What material for scales for my Stretch w/super blue blade?

[jackknifeh]

I'm going to make a set of scales for my Stretch. I love the FRN scales and the pattern Spyderco uses is as good as it gets for a good grip, wet or dry. But I think I want a different look. Something beautiful that grabs attention. But no bright orange or red or anything. Kirinite is an option. Also, C-tek. But what really grabs my attention is beautiful wood. The kirinite and c-tek might be too "bright". But some wood I think is where I'm going. No time soon. I am NOT in a hurry. So I'll be waiting till I find or see the "right" choice. Price will also be a consideration. Especially with the D'fly and Manbug in SB coming soon. I haven't gotten a notice from KC for my D'fly yet.

So, if anyone has any ideas I'd appreciate it if you could post it here. Either a good supplier of wood slabs or the material itself. The problem with wood recommendations is I can't buy right now. And a lot of the time the wood slabs are sold "per set". Not just ironwood or burl or any wide selection. The slabs are sometimes sold as a bookmatched pair (look very similar on opposite sides of the knife when done). I do want a bookmatched set if I go with wood. Anyway, any recommendations are appreciated. I'm asking now so when I am ready to start the project I may have suggestions I'd never have thought of or suppliers I don't know about.

Thanks for any help.

Jack

[Ferris Wheels]

Jack,

Take a look at Burl Source. I think you will be hard pressed to find a better source for a unique set of wood scales. Explore the site and see what catches your fancy.

http://burlsales.com/home

I have purchased him directly at the OKCA show and he is a stand up guy.

[bakergh]

I just got done doing a set of katalox scales for a benchmade knife. It wasn't easy to work with but it takes a good polish with no finish needed. I'm eyeing my endura next. I think it will look good with cocobolo...

[3rdGenRigger]

I think a more grey coloured wood would go better with the SuperBlue blade than a darker more brown wood. I personally am a huge fan of blue dyed curly Maple, and think it would look awesome on a SB Stretch.

[Donut]

I'll be first to say you should stay with the original scales. :)

[jackknifeh]

Jack,

Take a look at Burl Source. I think you will be hard pressed to find a better source for a unique set of wood scales. Explore the site and see what catches your fancy.

http://burlsales.com/home

I have purchased him directly at the OKCA show and he is a stand up guy.

I'll be first to say you should stay with the original scales. :)

I looked at the burl and if I were to buy something now I would look harder at those right now. As it is I've just saved the site for future decision making. :) Thanks for that.

I love the original scales. But, the great thing about most of Spyderco's knives is they have screw construction. I can make scales and if I don't like them as much I can always put the knife back to "normal". I've probably made 10 sets of scales for my Sage 4. Almost the same for my G-10 Manbug. I now have a set on each that has been there for a few months. Both the Manbug and Sage 4 are among my favorite Spyderco models and I've enjoyed making a bunch of scales for them. The stretch has been an EDC choice since I got it. So, I'll enjoy (as much as anything) making a set for it. Plus I've never made a set of scales for a nested liner handle. That should be interesting.

[The Deacon]

Jack, you do realize that the Stretch will be a more complex project that the ones you've mentioned. You'll either need to use a material rigid enough to work without liners or be prepared to make full liners, mill out your chosen material to accept the factory nested liners, or add a "spacer" to surround the nested liners. You'll also need to either select a color that will work with the factory grey FRN backspacer, or be prepared to fabricate a replacement.

As for sources for wood, Burl Source and Alpha Knife Supply are both excellent.

[xceptnl]

I agree with some of the suggestions above, in honor of the colors of the factory scales perhaps a stabilized burl would look nice.

[mikerestivo]

I think a more grey coloured wood would go better with the SuperBlue blade than a darker more brown wood. I personally am a huge fan of blue dyed curly Maple, and think it would look awesome on a SB Stretch.

That's exactly what I was thinking - gray scales would go nicely, especially with a patina. I was fond of the Quince that Spyderco used on the Kopa series.

