Spyderco Forums

hom76 wrote:Very very nice finish!
How long did you soak the blade in the acid?

Thanks. I just did the liner and hardware while I had it apart. I started the blade with 5 minutes for the first acid bath. Pulled it out and it looked a little too light. Soaked for another 2 minutes and rechecked. Then gave it another 2min.

I really like those polished G-10 scales. :)

Nice job. Thanks for sharing.

Where would one buy that etchant if we don't have Radio Shack here anymore?

I like the polished G10 as well. Has a carbon fiber look to it.
I would imagine you could just order online if you can't find it local.

Well, in typical fashion, I bought some custom scales and a titanium clip to replace the wire. I'm also doing a Spyderco lanyard with a monkey fist. Should be cool once I'm done. I love the fact that modding a knife is a lot less expensive than modifying a gun. I should have this little mini-build wrapped up in about a week or so. Pics coming soon.

It already looks fantastic. Excited to see how this turns out.

That is just lovely! What did you use on the pivot hole? Looks bubbly and I can't say I recognize it.

Thanks guys. I used clear nail polish on anything that was metal on metal. Stood up just enough to keep those areas from getting the affects of the acid.

I would have been afraid of chipping the blade edge in the tumbler. It does look really cool!

RocketBen wrote:I would have been afraid of chipping the blade edge in the tumbler. It does look really cool!

Thanks. Tumbler isn't as bad as I thought. The media is ceramic and is very light weight. So the affect on the blade wasn't terrible.

What a great project!!
Looks like an awesome horror movie murder weapon now!
Excellent job!!
Joe

palonej wrote:What a great project!!
Looks like an awesome horror movie murder weapon now!
Excellent job!!
Joe

Thanks. That's the look I'm going for. Haha

This forum needs a "like" button

So I was going to wait until I got it all back and together for an update. But I'm not one for waiting. So I'll post some pics of what I've done.

I bought 2 little lanyard beads of the Spyderco logo. They are made of bronze. I bought 2, thinking I could see what an acid dip and stone wash could do. The acid turned the bronze into more of a copper color. And the stone wash didn't go as planned. I left it in the tumbler for 10 minutes. Probably should have stoped at 5 minutes. It didn't damage anything, but it did beat the finish up a little more than I would have liked.







I'm thinking that I want to try one more thing. I want to try the untouched logo for a short trip through the tumbler. I'm after a darker look like the blade. But I'm sure I'm limited to shades of the bronze spectrum. I'll post some pics of this one after a short tumbler ride.

I was going to wait until this was done to give an update. But I'm not a very patient person.
I bought 2 of these Spyderco icons for a lanyard bead. Figured I would try to acid and stone wash one. The acid turned the bronze into more of a pink/copperish color. I left it in the tumbler a little too long. It didn't do any damage, but 5 min was probably a better idea than 10 min. Decided to polish just the faces of the bead and leave the sides distressed. Came out cool, but I've learned a little about this metal. So I'm going to take the last new one I have, and just do a light tumbling. No acid.









I'll post some pics of the stone washed icon soon. Doing that one this morning.

EVIAN. The only water suitable for neutralizing acid on your spyderco blades.

Nice mod. I'd just Polish that edge up so it really POPS!!

VashHash wrote:EVIAN. The only water suitable for neutralizing acid on your spyderco blades.

Nice mod. I'd just Polish that edge up so it really POPS!!

It was just tap water. After I soak them I cover them in dawn dish soap and scrub them down.
I thought about polishing the whole thing. But that would be the only part of the knife that's polished, so I decided against it.

Here's one after just 3 min in the tumbler.



I think this is the finish I'm going to stick with. The distressed finish will go better with the rest of the knife.

Update time:
The Roc should be back next week. I won a Seiko diver, and decided to give it the same acid/stone treatment.