That is awesome. Would like to know more about the leather scale. I tool leather and am a part time leather smith. More of a hobbyist. Those scales are nice. So is that bead. also I should have mentioned that I do have a drill press. that is how i drill all my holes.
more pics: http://edcforums.com/threads/show-us-your-knife-mods.109204/page-95#post-2258773 more about the making: http://edcforums.com/threads/show-us-your-knife-mods.109204/page-95#post-2252778 I'm a bit busy with the kids so I hope you enjoy the 2 posts about it
I have some leftover slabs of Mexican bocote and I'd like to replace the g10 scale of my zt566 with one made out of wood. Just for poops and giggles. I'm pretty confident that I can cut, thin, and shape the slabs but I have no idea how to tackle the screws. Any one who can point me to the right drill and tapping bits? Where can I get them?
Pretty much any drill press that runs true. I use a 20 year old craftsman bench drill press. As for the tapping, i have never had to tap a set of scales , but when i do use a tap/die set i do not go too cheap. The cheapies will break/shatter and are just not made to do precision work. Hope that helps. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rule #9: Never go anywhere without a knife. ~Leroy Jethro Gibbs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The issue with 0566 scales is not the screw holes\counterbores, those are easy. The real issue is rather oddly shaped pocket for the tension spring for the assisted open. It is rather unforgiving; too open or too tight, and the spring just binds. The pocket in the scale has to be the exact inverse of this:
I was planning of not doing that groove for my first try and use the knife de-assisted. More of a proof of concept kinda thing. Just to try my hand at making the scales Lightnig
The question is if the ZT has a detent hole to let the detent ball hold it when the knife is closed. The Cryo doesn't have that hole, only the spring holds the blade inside. It's possible to drill a detent hole but you need serious equipment and experience.
The zt does have detent without the spring. The only thing that changes is that one needs to add a little flick to the opening motion to get the blade open all the way
Most people here know that I very much dislike tip-down carry but finally I found a way to change that. I'm quite satisfied with the modded Camillus 18668, too, a VG-10 blade for $30 I also sanded the scales a bit, f+f was not what I'd expect for an MSRP of $60. I was maybe a bit too quick with removing the black coating on the blade, something that I usually don't like because it comes off so easily. On this one however it was tough work to remove it and the blade is a bit off center, maybe I must get some thicker washers soon. Below you see how I annealed the blade by using a tool to remove nails from shoe heels. It's heating up the area by creating a short circuit so water is looking a bit silly there but it's needed to cool the rest of the liner (I don't want to ruin the spring tension). The frickles are from the contact areas, it's working like carbidizing by the way. I had to do it twice as you can see, the first time the annealing didn't reach the core. After drilling and tapping the first hole I installed the clip and marked the middle of the second hole with a drill bit of the exact dimension of the clip hole. Worked very well I'd say.
Put a patina on my Higo no Kami! So cool how fast it acts and how nice it looks! did stripes then random splatters. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yes indeed And it was a good test piece, the next knife to get a clip repositioning will be my Sanrenmu M1 as the tip down clip is the only thing that I dislike on that knife I just shouldn't have rounded the scale close to the thumb stud, now it's too tall and I see no way to grind it down with keeping the right angle. It's great though that the thumb stud is held with a screw, with a tiny T4 head (never used my T4 bit before). Also the pocket clip is special, the screws sink into the clip which makes wiggling nearly impossible. More makers should do it this way.
What's the difference from the pictured knife and a stock one? It is really making me want one Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I added the phillips and can opener and removed the corkscrew, serrated blade thingy and the lanyard loop. 1000 times easier to mod than a sak.
