Making a mini Southard, any tips?

[DigDug72]

Hi Spydie community,
I've been obsessed with the mini Southard ever since seeing those amazing Smock ones, but can't swing the loot to purchase one. Found a used one for a good price yesterday, and am determined to start trimming this bad boy down. Armed with basically a dremel tool, files, and hella sandpaper. Anyone out there with experience want to be kind and give me some pointers?

[Evil D]

Measure twice, cut once. Lol.

If I were doing this, here's what I'd be thinking..

Wanting it smaller means the blade and handle need to be smaller. First decide which one you care more about, and that will determine the length of the other. If you want a 2.5 inch blade, then first cut the blade down and then trim as much handle as you need to... Etc.

One thing to consider is making sure the handle will adequately cover the blade and blade tip when closed after you make these changes. The only way to really know would be to draw what you want on the blade and handle with a marker and then take it apart and swing the blade around on the pivot and see where the blade ends up inside the handle. Try to visualize the knife being the size you want it to be and see how it will look when functioning.

You're basically going to end up with a wharnie/sheepsfoot unless you really tweak the blade and try to add belly, but again that can complicate things when the blade is closed. I don't think you'll have issues with this, but it's a good idea to check any way you can before you start removing material.

You're going to lose the lanyard tube and most likely the clip holes if you make the handle any shorter. So, are you OK with just having a shorter blade? Do you have the tools and coincidence to drill and tap titanium for new clip screws? I don't have my Southard in front of me, but dependion on how much handle you remove you may also need to relocate the standoffs, which will require more drilling. Keep in mind that drilling and grinding Ti is not a fun process.

You're going to need to redo the stonewash finish on both the blade and handle. Or try to polish them. How much work do you wanna do here?

As for doing the actual work, I think you can do it with just a Dremel, but you may want to buy some extra bits ahead of time. Sandpaper barrels will be your best friend. I don't think the stone grinding bits cut aggressively enough for this job. The sandpaper barrels will wear quickly so you'll want a bunch of them. You can try to use carbide cutting wheels to remove large sections at a time and then refine the shape with the barrels.

Wear a quality breathing mask.

I would get the final shape of the titanium parts of the handle done and then work on the scale to match. I wouldn't try to do both at the same time.

When you work on the blade, remember to cut/grind slowly and keep a cup of water handy to dip the blade in. Once you feel the warmth in your fingers, dip the blade. You don't wanna hurt your heat treat. You'll wanna go slow grinding the Ti because it'll gum up your bits fast.

That's all I've got at the moment. It won't be easy, but it's doable. I'd go to work with a sharpie pen drawing out my idea on what I want to cut and reshape and shorten before I do anything.

[DigDug72]

yo Evil,
thanks so much brotha, you're a lifesaver! So much detailed info here, this helps out immeasurably man. Yeah, I'm pretty scared of repositioning the standoffs, so I'm gonna try and avoid that madness if at all possible. Pretty sure I'll go clipless, but might try and reposition the lanyard tube. I'll be posting progress pics as I go. Thanks Evil!

[awa54]

If I was going to heavily reshape a nice knife like that I'd spring the $50 or so for a belt sander... trying to remove large amounts of steel and or G10 with a dremel is a recipe for frustration and an uneven finish.

[DigDug72]

Thanks Awa, that's definitely something I've been debating. Might have to hit up Harbor Freight, and spring for a cheap belt sander. Thanks man!

[Evil D]

Yeah, I did go to Harbor Freight and buy a mini bench grinder that I've used to reshape blade spines and such. A small table top belt sander isn't a bad idea.

I think your best bet is to take the handle down to somewhere behind the middle standoff. If you bob the tail just behind that, it would look pretty factory. I'd see how much blade that would require you to remove and see if you're happy with that. What sucks is if you cut further back closer to the lanyard tube, you'll have this big section of handle at the butt that doesn't have a standoff between it, which might look weird, might not. Most knives have either a standoff at the butt of the handle or a lanyard tube. You can't really do much repositioning there because the middle standoff hole is still pretty close, and then you'd have an empty hole that would look crappy.

[Evil D]

I'm extremely bored so I whipped out this masterpiece on my phone. :cool:

Like this, only less sucky.

[DigDug72]

Thanks Evil, I really appreciate the tips. That diagram above is exactly what I have in mind - I definitely hadn't thought through how I wanted to proceed, and your advice is invaluable.

[Cujobob]

I'd recommend going liner delete, when you shrink the knife down, the handle is a bit too fat

[Evil D]

I'd recommend going liner delete, when you shrink the knife down, the handle is a bit too fat

Do you mean scale delete? Not sure how you could delete the liner on this knife unless you made an extra thick scale to replace it but I'd still worry about the bearing pivot on G10 even with the washer between them.

[Cujobob]

Yeah, I mean scale delete. A thinner version of the mini would feel more comfortable.

[Evil D]

Man I wish this knife never came with G10. I have grown to love the brown though and I really love the rough texture but the asymmetrical thickness makes my OCD cringe. It could at least have a thinner scale so the thickness matches the lock side. Otherwise besides maybe coming in FFG this knife is just about perfect for me. I wouldn't cut mine down but it would make a great smaller knife. One thing I'm curious of is, will a smaller/lighter blade flip as easily? Blade mass has a big impact on flipping action.

[Cujobob]

I have a mini Southard, one I very much love the appearance of (Timascus bolster, blue LSCF handle scale). It's a beautiful piece but because of the smaller blade, the handle feels too bulky for certain grips. The flipping action is...decent, though it doesn't flip as hard as the full size, for certain. With that being said, I wasn't a big fan of the original design. I don't mind hollow grinds on wider blades, but it didn't work for me on the Southard's narrow blade.

[DigDug72]

Thanks Cujo and Evil, you're both giving me hella food for thought regarding this project. I'm thinking about using the original g10 scale, but givin it the 'Evil-D Kiwi4' treatment by rounding em off, thinning, and polishing - not a fan of thick handles generally, except for a bushcraft blade. Glad to hear the flipping action isn't entirely compromised in this typa mod, figured it could be a problem.

[DigDug72]

Any suggestions about bulk metal removal? I was originally planning on using a dremel w/ reinforced cutting wheel to ruffly chop away parts of the blade, liner, and scales, then move to a barrel sanding bit, then hand sanding. Would this be better or worse than using a belt sander for the bulk of material removal?

[Evil D]

Any suggestions about bulk metal removal? I was originally planning on using a dremel w/ reinforced cutting wheel to ruffly chop away parts of the blade, liner, and scales, then move to a barrel sanding bit, then hand sanding. Would this be better or worse than using a belt sander for the bulk of material removal?

If I had a belt sander I'd do it that way. It may be a slow process, but slow is also controlled and safe.

As for contouring the scale, DONT. I tried that prior to the Kiwi, and was unaware that there's a little dimple in the scale up by the pivot that holds the stop pin in place...I sanded too much and wore through this dimple. I suppose if you're careful you could just not contour that area as much but it might look funny.

It was on its way to being really amazing, then I noticed some light poking through..



That was a real let down.

[DigDug72]

Evil, I had the same thing happen when contouring my Dice- i ended up just plowing all the way through the scale to expose the head of the stop pin, epoxying it in, and now I think of it as a little stylish embellishment. i freaked out bad at first. here's a lousy closeup flick:

[Evil D]

Huh. So you epoxied it to the scale or into the liner?

[DigDug72]

Epoxied it to the scale.

[JAfromMN]

Keep it cool.