[jackknifeh]

Jack, you do realize that the Stretch will be a more complex project that the ones you've mentioned. You'll either need to use a material rigid enough to work without liners or be prepared to make full liners, mill out your chosen material to accept the factory nested liners, or add a "spacer" to surround the nested liners. You'll also need to either select a color that will work with the factory grey FRN backspacer, or be prepared to fabricate a replacement.

As for sources for wood, Burl Source and Alpha Knife Supply are both excellent.

I was aware of needing to remove the material for the nested liners. For this I was planning on using the Dremel and Dremel workstation. I think it should work even though it isn't a "real" router with the same strength. But, since I started seriously considering this I will probably get some less expensive material to try first. Kirinite in a pearl appearance I think. I'm thinking the backspacer will be easier to make for the Stretch than they are for the one piece handles. It will be a seperate piece. Figuring out where to cut the groove for the lockspring is trickier when you can't see it as it is in one piece handles. I do realize there are some things I'll need to do that is different that what I've done so far though. So one or two practice scales may be wise before I try material that I really want to work and may be more expensive. Worst case is I can always put it back to new. :) I will disassemble it before I order anything though in case there is something I don't know about. There usuaslly is. :) THanks for the info though and if there's anything else I appreciate hearing about it.

Jack

[bakergh]

Jack, you do realize that the Stretch will be a more complex project that the ones you've mentioned. You'll either need to use a material rigid enough to work without liners or be prepared to make full liners, mill out your chosen material to accept the factory nested liners, or add a "spacer" to surround the nested liners. You'll also need to either select a color that will work with the factory grey FRN backspacer, or be prepared to fabricate a replacement.

As for sources for wood, Burl Source and Alpha Knife Supply are both excellent.

I've thought about this quite a bit for my impending endura scales project. My plan is to use g10 liner material to make the cutout for the recessed liners. g10 liner material in .030" thickness is widely available in a whole range of different colors, so all that is needed is to cut out the scale pattern in the g10, then trace the liners onto the resulting scale liners and make the corresponding cutouts. You can then glue the g10 liners onto the wood scales. This would be much, much easier IMO than milling out a space for the liners, even with the dremel router attachment, and I think wood scales with g10 liners look awesome, especially on folders.

[jackknifeh]

I've thought about this quite a bit for my impending endura scales project. My plan is to use g10 liner material to make the cutout for the recessed liners. g10 liner material in .030" thickness is widely available in a whole range of different colors, so all that is needed is to cut out the scale pattern in the g10, then trace the liners onto the resulting scale liners and make the corresponding cutouts. You can then glue the g10 liners onto the wood scales. This would be much, much easier IMO than milling out a space for the liners, even with the dremel router attachment, and I think wood scales with g10 liners look awesome, especially on folders.

The liners have the holes threaded for the clip screws. Other than that I think your idea will work. Should give the inside of the knive a different look when looing inside where the blade is when closed. But if you want to use a clip I don't know if the G-10 is strong enough to not get stripped when you put the clip on or if you snag the clip on something. I have pictures of my stretch disassembled that I'm going to put in my next post. There is another issue regarding making your own liners and the backspacer. This issue is doable though without a problem.

Jack

[jackknifeh]

Stretch disassembled



Backspacer post that goes into a hole in both liners. This strengthens the backspacer against the lock spring pressure.





This pic shows how the spring is ALWAYS applying pressure to the backspacer. The pegs through each liner keep the backspacer FRN from bending or breaking. This is an issue I will need to deal with if I make a new backspacer. I'm thinking instead of leaving pegs on a new backspacer I'll drill a hole right there and use a metal pin that will go into each liner hole.



