Spyderco Forums

FreeGolf wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 31, 2020 5:29 pm

SpyderPhreak wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 31, 2020 4:26 pm

You guys ready to see something cool? :D

My sheath making buddy, Chad Pirtle (Pirtlemade leather), did a dye job on his Rosewood using some Fiebing's black leather dye. They turned out AWESOME!!!

You would think these scales were made of Walnut! :eek: :cool: :spyder:

walnut_dyed_Rex45.jpg

I might have to give this a try with some RIT this weekend...

Looks good! Was there any initial prep work on the scales? I have a really nice specialty wood store near me and you've got me intrigued, but I have no idea about dying stuff like Dymondwood. Great work!

Again, just to be clear, this was not my work.

I do not know if there was much prep work, but I imagine he did some. If it were me, I would scrub them with a degreaser before dying, and clean them up similarly afterwards.

SpyderPhreak wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 31, 2020 5:46 pm

FreeGolf wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 31, 2020 5:29 pm

SpyderPhreak wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 31, 2020 4:26 pm

You guys ready to see something cool? :D

My sheath making buddy, Chad Pirtle (Pirtlemade leather), did a dye job on his Rosewood using some Fiebing's black leather dye. They turned out AWESOME!!!

You would think these scales were made of Walnut! :eek: :cool: :spyder:

walnut_dyed_Rex45.jpg

I might have to give this a try with some RIT this weekend...

Looks good! Was there any initial prep work on the scales? I have a really nice specialty wood store near me and you've got me intrigued, but I have no idea about dying stuff like Dymondwood. Great work!

Again, just to be clear, this was not my work.

I do not know if there was much prep work, but I imagine he did some. If it were me, I would scrub them with a degreaser before dying, and clean them up similarly afterwards.

Awesome, thanks. Maybe I'll ask the gentlemen and ladies at the specialty shop I was speaking about. Great looking mod.

013 wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 31, 2020 5:09 pm

SpyderPhreak wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 31, 2020 4:26 pm

You guys ready to see something cool? :D

My sheath making buddy, Chad Pirtle (Pirtlemade leather), did a dye job on his Rosewood using some Fiebing's black leather dye. They turned out AWESOME!!!

You would think these scales were made of Walnut! :eek: :cool: :spyder:

walnut_dyed_Rex45.jpg

I might have to give this a try with some RIT this weekend...

Strange, I just came here to ask if anyone has tried to stain the scales.
Purple would look nice, although I do like the darkness on these.

Are you thinking something like Blurple-Rosewood (was that a Sting song?)

I'm starting to see this model being called "TreeRex"... LOL! :D

SpyderPhreak wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 31, 2020 10:01 pm

I'm starting to see this model being called "TreeRex"... LOL! :D

lol yeah I've been seeing a bunch of people on instagram calling it that as well. Pretty clever!

JMM wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 31, 2020 6:27 pm

013 wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 31, 2020 5:09 pm

SpyderPhreak wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 31, 2020 4:26 pm

You guys ready to see something cool? :D

My sheath making buddy, Chad Pirtle (Pirtlemade leather), did a dye job on his Rosewood using some Fiebing's black leather dye. They turned out AWESOME!!!

You would think these scales were made of Walnut! :eek: :cool: :spyder:

walnut_dyed_Rex45.jpg

I might have to give this a try with some RIT this weekend...

Strange, I just came here to ask if anyone has tried to stain the scales.
Purple would look nice, although I do like the darkness on these.

Are you thinking something like Blurple-Rosewood (was that a Sting song?)

That would be cool.

SpyderPhreak wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 31, 2020 4:26 pm

You guys ready to see something cool? :D

My sheath making buddy, Chad Pirtle (Pirtlemade leather), did a dye job on his Rosewood using some Fiebing's black leather dye. They turned out AWESOME!!!

You would think these scales were made of Walnut! :eek: :cool: :spyder:

walnut_dyed_Rex45.jpg

I might have to give this a try with some RIT this weekend...

Thanks for posting SP and for all of the positive comments from everyone!

I have been modding knives and working with Dymondwood for 25 years or so. Dymondwood isn't much different than wood based Micarta, thinly laminated sheets of wood compressed and bonded with epoxy based resin. Anything you use would need to be able to penetrate and dye the wood.

