Hello Friends!
I occasionally lurk around the Buck forums here, but I have an issue with another knife which, for the longest time, I've not thought much of. This of course is the 499 Aircrew Survival Knife. A picture, just because:
...In any sense, I eventually got fed up with the terrible, but apparently purposeful (within a very limited context) original edge grind on the knife. My previous reprofilings by hand produced a usable edge, but still not a great one, so I set up my belt sander and produced a full convex edge on both the main cutting edge as well as the swedge. I then evened everything out by hand with stones and sandpaper. I was going to hold off on doing something this drastic until I learned how to properly parkerize steel, but the uncoated edges actually have a wonderful contrast to them against the black oxide on the other surfaces - perhaps I'll just leave it that way?
After doing this, however, I started to wonder about how I may have changed the weight and balance of the knife. Current weight of the knife comes in at 8.9oz, just a hair under the listed weight over on Knife Center. Point of balance now rests at 1 1/16" behind the handguard (facing the leather handle). In a relaxed hold, this still balances between the index and middle fingers, which is often a reasonable standard for the balance point on a small knife. However, I wonder if the balance point was supposed to be closer to the first channel in the handle, rather than the second (the new PoB is basically right on the second)?
...In any sense, if someone is willing to get measurements from a more "stock" '499 they happen to have, I'd be happy to take that information. My '499 basically is a project knife that I can use as a beater, as I have better prospects for a knife of this size in the future. However, it's still a great cutlery practice knife, and anything I can do to balance its real-world utility AND its designed handling will be my goal.
Thanks for listening!
I occasionally lurk around the Buck forums here, but I have an issue with another knife which, for the longest time, I've not thought much of. This of course is the 499 Aircrew Survival Knife. A picture, just because:
...In any sense, I eventually got fed up with the terrible, but apparently purposeful (within a very limited context) original edge grind on the knife. My previous reprofilings by hand produced a usable edge, but still not a great one, so I set up my belt sander and produced a full convex edge on both the main cutting edge as well as the swedge. I then evened everything out by hand with stones and sandpaper. I was going to hold off on doing something this drastic until I learned how to properly parkerize steel, but the uncoated edges actually have a wonderful contrast to them against the black oxide on the other surfaces - perhaps I'll just leave it that way?
After doing this, however, I started to wonder about how I may have changed the weight and balance of the knife. Current weight of the knife comes in at 8.9oz, just a hair under the listed weight over on Knife Center. Point of balance now rests at 1 1/16" behind the handguard (facing the leather handle). In a relaxed hold, this still balances between the index and middle fingers, which is often a reasonable standard for the balance point on a small knife. However, I wonder if the balance point was supposed to be closer to the first channel in the handle, rather than the second (the new PoB is basically right on the second)?
...In any sense, if someone is willing to get measurements from a more "stock" '499 they happen to have, I'd be happy to take that information. My '499 basically is a project knife that I can use as a beater, as I have better prospects for a knife of this size in the future. However, it's still a great cutlery practice knife, and anything I can do to balance its real-world utility AND its designed handling will be my goal.
Thanks for listening!
