Spyderco Forums

Distressed finish

My stealthy detent tuned Caribbean, and distressed denim look Tilley. Was hot and cold on the bumblebee look, so went dark blue, with that and some detent tuning so it doesn't shake open, it is now a regular carry. The Tilley was looking pretty weathered, so threw it in when done with the Caribbean. Very happy with both

przemekspce wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 12, 2022 6:11 am

Distressed finish

This is Great!

I used Rit Dyemore Frost Gray on white scales (GP exclusive).

I’m not sure what color this is, but not gray. I was shooting for the Maxamet Native gray look, but happy with the purple tinted brown I guess.

im25feetup wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 23, 2022 3:43 pm

I used Rit Dyemore Frost Gray on white scales (GP exclusive).

I’m not sure what color this is, but not gray. I was shooting for the Maxamet Native gray look, but happy with the purple tinted brown I guess.

The frost gray is strange. It definitely has a purple hue to it when you are pouring it.

From the picture the color turned out really nice though. Looks great.

Knives&Lint wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 27, 2022 6:21 pm

I've done it a few times to the Salt yellow. First I use the "Kelly Green" powder towards the pivot end to give it a lime green look. Then I finished with a fade using the "Aquamarine" liquid

hey knives&lint, you've got a seriously awesome eye for coloring, i love the examples you've shown. i've been toying around with a fade on the mint green native 5, but i can't seem to settle on any ideas that feel right. if you had one, what might you try with one of these in a non-dlc blade? i've been thinking about fading to darker greens, but feeling like it would come out too same-y, vs. what you've done with the salts, for example. any ideas?

'Tropical Teal' Rit Dye-More vs Pac Salt and Hawkbill Dragonfly Salt.


The Pac Salt got a long soak, the Dfly a short soak. A vibrant dark green, and a 70's green.

If you want the end color to actually be teal, a long soak with Kentucky Sky Blue works well.

Went for a sunset gradient on the Caribbean. Turned out pretty well I think. Used racing red and royal purple Rit Dye More. Took color extremely fast- literally about a minute for each color.

Looks good!

hey Salter - nice gradient job!

Salter wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 30, 2022 8:13 pm

Went for a sunset gradient on the Caribbean. Turned out pretty well I think. Used racing red and royal purple Rit Dye More. Took color extremely fast- literally about a minute for each color.
IMG_4126.jpg

I love that! Could you post up how you got the fade so smooth, if you have time one day?

Anyone did ritdye work on purple G10 scales from DLT?

Teddy0215 wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 01, 2022 5:58 am

I love that! Could you post up how you got the fade so smooth, if you have time one day?

To get a good fade effect, decide where you want the fade to begin on the scale, then dip the scales up to that point and immediately pull them back out and rinse with running water. Then dip again, slightly less deep than the first dip, pull back out and rinse with running water. Keep repeating that process, each time moving down the scale. Make sure you don't let it sit too long in the dye and make sure you rinse with the water. (The water will prevent it from being over-dyed and really helps wash away any dye sitting in any grooves, grip patterns, etc.). For FRN, you may want to use less dye as I believe it dyes much faster than G10. Make sure you start with darker colors first I started with the royal purple first, then did the red

Both with same mix of powdered ritdye. Dark green and pearl gray. Kizer Cormorant had black and white handle before.

honeslty kizer has been killing it lately imo. if more pocket knives wasn't a luxury i can't/don't need to afford rn, there are at least 3 of theirs i'd pick up today

I recently purchased the satin REX 45 and white FRN GP Knives Native 5 for steel testing purposes. While I like the white handle color I know it will get grungy in no time, and therefore I started thinking about colors to dye it.

I decided on gold as the target color. Using the RIT Dye More color options available to me I came up with a first pass of a Frost Grey and Sandstone mixture.

I was surprised how purple the Frost Grey dye was when added to the water.



Results after a 5 minute soak. It ended up turning the FRN a bluish-grey, which is not even close to purple.



Next the scales went into the Sandstone bath.



5 minute soak on these as well. Not quite gold but it's on the right track. Hard to tell in the picture but they have a slight grey undertone.



I'm going to marinate on this color for a little and decide how to proceed. I'm thinking maybe a yellow dye soak next to reach a more gold hue.

I can see you wanting a little more yellow if you were going for gold, but I think those look great.

Thank you! In certain light it looks fairly gold. Some more close up shots below in different light.

I see that, and I really like it. It is a very nice color. Well done.

Decided to give the extra yellow a try.



1 minute in Daffodil Yellow (before on the left, after on the right):



Not a traditional yellow gold, but it's closer to gold than tan so I'm happy with the result. Didn't want to risk adding too much yellow and it starting to look like brown mustard or baby poop.