What I did is took the knife apart and started with breaking the internal edges with 400 grit sand paper, that's just a personal preference. After that I loosely and randomly sanded the entire scale with 400 grit to open up the grain a bit. I generally follow the grain structure but the material is hard and 400 grit won't make significant scratches if you go against the grain a bit.

After sanding I degreased both scales with denatured alcohol and a tooth brush.

Next I laid both scales on a couple of layers of blue shop cloth and liberally applied Fiebings USMC Black Dye to both sides of the scales. After a few minutes you'll start to see the dye drying, then I apply a second coat. Just before the second coat dries I rub them down with a blue towel to remove the majority of the remaining dye.

After that I use fresh denatured alcohol and a tooth brush to scrub the scales and remove any surface dye that didn't penetrate and adhere to the wood fibers. Removing as much of the dye as you can will remove the risk of dye transfer to clothing as all that will be left when finished is dyed wood.

Finally I rubbed the entire scales down with a coat of Renaissance Wax buffing along the way. Leave a light coat on them until it dries and buff it away with a clean soft cloth. Reassemble and enjoy.

I don't know how this process would work out with RIT or other water based products. I have used oil and alcohol based leather dye a number of times on projects like this and have always been happy with the outcome. I dyed my Caribbean scales to a dark brown with their Chocolate Professional Dye as well. No heat needed just let them soak overnight in a baggie submerged in dye.

Good luck and thanks again!

I like how there's over a dozen on ebay right now - after the paypal fee/ebay fee (which is 10%+3% roughly) - you'd have to sell for at least $230+ (depending on taxes) to break even - how does flipping pay off for these guys?

Actually you have to sell for more than that. Mine cost nearly $230 from knifecenter after taxes.

That's a good looking mod for sure. I'm curious how burl G10 would look.

Sweet how-to Chad!!! :cool: :spyder: :D Thanks for posting it up here!

As you already know, since I worked most of the weekend I didn't get around to modding mine. Maybe the next weekend or two after I get back home. :)

As mine is a user (oh, the horror! :eek: ), I'm actually using it. Needed an actual sharp knife to cut my steak on Saturday evening (why can't steak places have decent knives?), and it's developed a patina over part of the blade as a result. You can see it on the right, here:
As it looks right now:
I'll eventually mustard patina the whole thing anyway, likely when I have it apart to dye my scales. :)

Thanks!

You mean people have Spyderco's that aren't users? :) I like that naturally developed patina myself but I do have some Ferric Chloride I've been itching to try.

Steak looks good enough but even that fork looks questionable, looks like one of those fancy Horsdevors forks.

Hi Chad,

Welcome to our forum.

I'm sure you have much to contribute that our group would appreciate.

sal

sal wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 04, 2020 1:38 pm

Hi Chad,

Welcome to our forum.

I'm sure you have much to contribute that our group would appreciate.

sal

Thanks Sal :)

I apologize for being off the main thread topic, but I couldn't resist after seeing Chad Pirtle post here. Chad made this chopper at least 8 years ago. I still love it; I just took it out to touch up on the strop last week. I was looking at it and wondering what you'd been up to and if you'd made anything else recently.



https://www.flickr.com/photos/oldjimmyj ... 884307116/

SpyderPhreak wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 04, 2020 5:54 am

Sweet how-to Chad!!! :cool: :spyder: :D Thanks for posting it up here!

As you already know, since I worked most of the weekend I didn't get around to modding mine. Maybe the next weekend or two after I get back home. :)

As mine is a user (oh, the horror! :eek: ), I'm actually using it. Needed an actual sharp knife to cut my steak on Saturday evening (why can't steak places have decent knives?), and it's developed a patina over part of the blade as a result. You can see it on the right, here:

60230413945__69A62FB6-63B4-41BB-ACD2-2153A662978Bsm..JPG

As it looks right now:

rexpat.jpg

I'll eventually mustard patina the whole thing anyway, likely when I have it apart to dye my scales. :)

What are you planning for those scales? Hope you'll still be able to see that cool grain pattern you got!

jimmyjohnjohn wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 04, 2020 4:51 pm

I apologize for being off the main thread topic, but I couldn't resist after seeing Chad Pirtle post here. Chad made this chopper at least 8 years ago. I still love it; I just took it out to touch up on the strop last week. I was looking at it and wondering what you'd been up to and if you'd made anything else recently.



