u/macjaynard

Grail acquired! 🎉🥳🎉

Trying to decide if it can be buffed/polished away or would that make it worse? It's a pretty old zippo I've had and used for ages. I'd like to try to restore it, but if that's been worn away, I'll just keep it as is.
Cheers!

New pivot, thumb studs, and overtravel stop from @patriot_knifemods. New backspacer from @fastlt1nos.
I polished the flats of the frag to 1500 grit on the scales and backspacer. Anodized to 28v. Sanded the grooves in the scales and polished them to match the blade and silver screws.
🍻

Before and after. Was covered in some sort of epoxy or superglue. Acetone bath and a disposable razor blade, followed by 1k grit diamond paste on a cotton wheel, followed by flitz on another cotton wheel.

Next up, the bolsters!

Backspacer from @fastlt1nos. Fits great, no issues. I highly recommend him!

Picked up this little cutie of a knife on the secondary. It had been a user but I figured a spa day would sort that all out. Paid my money and got it in hand. It was rough, but expected. Contacted Chris reeve to schedule this gentleman's vacation and was told the damage was too severe. No spa day would fix it. I could, however pay $150 and send the knife in for a reblade. Before shelling out even more cash I figured I could go crazy myself. What's the worse thing that could happen, it needs a new blade? 🤷‍♂️

Here is the result. Regrind to remove those deep scratches. Acid wash to hide my uneven bevels. Stonewash to further obscure them. And a sharpening that can pop hairs off my arm without touching the skin.

How did I do?

Ansø Aros 2, kobalt handle, amber clip and screws, zirconium spacer.

Picked up a secondhand mnandi and it was definitely a user. Crk said a spa treatment was a no go because the scratches were too deep and I needed to buy a new blade 🤦

So I figured that I'd take a crack at fixing it myself. After removing those deep scratches, I was left with an uneven primary bevel. (I don't have a large enough contact wheel to replicate the hollow grind). While I wait for the new blade, I figured I'd try an acid etch and a stonewash. If it doesn't reflect light well, the uneven bevel shouldn't be noticeable.

So. To anyone that's done this to high hrc magnacut, what kind of etching times am I looking at? Any tips or tricks for me? I usually go with a 50:50 ferric chloride solution, couple of minutes at a time, some scotchbrite pad work between soaks, but Google says this could take upwards of an hour. Not looking to do 30 cycles here 😂

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

Has anybody added a thumb stud to a mnandi? Either the spine variants or the thumb hole/fuller ones?

I love this little guy but would love it to be a touch more... Deployable?

Thanks in advance!

Sick of the old ones I ground them down and drilled them out. Put in some new timascus ones to match the clip

I'm not coordinated enough to go any slower and still keep everything in frame. I tested a couple of times and they were all within a gram or two. Had 2 lower scores but it was faster 😂

Picked up Dr marvs ultra fine set. My last session with this knife was 32 bess when finishing at 0.5um.

Cheers!

Efficient 8cr13mov, domino 204p, Watu 20cv, dragonfly hap40, endura 4 hap 40, stretch hap 40, rhino s30v, pits m398, endura 4 zdp-189, yojumbo s90v, yojimbo 2 s90v, native chief s90v, manix 2 154cm/s90v, para 2 s90v

Decided to sharpen my chopped smock. Been carrying and using it for a bit, edge is still pristine. I mean, it's dirty but undamaged. No chipping or rolling. As long as you don't abuse it, the low angles are actually quite stable.

Cheers!

Decided to sharpen my chopped smock. Not my besst, but a screaming edge. Been carrying it and it's still pristine. No rolling or chipping. Dirty, but undamaged 😂

Cheers!

Smock in 4v with smock scales and a 12.5° 18 bess edge.

I've been playing with low edge angles lately and my previous best was 22g @ 12.5° on a k390 delica wharncliffe. This is a magnacut blade around 63hrc sharpened to 10° with a 300um to 0.5um stone progression and no strop.

My process is exactly the same, only change was the angle.

Now I just need the manix.
Super psyched

REK shaman reblade, 300um-0.5um no strop. 100g line tension. Dr marvs scientific sharpening stones.

12.5° edge bevel, 300um to 0.5um no strop. Took absolutely forever. Damn you vanadium carbides!

Cheers!

Finished my k390 delica wharncliffe mod. Reground, acid/stone washed the blade. Awt scales, anodized some titanium clip screws as a nod to the k390 green frn scales. Black clip. 12.5° 300um-0.5um unstropped 22-31 bess edge.