scale side to match thickness of frame side.
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Honestly, once you've got the knife in your hand the difference in side-to-side scale thickness disappears. I don't find it distracting at all.
 
You're right Steve. I made the Kevlar thunderstorm scale for Evilgreg. I might of made that lscf one too. Lol

Yes you can thin out the scale slab to match thickness with the other side but I don't do it because then the screw heads stick out way to much and it looks really tacky and distasteful in my opinion. You don't notice the difference enough to really justify that look. I also prefer my knives thicker to fill out my grip more.
 
The thickness of a nice scale over the liner is less than that of the pocket clip on the other side. As others have said - the difference is negligible.
I love my Southard (as much as anyone can express love for a folding knife :rolleyes: :cool: :D)
 
Yes, I realize the difference is negligible and hard to feel once in hand. My Dice is this way, and quite enjoyable to hold. Can't even recall without looking whether or not my BBS Domino is same or not, so goes to show how little it may effect control of the blade one way or the other.

I was just simply asking to try to understand from a craftsman/fabrication perspective why it is how it is... thanks for the replies.
 
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