Forest Green Dragonfly
- RadioactiveSpyder
- Member
- Posts: 4536
- Joined: Sat Mar 30, 2013 9:48 pm
- Location: Lost in space
Forest Green Dragonfly
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to share some pics of tonight's project - making my foliage green G10 Dragonfly into a forest green one to match the new Paramilitary 2 CTS-204P and Native 5 S110V forum knife. I typically carry my Dragonfly along with either of these two larger knives, or along with my trusty Caly 3.5, but since the new darker green kids on the block were getting so much pocket time, the Dragonfly just needed to match as well.
I used a half bottle of dark green RIT dye (liquid), 1/2 cup of vinegar and 1 quart of water brought up to and held at a low boil. The scales were suspended on makeshift wire hanger supports in the water (not touching the bottom of the pan) for 30 minutes. I had to add additional water due to boil-off a couple of times when I saw the water level creeping down nearer to the top of the scales.
Here's the before picture (standard issue foliage green):
And the after shots with two other forest green beauties:
I think the color came out very well! It's pretty much a spot-on match to the other knives. The reassembly process was certainly pretty interesting! I don't recommend full disassembly if you're not confident of your mechanical abilities to get the little guy back together (plus, of course, I've now voided the warranty). The whole project took about an hour.
I also dropped my entire grey G10 Manbug into the pot after the Dfly scales were done, but I am still cleaning the dye off the metal parts so I didn't want to share pics of that one yet. The color on that one also came out well, but it's not quite as sharp-looking as the Dragonfly with that shade of G10.
Thanks for letting me share everyone! Cheers! :)
I just wanted to share some pics of tonight's project - making my foliage green G10 Dragonfly into a forest green one to match the new Paramilitary 2 CTS-204P and Native 5 S110V forum knife. I typically carry my Dragonfly along with either of these two larger knives, or along with my trusty Caly 3.5, but since the new darker green kids on the block were getting so much pocket time, the Dragonfly just needed to match as well.
I used a half bottle of dark green RIT dye (liquid), 1/2 cup of vinegar and 1 quart of water brought up to and held at a low boil. The scales were suspended on makeshift wire hanger supports in the water (not touching the bottom of the pan) for 30 minutes. I had to add additional water due to boil-off a couple of times when I saw the water level creeping down nearer to the top of the scales.
Here's the before picture (standard issue foliage green):
And the after shots with two other forest green beauties:
I think the color came out very well! It's pretty much a spot-on match to the other knives. The reassembly process was certainly pretty interesting! I don't recommend full disassembly if you're not confident of your mechanical abilities to get the little guy back together (plus, of course, I've now voided the warranty). The whole project took about an hour.
I also dropped my entire grey G10 Manbug into the pot after the Dfly scales were done, but I am still cleaning the dye off the metal parts so I didn't want to share pics of that one yet. The color on that one also came out well, but it's not quite as sharp-looking as the Dragonfly with that shade of G10.
Thanks for letting me share everyone! Cheers! :)
Last edited by RadioactiveSpyder on Sun Jun 07, 2015 12:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.
It's better to be good than evil, but one achieves goodness at a terrific cost. ––– Stephen King
- senorsquare
- Member
- Posts: 1531
- Joined: Fri Nov 02, 2012 8:34 am
- Location: Lotta Rock, AR
- RadioactiveSpyder
- Member
- Posts: 4536
- Joined: Sat Mar 30, 2013 9:48 pm
- Location: Lost in space
Thanks everyone! I'm really liking the color of the new Dfly in the sunshine. Roman, it seems to be holding up to me pulling it from my pocket a bunch this morning, messing with it and scratching at the scales with my nail. Plus, with it being foliage green underneath, that will be presumably the color it would fade back to, and that would be just fine with me (and maybe even give it a cool faded look at some point).
