Spyderco Forums

I started out trying my hand at stone washing the clip on my Para 2 today, but half way through the process i ended up with this. If you recall, i tried to paint this clip a khaki/tan color to match what i wear at work. It matched great, but scratched easy even after baking it, so i decided on the stone washing.

Well, first i had to remove all the paint, so i used some paint stripper and a scotch pad. It left the paint in the Spydie, which i was fine with. I soaked the clip in ferric chloride for about an hour, then rinsed and wiped dry. This is the point where you would stone wash it, but i kind of like how the acid didn't effect the paint.

Crappy camcorder pics, can't find my camera charger..




It doesn't match my khakis very well, but it's a lot better than a shiny reflective clip. I'm sure over time it's going to scratch...when it does then i'll finish the stone wash treatment.

I think I like that even more than when you had it khaki. How'd you get the Spyder yellow?

It's just left over tan paint from when i painted it to match my khakis. When i stripped the paint off it didn't strip it from inside the spydie and apparently the paint is stronger than the acid cause it didn't eat it out. Those pics really suck, it looks a lot better than that. It's a charcoal dark gray color.

If you wanted to do your spyder like that, just get some model paint and wipe it into the groove, then wipe off the excess and let it dry.

Thanks. I might try that.

I like it! Great job!

Better than the stonewash imo and i love me some stonewash...

Just keep in mind, i can guarantee you this is definitely going to scratch. The finish isn't anywhere near as tough as the black coating that Spyderco uses. You can't really scratch it off with your fingernail, but then i couldn't do that with the tan paint either and it scratched off all around the edges. I'm just enjoying it this way until it gets scratched up, then i'll stone wash it.

I did the same thing to mine a while back, and I love it. I stone-washed mine after. It fades into the background on almost everything i wear :)

That looks really good.

Finally got a new charger for my camera battery so here's a couple better shots, also showing how the finish is holding up. I like it a lot. In the places it's scratching, there's only a very subtle shine that you have to hold in the light to even notice. I think with enough wear it's going to look "antiqued". I'm thinking about doing all the heads of the screws now and maybe even the liners but i'm not ready to do the blade just yet.





I think it would look amazing with black scales. This is probably going to be my standard clip treatment from here on. Since the acid doesn't effect the paint in the spydie, i think i'm going to do one in a brighter color like red next.

Well it's been 20 days, here's a few updated pics to show how it's wearing. I've carried/used this knife everyday since doing the clip.






I think it looks great...has an antiqued titanium look to it. It's overcast outside or you would see more reflection on the edges where it's wearing off. My favorite part is still the tan spyder. I'm definitely going to do the other screws and maybe the lanyard tube but i still don't have the nerve to do the blade.

So, i decided to do the blade/liners/hardware to match the clip. Two things:

1. It looks awesome...it all has a badass titanium colored finish and looks amazing with the digicam scales.

2. I totally ruined this knife LOL. Apparently i left the parts in the acid too long and literally ate off a layer of metal, to the point that there is so much slop in the blade it shakes in your hand. I've tried adjusting the stop pin 100 times...the lock tab bottoms out...everything is "smaller" than it should be. I'm gonna call SFO and look into getting a new stop pin and see if that helps any, but even behind the lock, the pivot hole in the blade is larger now and you can visibly see the slop in it around the pivot pin.

DAMNIT!


Chalk this one up as a ~$120 learning lesson. I'll post pics later when i'm not so disgusted. In the meantime, looks like i need to touch up the edge on my Paramilitary 1 :D

That's a horrible lesson learned, I love how the clip looks, when the paint wears off mine I'll have to try to recreate something like yours.

Yeah i wont be doing another blade thats for sure. Its still useable but im real dusgusted over it. Probably be my beater knife now.

Now that's how they should come!!!

Sorry about the learning curve though.

Well, as promised here are the pics of the knife after etching every piece of metal on the knife except for the bushing and the lanyard tube. It looks great...it just ate off too much metal and created a ton of play in the blade/lock.

However, i have a friend who is a machinist and we're working on making a custom pivot bushing that's just slightly larger to fit the hole in the blade, and i'm going to order a new stop pin from Spyderco, and i *hope* that will eliminate all the play, but we'll see. I haven't sharpened it yet after etching it because i was so upset about the blade play. I think it looks badass though.

Here is mine, I also stone washed it.

I like it!
Looks like a titanium clip after you blast it with aluminum oxide. :)

How long did you leave the blade in the acid? I dipped mine and then put it in the rock tumbler attempting to get a stone wash finish. I didn't get the exact look I wanted but I have no blade play. I only left it in the acid for a minute or so to darken the blade.

Way too long...i don't even know exactly, i guess i underestimated how corrosive the ferric chloride is.