The fact that this tab is on the bottom of the backspacer under where the spring is limits your assembly options from what I've seen so far. Normally I would put the backspacer in place along with the lock spring, lock bar and the blade w/washers, all in place. However, without the liner that would go on next that may allow the peg on the bottom of the backspacer to pop out of the hole on the liner on that side. That would probably damage the peg to the point that it wouldn't hold up to the pressure of the lock spring. Then you would have a useless stretch.

Still planning on how to do this project. I've seen plenty of pictures of Delica's with new scales using the original liners. Maybe we can get some help from those them. Maybe they ruined a set of scales and learned from it. Then they can share that info and we can get ahead of a mistake. There's only one thing better than learning from your mistakes. That's learning from the OTHER GUY'S mistakes. :)


Jack

[Chris_H]

What if you just shaved down the original FRN backspacer and grafted a piece of the material you really want to use/show onto that?

[jackknifeh]

What if you just shaved down the original FRN backspacer and grafted a piece of the material you really want to use/show onto that?

That's a good thought and one I hadn't thought of. But, I want to be able to put the sprint run Stretch back together if I ever want to. Plus, there is no telling how many scales I may make for this knife over time. Thanks for the idea. It is a good one if it weren't for it ruining the backspacer for getting the knife back to factory made. :)

Jack

[zhyla]

I like the look of micarta that people make themselves out of old pants etc. like worn olive colored cargo pants.

I made a wood (machiche) replacement scale for a Boker Nano this week. Nested liners are kind of a pain. I dremeled out most of the pocket and painstakingly chiseled it out until the liner fit. Tricky business, and the Nano liner is much simpler.

[bornagainprimative]

Old jean micarda

[ManixFan]

You could always dye the grey scales another colour as well since the grey frn should handle dye fairly well.......just a thought. I am considering that right now. I also saw someone do a write up on a SB Stretch where they switched the SB blade out with a CF Stretch and now have a Superblue CF FrankenStretch. Should be easy to find if you Google it.

[jackknifeh]

You could always dye the grey scales another colour as well since the grey frn should handle dye fairly well.......just a thought. I am considering that right now. I also saw someone do a write up on a SB Stretch where they switched the SB blade out with a CF Stretch and now have a Superblue CF FrankenStretch. Should be easy to find if you Google it.

Dying the grey FRN is not an option because I always want to be able to get it back to the factory sprint if I want to. If I had the CF handle that would definately be an option. Also, I guess if truth be told I just want to make a set. I've been enjoying doing it for a couple of years now. The nested liner type is something I haven't done so I'm looking forward to that. I still haven't priced burl or any other wood yet but I think it will be more expensive than I want to use for my first set. I think I'll try some kirinite first. It's the easiest material to work with that I've used and it looks good when finished. Not too expensive either. I have thought about c-tek also. But with the aluminum "walls" I think that might add difficulty to the routing out the scale for the liner. Could be wrong about that. But the c-tek doesn't seem to hold up well at all when it is thin like it will need to be around the liners.

Jack

[bakergh]

The liners have the holes threaded for the clip screws. Other than that I think your idea will work. Should give the inside of the knive a different look when looing inside where the blade is when closed. But if you want to use a clip I don't know if the G-10 is strong enough to not get stripped when you put the clip on or if you snag the clip on something. I have pictures of my stretch disassembled that I'm going to put in my next post. There is another issue regarding making your own liners and the backspacer. This issue is doable though without a problem.

Jack

I didn't explain very well, but I would still use the metal liners. I would just use a thin outline in G10 that forms the margin for the metal liner to rest in. I find using a scroll saw easier that milling with a dremel.

But that aside, the back spacer is a more puzzling question as you describe. I had a radical thought on this: why not dispense with it all together? By drilling one additional hole in the liners for a second pin wouldn't it be possible to dispense with the backspacer altogether and use standoffs instead? In the following picture "Pin 2" would be the additional pin hole that needs to be drilled in the endura liners:



I have no idea if it would actually look good but it would be unique...

I guess the one advantage of doing this on an endura is that if I mess it up for $11 I can buy a rebuild kit.