GSO 10.1 ideas

[Rasco]

Love love love my GSO 10.
Here it is, looking oh so pretty in the NorCal afternoon sun:

My only gripe, and it seems to be a common one, is the handle / balance when chopping.
I've seen some pretty good improvised ways to deal with it, or make it better, such as:

[video=youtube_share;SfxlPw8wRWY]http://youtu.be/SfxlPw8wRWY[/video]

I have a lanyard on mine, and it really helps, to the point where I'd almost say it's mandatory. I've also seen some GSO 10s for sale on the BST forum, and in a couple cases, the seller named the handle ergos as a factor in why they chose to get rid of it
So I'm curious if this is going to be considered for any future iterations of the GSO 10.

Aside from it's tendency to wanna leap out of my hand when chopping, I can't say a bad thing about the GSO 10. Fantastic knife overall, awesome steel, great blade, etc.

Anyone out there have experience with the GSO 10 in both Micarta and G-10 handle scales? Which are "grippier"?

 

[FTR-14c]

When chopping with my GSO 10 it seemed like my fingers wanted to rest right on the protrusion between the grooves.
If you look at my photos in the picture thread you will see that I ground them down. It turns out that by leaving the little indentations it feels very natural and provides good traction. I also took a little off the hump on the back and added rubber spacers which really helped it settle in my hand.

When I do a mod like this, I remove material in very small increments while constantly checking my progress by trial and feel. This allows me to dial in a handle to better fit my grip.

After all the grinding and sanding I am left with an awesome chopper that feels like it was made for me.

EDIT for photos:




I can't find a photo of the spacers on the GSO 10 but they are the same as this GSO 6 but in black.

 

[Rasco]

I find that half the time, I wanna put my finger in that choil, just to get a little better leverage / balance on it.
Also my big ol bear paws are just a bit too tall for the GSO 10, so I'm always lookin for more real estate

 

[chiral.grolim]

I'd bet something like FTR-14c's liners or finger-groove reductions would certainly help some folks. From what I've seen/read, Guy is a short lefty, his hands small/medium, and he designs his handles from that perspective. Bussekin handles are designed for comparatively MUCH larger hands, and while a small hand can often find purchase on a large handle or reduce it to suit, it can be harder for a large hand to gain purchase on a small handle.

I have hands similar to Guy's, it would seem, but the first modification i made to the GSO-10 handle was wrapping the handle-heel with cord & rubber to give it more 'flare' and grip especially under the pinky to prevent sliding. For long-term chopping, a lanyard would be key, but a more pronounced bird's beak would suffice for me.

When chopping, I hold the knife rear-ward with my index finger in the center groove. If i require more muscle-power, I choke up as needed:

[video=youtube;9ID9tgSQjvU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ID9tgSQjvU[/video]

 

[FTR-14c]

The liners make all the difference in the world.
Pick up a cheap rubber floor mat from the auto parts store and make a set.

 

[chiral.grolim]

Anyone out there have experience with the GSO 10 in both Micarta and G-10 handle scales? Which are "grippier"?

I forgot to weigh in on this - I did own both micarta and G-10, sold the G-10 scaled knife, the micarta was finished to be MUCH "grippier". Obviously a bit of roughing/smoothing with sandpaper at the factory or at home would alter that to user preference.


FTR-14c, I may stop by a store to check what colors they have this day, I've put off replicating that mod too long. Thanks for all the images :thumbup:

 

[FTR-14c]

The Pep Boys in my area has Black, Tan and Grey.
They run about six bucks.
You will have to adjust the sheath a bit but its very easy.
If you like feel of the liners I'll help you out with the sheath.
I'm looking forward to hearing about your results.