Custom Anodizing For A BenchMade Mini Skirmish

I had thought that for this blogger I'd just post the bigger more challenging jobs I do for folks but this turned out so well and really turned the folder around image wise so much that I thought it was worth showing here. Its not something I've posted here before but one of many other smaller jobs I do still offer that I have reserved for my forum posting in the past.

Anyway, shown here are before and after pictures of a BenchMade Mini Skirmish that came to visit me from Hawaii the other day. You can see that as the knife ships it has a neat swirl pattern in the handle non lock side but is a plain jane bead blast finish. Nothing at all wrong with that but the owner of this wonderful folder wanted a bit more and gave me creative license to have my way with it.

First is a re-blast of the handles after disassembly. Once I sat all my hardware aside in a zip lock bag for safe keeping I taped off the detent ball to keep from blasting or anodizing that. Once that was done I took it inside and dipped it at 28 volts for the first base color of blue.

After the blue I went back to my drill press and loaded it with a super fine 3M Cratex Cylinder to put some swirls of my own on the handle in the form of some free hand jeweling of the outer surface in select areas on the non lock side and the whole slab on the lock side. Then I went back to my anodizer and re-anodized only this time at 18 volts for a purple color to blend with the blue. So in the end this is what I got. Honestly my wife wanted it and said to me when seeing it, "for me?" I had to burst her bubble though and tell her it was someone's knife but again quite honestly we were both stunned at how it turned the appeal up on this particular folder. Trust me pictures do not do it justice like sunlight does!

STR

CQC8 HD Conversion

This was one of those folder lock sides sold off to a repeat customer getting ready to go serve his country that needed something faster than the standard turn around time. Some time back I had attempted to make a HD 8 lock side and had it all but done only to discover that the lock side I used as my template was unique in that for some odd reason either the owner of the knife or whomever owned it before him drilled a 'third' hole in it. As a result of course it was copied and I ended up with a second I could not really sell as my best work.

He gladly accepted that offer to get this lock side at a discount but by the time it all played out I ended up having to not just make the lock side for his one. I ended up having to remake the non lock side liner, and another textured black G10 scale to match up to it as well since none of the holes in the back including the lanyard matched up to the originals. Turns out that hole lock side I copied is different than the one sent to replace the side on.

Anyway, as usual I stubbornly baby stepped my way through each step and knocked it out. You can see it here. I did of course have to activate the lock side detent ball since in the rebuild we lost that secondary detent system incorporated into all Emerson liner locks. Also, I tried best I could to camo the third hole so it looks like it is just another threaded hole. I actually did partially thread it for appearance sake only.

Lock side is .160 thickness 6Al-4V titanium and non lock side liner is also the same alloy of titanium only .058 thickness. All the extra parts will be going back with the folder and even though I did have to activate the detent in the lock and drill a small starter hole in the blade for that ball to fall and catch in when the blade closes it can still be put back together just as it shipped from Emerson.

Thanks for looking.

STR

CQC14 HD upgrade for Chris

Seen here is yet another 14 frame lock conversion. As usual no permanent changes were made to any factory parts and the knife can be assembled just as it came from EKI with no more effort than breaking down the parts to clean it takes. It weighs in at 5.7 ounces, feels really great in the hand and once worked in and the washers smooth and polish down the bead blasted surfaces on the inside I'm sure it will be a great user for a long time.

I noted that this model unlike all the others I've seen had a different look to the G10 scales. Its seems flatter or squared off more also. Its hard to put my finger on what all is different from this G10 vs what I usually see and compared to my own model but the color for one is lighter, and it kind of sparkles in the sunlight more. Maybe it has more glass fill than what they used to use. I'm not sure at this writing if this is a change at Emerson or just unique to this later model of the 14. I'm not sure if you can see the serial number in these pictures or not but its up at like 1200 something now and the scales on this one are noticeably different than my early number (under 100) model or any of the other models shown here in my blog or my forum. I do admit its more readily apparent side by side and in person than these pictures show though. Anyway, thanks for stopping by.

STR