Here's two pics of how the Manbug turned out (it still needs some cleaning, you can see some purplish residue on the metal, lanyard hole, etc. Lanyard tube on the Dfly is still a little out on one side too ):
As you can see, the colors do not match despite being them dipped into the same pot of dye. The Manbug looks much more blue-green. It looks alright I guess, but not exactly what I was hoping for. I may dye the Manbug scales black, I think that will look pretty sharp (and likely better than this shade). I may wait a bit on that though to maybe grab another G10 Dfly and dye its scales black as well! I will also likely take the Manbug apart so I can clean it off properly. While it was certainly convenient that it was small enough to dip in the pot, the hours I've spent cleaning the residue off has not been worth it. Plus I know as hard as I try to clean it without taking it apart, the metal won't ever look fully sparkly until I give the parts a good clean and scrub piece by piece.
Here's two pics of how the Manbug turned out (it still needs some cleaning, you can see some purplish residue on the metal, lanyard hole, etc. Lanyard tube on the Dfly is still a little out on one side too ):
As you can see, the colors do not match despite being them dipped into the same pot of dye. The Manbug looks much more blue-green. It looks alright I guess, but not exactly what I was hoping for. I may dye the Manbug scales black, I think that will look pretty sharp (and likely better than this shade). I may wait a bit on that though to maybe grab another G10 Dfly and dye its scales black as well! I will also likely take the Manbug apart so I can clean it off properly. While it was certainly convenient that it was small enough to dip in the pot, the hours I've spent cleaning the residue off has not been worth it. Plus I know as hard as I try to clean it without taking it apart, the metal won't ever look fully sparkly until I give the parts a good clean and scrub piece by piece.
Last edited by RadioactiveSpyder on Sun Jun 07, 2015 12:11 pm, edited 2 times in total.
It's better to be good than evil, but one achieves goodness at a terrific cost. ––– Stephen King
-
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- Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2011 7:30 pm
- Location: Toronto Canada
- kennethsime
- Member
- Posts: 4786
- Joined: Thu Dec 29, 2011 8:28 pm
- Location: California
The Manbug color is actually pretty sharp, although it doesn't match. The Dragonfly makes me want to do the same thing! I am a jealous man looking at your collection. :-)
I'm happiest with Micarta and Tool Steel.
Top four in rotation: K390 + GCM PM2, ZCarta Shaman, Crucarta PM2, K390 + GCM Straight Spine Stretch.
Top four in rotation: K390 + GCM PM2, ZCarta Shaman, Crucarta PM2, K390 + GCM Straight Spine Stretch.
- einstein2001
- Member
- Posts: 405
- Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2013 5:37 pm
- Location: Endicott, NY USA, Earth
That green is unexpectedly my new favorite G10 color. Well done RadioactiveSpyder. :cool:
I love the blue Manbug too. I'm glad you posted this because that's the color blue I had in mind that I thought would look pretty cool on a Police Sprint. Less smurf blue and more royal blue. :)
I love the blue Manbug too. I'm glad you posted this because that's the color blue I had in mind that I thought would look pretty cool on a Police Sprint. Less smurf blue and more royal blue. :)
[table="width: 1100, align: left"]
[tr]
[td][SIGPIC][/SIGPIC][/td]
[td]Cruwear Military, CTS-204P Para 2, K390 Mule
Southard, Techno, Sage 2, Gayle Bradley
Super Blue Caly 3, Caly 3.5, Endura and G10 Ladybug
ZDP-189 G10 Dragonfly, ZDP-189 Nishijin Dragonfly
[HR][/HR]:spyder::spyder::spyder::spyder::spyder::spyder::spyder::spyder:
-Brandon
[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
[tr]
[td][SIGPIC][/SIGPIC][/td]
[td]Cruwear Military, CTS-204P Para 2, K390 Mule
Southard, Techno, Sage 2, Gayle Bradley
Super Blue Caly 3, Caly 3.5, Endura and G10 Ladybug
ZDP-189 G10 Dragonfly, ZDP-189 Nishijin Dragonfly
[HR][/HR]:spyder::spyder::spyder::spyder::spyder::spyder::spyder::spyder:
-Brandon
[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]