Help me pick :)

[tonydahose]

i was trying to sell this knife awhile back and had no takers so i thought if i am going to keep it i might as well pimp it a bit :D Paul was nice enough to mock these up for me. the scales will go on a Masamoto Gyuto 240mm. i am still debating if i will use the big pins or switch to smaller ones. Hopefully nobody buys the scales on ebay before i decide..lol. so what do you think?1, 2 or 3?

[lamorak]

3, with smaller pins.

What kind of material is it?

[DeathBySnooSnoo]

I would go blue with large pins. The green reminds me too much of 1980's houses with fake green marble bathrooms...

[The Deacon]

After seeing them on the knife I'm leaning toward the blue, Tony.

FWIW, pins are the same size as those in the original black POM scales.

[jwingfie]

Blue got my vote.

[Donut]

Blue is probably best for a kitchen knife.

[jabba359]

Here's another vote for #3. I've been thinking about picking up some green-stabilized wood like this for one of my many mules.

[DCDesigns]

I have had a bad experience with that seller (SDC woodworking) so my answer would be none, lol.

I do have a set of his green buckeye burl though, very nice looking wood. Just gotta buy a mule to put them on now.

[CanisMajor]

Definitely blue.

Canis

[tonydahose]

3, with smaller pins.

What kind of material is it?

number 1 is maple
number 2 is black ash
number 3 is buckeye

I have had a bad experience with that seller (SDC woodworking) so my answer would be none, lol.

i have had only positive results when i have bought from him and using his stabilized scales.



and the winner is, the deciding vote was my lil girl's :D is for the blue one. i just bought it. thanks to those who voted :)

[c.joe]

I'm digging the green scales with zebra pattern! Looks incredibly unique.

[BAL]

Honestly, you can't go wrong with any choice. All are very unique. Your daughter has great taste and you can never go wrong with going along with her.

[bh49]

I like all scales, but #3 is absolutely stunning. May I vote twice? :D

[tonydahose]

you can vote as many times as you want Roman but i bought the blue ones

[Water Bug]

The blue ones just seemed to be the right and most natural choice. They look more like real wood than the other two. I say go with large pins as well.

[jossta]

Im glad you got blue. I voted green for some reason but blue is way better.

[tonydahose]

i thought i'd add some work in progress pics in case anyone wants to try this for themselves :D .


First some pics of the wood, i took them real quickly outside, they don't do the wood justice.



next i outline where i am going to cut the wood for the handles.



next i cut the wood, you'll notice i went outside of the lines, just in case you screw something up when cutting, you will have enough room to fix it hopefully.


here i just placed the cut handles over the knife to get an idea of what the finished product will look like.


OK, here i used my dremel and cut out around the pins. it took about 15 minutes.


i heated up the end of the knife with a heat gun and tried to pry the corner off.


Now that i know the heat would work in getting the scale off i took off both sides. i was surprised to see all the rust, i am pretty anal about drying my kitchen knives after i wash them. maybe the glue that was used to hold the handles down was water based??

[tonydahose]

This was a surprise to me, i thought the pins were the same diameter throughout the handle. it looks like they are more like rivets. So much for keeping them to use again.



I dremeled off the tips of the pins and pulled them out.


this pic shows an stamp of some sort, either with the date or run of the steel batch in case there are problems down the road is my guess.


that's it for now, stay tuned to this bat channel for updates :p .

[Donut]

Thanks for the update Tony. Honestly, I thought it was going to be done. :p

[Water Bug]

Oh, yes, the blue wood was definitely the right choice. It goes very well with your knife.