Sal, any update on the bronze Spydie? :D

[xceptnl]

Looks like I will be buying my first Chaparral.

I imagine the Chaparral doesn't go along with "plain" scales. I wonder if we'll have a fancy texture.

I was thinking the same thing. Something along the lines of the Chap 2 texture? So excited to see a pic.

[bh49]

wouldn't it be tempting to run the Bronze Chaparral with CPM M4? :) This way we'd get to follow both the blade and the handle developing character. Those that are very worried about carbon steels rusting, might be equally worried about bronze tarnishing; by combining both, you might entice more customers!

not tempting for me. Brass will not tarnish as fast as copper or bronze. I believe that it is also harder.

I imagine the Chaparral doesn't go along with "plain" scales. I wonder if we'll have a fancy texture.

Plain doesn't look any specials for me. Most likely too plain.
I googled brass scales and found many pictires of knives with brass bolsters. i used to have one of these. Looks nice. Also couple of pictures of the knives with plain brass scales.
[ATTACH]23309[/ATTACH]
Fifth down
http://www.jaysknives.com/imperialknives.htm

not impressive. Sal or Eric will design something better looking.

[Donut]

I say give me faceted with a stonewash, which is similar to the 2, but without all the extra lines.

[donutsrule]

Hi Blerv,

We have a bronze Chaparral in-the-works.

sal

Cool! I'm in. :)

[Blerv]

Here is a bit of bronze. Even smooth and shiny it's pretty interesting :)

http://flic.kr/p/i7MAuq

[Donut]

I have a Canal Street Cutlery slipjoint with a brass logo on it. After a couple months of carrying it, it's super dark brown and I need to use Flitz to make it look good.

Searching for "old brass knife" on google, they all look pretty good. It's tough to tell if they're unused, recently cleaned, or if they wear well.

[xceptnl]

Not to hijack your thread Blake, but I posted these in a thread months ago. They deserve a showing here too I think (despite the spydie hole being smooshed)!





















The last one is my favorite. I would love an open feel, almost a throwback to the older open handles like the Harpy and Mariner.

[Holland]

Those look sweet

[Blerv]

Thanks for the pic drop, Landon! Feel free to get the crowd pumped up! :D

Sal dropping buy with that casual bombshell was great. The rest is just party poppers. :)

[Mallus]

not tempting for me. Brass will not tarnish as fast as copper or bronze. I believe that it is also harder.

Plain doesn't look any specials for me. Most likely too plain.

I like bronze over brass as far as colors go, and well used look over shiny polished look, so I guess we're aproaching this thing from slightly different angles.

I'm not opposed to patterning per se, but do think that very delicate patterns don't wear as nice as a more robust figuring might. If the scratches to come (with use, collectors are a different issue as they won't be scratched) are in the same scale as the original, they take away from it. If, on the other hand, the scratches are in much smaller scale compared to the original surface topography, then they add to it.

xceptnl's examples were very illustrative! To my eyes the plain surface (first few images) was OK, but the macroscopic grooves were even more interesting. Of course that kind of patterning would need to be scaled down to fit the Chaparral, a much smaller knife, but you get my idea.

[Blerv]

Maybe it's just me but the scratched-up yellow/brown metals just seem to look better than beat up titanium or SS knives. Maybe just a personal thing but it seems they are pre-designated the life of an old prospector where grizzled just makes it more awesome. :p

[mattman]

Kopa, bronze bolsters and liners, copper scales, bronze bug inlay.

[spyderHS08]

Wow looks like it's time to add another strider to the collection lol those are sick! Hope the brass spydie is just as cool!

[mattman]

Those bronze Striders are gorgeous!

One of those might make me overlook the drama, and actually pick one up...

[xceptnl]

To clarify for those that don't know. Those 3 Striders were one off customs done by Dwayne. I am sure you could locate the original purchaser, but the price to get one off of them would probably be over $1200 if I had to guess.

He has actually done 3 runs of these Naval Bronze, each with unique knives and each run only having a handful of knives made

[mattman]

Dang it, Landon!

I immediately went to Monkey Edge, thinking they were an exclusive of theirs...

Ah well.

[donutsrule]

I'm just elated there will be a bronze Chap.
It can have anything from plain smooth scales to Spyder-in-web pattern fully drilled through, I'm gonna grab one.

[Tally-ho]

not tempting for me. Brass will not tarnish as fast as copper or bronze. I believe that it is also harder.

Brass is really nice but the alloy may contains a bit of lead to harden it. I would prefer an alloy without lead.
In a sweat palm it tanishes quite fast.

After a couple of hours playing and using it, the tarnished surface is clearly visible compared to the surface under and around the pocket clip.




At its "moderate" stage, the patina is beautiful:


(Mac's Brass SST50 EDC flashlight)

[Mallus]

I wouldn't want lead in my pocket (or hands for that matter) for long term, but a quick search reveals that there are lead free alternatives available in both brass and bronze so that shouldn't be a problem.

Regarding bronze, CuSn8 seems to be favored by watchmakers (e.g. Lüm-Tec, http://www.lum-tec.com/collection/curre ... e/m54.html) and is supposed to form a good looking patina.

Aluminum bronze is also used to an extent, see Halios for example (http://halioswatches.com/watches/tropik-b/), but I'd go for CuSn8, which should patina easier and to my eyes is a nicer color.

Last but not least, CuSn8 is know in UNS (short for "Unified Numbering System for Metals and Alloys") by C52100, which would be a very fitting pair to AISI 52100, wouldn't you say? Well, at least it's a definitive sign for using carbon / tool steels in combination with the bronze handle.

[bh49]

Brass is really nice but the alloy may contains a bit of lead to harden it.

I am with you on lead, but there are quite a few Brass alloys without lead

At its "moderate" stage, the patina is beautiful:


(Mac's Brass SST50 EDC flashlight)

Nice light. Who is the maker and model?