I don't consider myself a "knife maker". I'm more of refurbisher. Coming from modest means I developed a means of getting thing I wanted, but couldn't afford. By buying broken/poor condition examples cheap, and then repairing them. And I've become kind of a "fix it" type guy to many people (Family/friends). The main focus of my hobby was guns for many years. But in recent years finding project guns at affordable prices, and the parts to fix them became more and more difficult. So I started looking for other venues. I got into knives about the time that Camillus went out of business. And there were many B stock blades available on eBay. And I bought about a dozen. All of them USMC style blades because I like big knives. Some USMC marked, some not. Contacted KA BAR (Cutco) and learned they sold re-handle kits. And went from there learning how to put stacked leather handles on knives. It was hit & miss at first as I learned and developed my way of doing it. But I eventually got pretty good at it. I gave nearly all my projects away to family & friends.
When I ran out of Camillus blades, I started looking at pre made blades. But was suspicious of quality. So I began searching the internet auctions (mostly eBay) for USMC knives in poor condition. I figured if these were good enough for WW-2 soldiers, the steel is good enough for me. As a gun guy I am conscious of them being historical artifacts, so I only purchased examples in poor condition. And depending on blade condition, I either refurbished them in mostly original configuration. Or if a heavily worn or broken tip blade, I modified them.
Then I had someone ask me for a smaller knife for hunting. And I choose to begin some WW-2 Remington/PAL 36 projects.
As you might surmise, all my projects have been stacked leather handles. But I'm considering trying other materials. So that why I joined. Hoping to learn. Here's some pics of some of my projects. On the 1st one is a Camillus blade that had big chunk out of the top near the tip that I modified the blade and made a different guard.
When I ran out of Camillus blades, I started looking at pre made blades. But was suspicious of quality. So I began searching the internet auctions (mostly eBay) for USMC knives in poor condition. I figured if these were good enough for WW-2 soldiers, the steel is good enough for me. As a gun guy I am conscious of them being historical artifacts, so I only purchased examples in poor condition. And depending on blade condition, I either refurbished them in mostly original configuration. Or if a heavily worn or broken tip blade, I modified them.
Then I had someone ask me for a smaller knife for hunting. And I choose to begin some WW-2 Remington/PAL 36 projects.
As you might surmise, all my projects have been stacked leather handles. But I'm considering trying other materials. So that why I joined. Hoping to learn. Here's some pics of some of my projects. On the 1st one is a Camillus blade that had big chunk out of the top near the tip that I modified the blade and made a different guard.
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