The BK11 mini chef mod. FINISHED! Pics And It Did Happen!

I can't remember the species of wood on the Izula, bought it off ebay, its crosscut which makes it look like that.
Better pic here including some other ones i've rehandled- the woods are Bocote/Desert Ironwood/Birdseye Birch/Crosscut mystery wood/Cocobolo/Amboyna Burl
 
tholiver said:
I can't remember the species of wood on the Izula, bought it off ebay, its crosscut which makes it look like that.
Better pic here including some other ones i've rehandled- the woods are Bocote/Desert Ironwood/Birdseye Birch/Crosscut mystery wood/Cocobolo/Amboyna Burl
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Sweet looking blades. I love that bottom BK2.
 
The Warrior said:
Sweet looking blades. I love that bottom BK2.
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Thanks! I just realized all the knives in that pic except for the Izula and Enzo were Camillus blade blanks i bought online after Camillus went belly up. I still have a Becker Patrol Machete blank and a Camillus OVB bowie blank here that i haven't even started on yet.
 
Can't wait to see the finished product on that 11 granite. Nice 2s theoliver...
 
Aight. Put a working edge on it before I do the scales, as I wanted to make sure I would be able to before doing all the work of fitting and epoxying some wood onto this little guy. I think I'm gonna use the zebrawood that it's resting on, gonna dig through some of my other small exotics first just to be sure.



The edge - first try free-handing with a full size belt grinder. It cuts paper, and while the edge is pretty toothy, at least I know I'll have one after the scales get glued on:

 
Thats just awesome!! I love the new blade and handle shape.

Great job brother! Your hitting the ground running, looks like you been doing mods for years.

Sign me up for one of these as well :D
 
Awesome job Mike!

With your handle mod can you now hold it with all 4 fingers? or does the pinky still hang off?

(Edit) Never mind, I went back and noticed the in hand pic. My question has been answered.

Jeremy
 
I did a quick scale mock-up out of MDF to make sure the bottle opener would function with the planned full coverage scales:



Looks Like it's gonna work just fine. Next will be the actual wood for the scales. I did choose the zebrawood; I think the variegated pattern in this will accentuate the new curves ;).

 
Looking forward to that Zebrawood, GSoM.
I haven't cut into my Elm yet - have no idea what it'll look like when finished.

I haven't tried a Biack IPA yet - but a gal over at dinner tonight was enjoying a Back In Black. How is that stuff? I took the easy way out and had a Fat Tire Rampant. They call it "Burly and Bitter" but it tasted a little fruity to me . Weird. But I do like their regular amber better.

Also - been meaning to ask you- what did you use to score your steel before grinding? I may need to sharpen it a bit, but my awl barely scratched the surface of the coating much less cutting so clearly into the steel.
 
tjswarbrick said:
Looking forward to that Zebrawood, GSoM.
I haven't cut into my Elm yet - have no idea what it'll look like when finished.

I haven't tried a Biack IPA yet - but a gal over at dinner tonight was enjoying a Back In Black. How is that stuff? I took the easy way out and had a Fat Tire Rampant. They call it "Burly and Bitter" but it tasted a little fruity to me . Weird. But I do like their regular amber better.

Also - been meaning to ask you- what did you use to score your steel before grinding? I may need to sharpen it a bit, but my awl barely scratched the surface of the coating much less cutting so clearly into the steel.
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I scored the steel with the point of a utility knife...disposable blade and all...but that was after I tried to mark it with a sharpie. I think I'd use white out or an actual marking fluid if I end up doing this some more. It was really a reference only, I was eyeballing it for the most part. The 2x42 grinder takes off steel at a fairly impressive rate, and I was using a 120 grit specifically to make it a little easier on myself. Blade didn't heat up too much. All in all, things went surprisingly well for the first time around.
As for the beer....the black IPA's that I've had have all been outstanding: Harpoon, Shipyard Brewery, one at the Red Hook (on site pub) Cataqua House (don't remember which).....Nice balance of the porter-ish roasted black patent malt and snap from the hops, which is the part unlike a porter. Local Smuttynose Brewery had a beer out this spring (late winter) called Durty. A hoppy brown ale (brewed for mud season) that was delish. Long gone though..:(. The Harpoon mix packs of their regular IPA, Rye IPA, Long Thaw White IPA and Black IPA have been on sale at the local grocery store for $10.99/12 pack. At less than 92¢ a bottle, it's an absolute steal. It's a wonderful time to be a beer lover.
 
daizee said:
FINISH HIM.

-Daizee
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SHEESH! You are impatient, aren't you? Please remember that this is my first time, so be gentile ;).

Got the scales cut, realized I was never going to get the plunge line to line up correctly with the cutout for the bottle opener, so I started all over.

First set:




Unfortunately, I thought there was too much reveal at the plunge line when I got the bottle opener opening lined up:



So I did it again, lined things up more carefully, and mixed some epoxy.



You can see the first set in the back. This is made MUCH more difficult as it's morning, and thus, no beer. Yet. Thank god for chinese food and "disposable" chopsticks:



I clamped it with two clamps, then removed one at a time to clean out the tang cutouts as I plan on filling them with some of the first set of scales for some structural integrity of the scales, the pins will end up being largely decorative, and I don't want them spanning empty space between the scales:



And finally, all clamped up and curing. Got some other stuff to do while this cures; then filler blocks, drill for pins and lanyard tube, other scale....if I knew what I was doing I'm sure I'd be done by now, but hey - it's a start.

 
great great mod. thanks for taking us along the process and for the pics. looks awesome. :thumbup:
 
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