https://www.flickr.com/photos/oldjimmyj ... 884307116/

Wow, that's amazing! Funny thing is I think about that knife a lot when I am out chopping in my woods. Thanks for posting :)

I still have my 2000 SF workshop that is split between knife making/metal working and wood working with a small section for reloading, but these days I spend 99% of my time in the house in my leather studio. My knife making hobby led to leather sheath making and when our daughter was born in 2012 I hung it all up to focus on family & career. In 2015 I got back into just doing leather work as a hobby. After over 25 years in Corporate IT, I walked away from it and on 1-1-2019 went full time in sheath making. If my order backlog wasn't so long I'd still be making knives as a hobby, but now I do my hobby and work at the same time :) Knife making is definitely still a part of my future plans.

Thanks again!

JuPaul wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 04, 2020 6:34 pm

SpyderPhreak wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 04, 2020 5:54 am

Sweet how-to Chad!!! :cool: :spyder: :D Thanks for posting it up here!

As you already know, since I worked most of the weekend I didn't get around to modding mine. Maybe the next weekend or two after I get back home. :)

As mine is a user (oh, the horror! :eek: ), I'm actually using it. Needed an actual sharp knife to cut my steak on Saturday evening (why can't steak places have decent knives?), and it's developed a patina over part of the blade as a result. You can see it on the right, here:

60230413945__69A62FB6-63B4-41BB-ACD2-2153A662978Bsm..JPG

As it looks right now:

rexpat.jpg

I'll eventually mustard patina the whole thing anyway, likely when I have it apart to dye my scales. :)

What are you planning for those scales? Hope you'll still be able to see that cool grain pattern you got!

I'm going to darken them up similar to what Chad did (see my post with his pic on the previous page). The grain pattern should still show through nicely, and very little material will be removed.

SpyderPhreak wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 05, 2020 6:32 am

JuPaul wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 04, 2020 6:34 pm

SpyderPhreak wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 04, 2020 5:54 am

Sweet how-to Chad!!! :cool: :spyder: :D Thanks for posting it up here!

As you already know, since I worked most of the weekend I didn't get around to modding mine. Maybe the next weekend or two after I get back home. :)

As mine is a user (oh, the horror! :eek: ), I'm actually using it. Needed an actual sharp knife to cut my steak on Saturday evening (why can't steak places have decent knives?), and it's developed a patina over part of the blade as a result. You can see it on the right, here:

60230413945__69A62FB6-63B4-41BB-ACD2-2153A662978Bsm..JPG

As it looks right now:

rexpat.jpg

I'll eventually mustard patina the whole thing anyway, likely when I have it apart to dye my scales. :)

What are you planning for those scales? Hope you'll still be able to see that cool grain pattern you got!

I'm going to darken them up similar to what Chad did (see my post with his pic on the previous page). The grain pattern should still show through nicely, and very little material will be removed.

Oh sorry - I missed your earlier post. Those look really, really nice! Can't wait to see how yours turn out.

JuPaul wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 05, 2020 7:00 am

SpyderPhreak wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 05, 2020 6:32 am

JuPaul wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 04, 2020 6:34 pm

SpyderPhreak wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 04, 2020 5:54 am

Sweet how-to Chad!!! :cool: :spyder: :D Thanks for posting it up here!

As you already know, since I worked most of the weekend I didn't get around to modding mine. Maybe the next weekend or two after I get back home. :)

As mine is a user (oh, the horror! :eek: ), I'm actually using it. Needed an actual sharp knife to cut my steak on Saturday evening (why can't steak places have decent knives?), and it's developed a patina over part of the blade as a result. You can see it on the right, here:

60230413945__69A62FB6-63B4-41BB-ACD2-2153A662978Bsm..JPG

As it looks right now:

rexpat.jpg

I'll eventually mustard patina the whole thing anyway, likely when I have it apart to dye my scales. :)

What are you planning for those scales? Hope you'll still be able to see that cool grain pattern you got!

I'm going to darken them up similar to what Chad did (see my post with his pic on the previous page). The grain pattern should still show through nicely, and very little material will be removed.

Oh sorry - I missed your earlier post. Those look really, really nice! Can't wait to see how yours turn out.

No worries. :) Yeah, Chad's look like a nice walnut, and I'm all for that. I'll definitely post mine once I've modded the scales. :spyder: