Caribbean DIY scale mod AKA How to (Almost) ruin a Caribbean

[LanM]

Well I figured I'd share the results thus far after jumping into modding my Caribbean scales....definitely a work in progress and without much reverence to prototyping or R&D--this is definitely a lets wing it and roll with the punches scenario.

First, I thought I'd mix some blue/green pearl, and glow pigment into some epoxy and fill the grooves in the scales and have a cool glow in the dark chameleon look.in the center, and opal inlay at the ends.... It didn't go well and looked like leprechaun poo. so I scraped that out, let it cure and pretty much destroyed scale 1 when sanding it down as patience is a virtue I struggle with sometimes.

Then I started the inlay on the ends, going with black opal and then a separating band of white opal. I still have the middle to contend with, and I'm trying to figure out what direction to go. I'm considering a carbon inlay, or resin coating it with no pearl and paving the opal into the middle. Trying to figure that out and just ordered some carbon fiber in the event I go that direction. This is how scale 1 sits presently.

After that, I ordered a bunch of opal colors to figure out what design to go with, and with a 2nd Caribbean on hand I could double what I did for each to save the knives, or just keep the 1st one two-faced, we'll see. I was considering the "Eye of Sauron" design last night, but after laying it out I decided not to go with it as I didn't have yellow opal to go immediately around the iris and the tangerine orange didn't come close enough for me. So I decided to use the black opal, and at least it matches the other side of the scale on the ends so there's some continuity in the design. I inlayed the opal, let it cure, and this is what I have after the 1st sanding. I still have to add some more, fill the voids, sand, dye the g10 blue again, then topcoat the whole thing but I'm hoping it doesn't look too bad in the end.

As it sits now, I have the tail ends of the 1st scale in progress with that absolute mess to figure out in the middle, and this second scale coming along ok.
Scale 1

Scale 2 so far today.

After sanding it flat and popping in a bowl of water to see what she'll look like. Still need to fill a few spots.

[Mushroom]

I love how the opal fill looks!

[Pokey]

Well I figured I'd share the results thus far after jumping into modding my Caribbean scales....definitely a work in progress and without much reverence to prototyping or R&D--this is definitely a lets wing it and roll with the punches scenario.

First, I thought I'd mix some blue/green pearl, and glow pigment into some epoxy and fill the grooves in the scales and have a cool glow in the dark chameleon look.in the center, and opal inlay at the ends.... It didn't go well and looked like leprechaun poo. so I scraped that out, let it cure and pretty much destroyed scale 1 when sanding it down as patience is a virtue I struggle with sometimes.

1.jpg
2.jpg
3.jpg

Then I started the inlay on the ends, going with black opal and then a separating band of white opal. I still have the middle to contend with, and I'm trying to figure out what direction to go. I'm considering a carbon inlay, or resin coating it with no pearl and paving the opal into the middle. Trying to figure that out and just ordered some carbon fiber in the event I go that direction. This is how scale 1 sits presently.

4.jpg5.jpg

After that, I ordered a bunch of opal colors to figure out what design to go with, and with a 2nd Caribbean on hand I could double what I did for each to save the knives, or just keep the 1st one two-faced, we'll see. I was considering the "Eye of Sauron" design last night, but after laying it out I decided not to go with it as I didn't have yellow opal to go immediately around the iris and the tangerine orange didn't come close enough for me. So I decided to use the black opal, and at least it matches the other side of the scale on the ends so there's some continuity in the design. I inlayed the opal, let it cure, and this is what I have after the 1st sanding. I still have to add some more, fill the voids, sand, dye the g10 blue again, then topcoat the whole thing but I'm hoping it doesn't look too bad in the end.

As it sits now, I have the tail ends of the 1st scale in progress with that absolute mess to figure out in the middle, and this second scale coming along ok.
Scale 1
6.jpg

Scale 2 so far today.
8.jpg
9.jpg

After sanding it flat and popping in a bowl of water to see what she'll look like. Still need to fill a few spots.

10.jpg
11.jpg

That looks pretty good! When I saw the result it reminded me of a photograph taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Do a search for the “Hubble Dark Spot” if you’d like to see it.

[Bemo]

More courage than I! Good for you!

[remnar]

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing.

[Salty Dog]

Bro I didn't have high hopes midway through the pics lol, but you rescued it really well.
Definitely the most unique Caribbean out there.
I like your style.

[LanM]

Thanks for the replies guys, I’m hoping I can salvage the first scale. Pokey, I checked out that photo that looks pretty neat and a lot like the scale when the red is flashing.

Salty, I’m not quite out of the woods yet, I have to fix/figure out what to do with the middle section of the 1st scale since the ribs are gone. Right now I’m considering 4 options.
1) carbon fiber inlay cut to the shape of the center section between the opal bands.

2) opal sheet cut to fit same area. There’s 2 styles, 1 is basically like the crush inlay which I can do with the pave method just sprinkling it on and resin coating. 2nd type is “B” cut, cross grain with pretty cool striations.

21F4FCEB-3D78-4370-8929-6C8CBC155582.jpeg (21.66 KiB) Viewed 2391 times

3) abalone inlay

4) paved crushed opal (sprinkled all over and top coated with resin so it looks like scale #2 but without the black grooves since they’re gone. Either way I have to carefully sand/ remove the rest of the grooved g10 between the opal end inlays.

The 2nd scale was much easier to do once I realized how easy it was sand through the g10 and was careful not to do that.

Which option do you guys would think will look best to finish the 1st scale?

[Menipo]

OMG! There are people who have gone to jail for much less than that! I doubt your poor Caribbean can ever forgive you for what you've done to him. :eek:

I'm kidding. :D

I praise your bravery and imagination, but definitely not my cup of tea.

[TkoK83Spy]

Very unique look! Good for you, definitely making it YOURS. I love when people think outside the box and try something new. Heck, some people are afraid to even switch the pocket clip location or even tweak their pivot screw. Let alone try something like this.

[Josh Crutchley]

Wow it all comes in to focus when you see the second pic of scale 2. I thought for sure it would be a failure. Nice work so far, I'm not sure how your gonna tie it all together but looks good. What side is your clip on? Not sure if your left or right handed but that might change a few things.

[Salty Dog]

Bro, id go abalone in the gap or leave it black.

[LanM]

OMG! There are people who have gone to jail for much less than that! I doubt your poor Caribbean can ever forgive you for what you've done to him. :eek:

I'm kidding. :D

I praise your bravery and imagination, but definitely not my cup of tea.

Thanks! I’m hoping that bravery and imagination doesn’t end up looking like foolishness and delusional after the dust settles.

[LanM]

Thanks guys, Im definitely making it my own. This was kind of a pilot project for the other knife. I wanted to give it a run before going with my original plan.

[LanM]

Wow it all comes in to focus when you see the second pic of scale 2. I thought for sure it would be a failure. Nice work so far, I'm not sure how your gonna tie it all together but looks good. What side is your clip on? Not sure if your left or right handed but that might change a few things.

I’m a lefty but ambidextrous with some things and try to practice using both hands. Bat left but prefer throwing right handed. Using the compression lock is much easier with my right so I left the clip where it was stock.

With these scales I was lucky to not have to worry about re-drilling the holes for anything so clip options should both still be there after sanding everything out.

[LanM]

Bro, id go abalone in the gap or leave it black.

Thanks Salty, do you mean leave it black opal and sprinkle (pave) the center? Since it’s the black opal I think it’ll hide the fact that the g10 stripes are gone a lot easier. I’m going to sand the rest of the center flat, and re-dye it so I can work from a blue background after getting it level. I really liked the abalone idea, but I see it used in either very cheap knives or very expensive ones so I’m not sure if it’ll look like a flea market abortion if I go the abalone route. I’d have to order a little more black opal since I don’t think I have enough for the whole paved area. I have a dozen other colors but mixing them might look stupid. I do have some tiger eye opal that would probably look good with the black.

[Senfkarte]

That's something different, than the usual scales. Not my cup of tea but I appreciate the bravery to start a project. I myself have some plans on modding scales, but I'm too cowardly to pull the trigger and start. There is always the feeling, I forgot something very important that will bite me when I finally start or even worse, when I'm in the middle of the process. That leads to overthinking and the project, that has not even started, blows up in my head and becomes very expensive.
Anyway, I hope you will find a solution that is to your satisfaction.
If you had a second Caribbean you could try to make a mold of the scale (maybe with some impression material [don't know the correct english term for that]), fill a small amount of epoxy in the mold and put your scale 1 in the mold, before the epoxy dries. It would not need to be perfect and a little trapped air would not be the end of the world, because the black opal would hide all these imperfections. Just a thought, have never tried this for myself :confused:

[Salty Dog]

Bro, id go abalone in the gap or leave it black.

Thanks Salty, do you mean leave it black opal and sprinkle (pave) the center? Since it’s the black opal I think it’ll hide the fact that the g10 stripes are gone a lot easier. I’m going to sand the rest of the center flat, and re-dye it so I can work from a blue background after getting it level. I really liked the abalone idea, but I see it used in either very cheap knives or very expensive ones so I’m not sure if it’ll look like a flea market abortion if I go the abalone route. I’d have to order a little more black opal since I don’t think I have enough for the whole paved area. I have a dozen other colors but mixing them might look stupid. I do have some tiger eye opal that would probably look good with the black.

Hi mate, sorry I meant to say the opal but Abalone came out, ill blame it on my dyslexia lol.
Black opal sounds nice.

[LanM]

Haven’t had much time to work on these lately. Getting there, just about ready to re-dye the g10 before doing the final fill coats. Trying to determine the best method to ensure I redrill the hardware holes to the right depth. I was considering putting a tiny bit of molding clay in each recess before final coating with epoxy so when I drill it the original hole and depth is retained.