Talk me into/out of modding my Police (too late it's a done deal)

[Evil D]

Fiddling around with my Police today. Someone talk me into/out of modding the handle like this.





The idea is to get rid of the finger groove points and to blend in the "guard" with the ricasso. I would also recreate the bevel around the edge like it has from the factory. It wouldn't be quite as thin as it looks at the bottom just behind the clip screws, I just colored in more than I needed to.


I got the idea from looking at the Civilian. The end of the handle isn't completely flush with the ricasso but it's practically a choil of sorts.




This might be a little more clear




I may even leave the rear point on the handle if opening up the front gives me enough space for a full grip, then it'll act as a mild pommel.

It's my day off and something is getting ground on today. My Dremel is antsy

[skeeg11]

That particular version of the Police is so iconic. Still, after seeing what you've done with your serrated sheepfoot Caribbean, I'm pretty impressed with your work.

[Manixguy@1994]

Dave if anyone can do this it’s you . It looks promising I would go for it if I was as talented . Dan

[PStone]

The blade tang is already partially exposed when closed, but somewhat protected by that very first point. If you grind that down, will it expose the tang too much when closed? I’ve seen your work on other models and don’t doubt your skills. That’s just the only thing I think that can cause issue.

[ChrisinHove]

Your previous efforts have always impressed, so I have faith in both your judgement and ability!

[cjk]

I am eager to see what you do. Please be particularly careful with this one since you can't take the blade out.

[Evil D]

The blade tang is already partially exposed when closed, but somewhat protected by that very first point. If you grind that down, will it expose the tang too much when closed? I’ve seen your work on other models and don’t doubt your skills. That’s just the only thing I think that can cause issue.

It'll definitely be more exposed, I guess the question is how much is acceptable and how much does it really matter? I think it would suck more for tip down carry since your hand would definitely drag on the tang more when putting your hand into your pocket.





What I'm most unsure about is doing all that grinding at the pivot on a pinned knife. It seems just about impossible to keep all the grinding dust out of the pivot, and it won't be easy to clean out. I might end up with a gritty pivot that I can't fix. This would be significantly easier on a G10 model.

[JSumm]

Maybe you could pack in some vasoline inside the liners around the pivot to catch the shavings and dust. Not sure if it would make cleaning easier, but may keep it out of the pivot.

[PStone]

It'll definitely be more exposed, I guess the question is how much is acceptable and how much does it really matter? I think it would suck more for tip down carry since your hand would definitely drag on the tang more when putting your hand into your pocket.

[img]

What I'm most unsure about is doing all that grinding at the pivot on a pinned knife. It seems just about impossible to keep all the grinding dust out of the pivot, and it won't be easy to clean out. I might end up with a gritty pivot that I can't fix. This would be significantly easier on a G10 model.

As long as it’s acceptable to you is all that matters. And yeah, with tip up carry it would be almost unnoticeable I bet.

I also like JSumm’s Vaseline suggestion. And maybe a magnet nearby to help divert the dust away from the pivot too.

[JRinFL]

Non-collectible Police model? Go for it!

[Evil D]

Non-collectible Police model? Go for it!

Well yes and no, apparently these won't be made in full SE anymore, only combo edge. I don't think they're rare just yet though.

[Ranger_Ike]

If you are going to go through with it, I request you take lots of photos and document the entire process (tools used, mistakes made, lessons learned, obstacles overcome…). I love reading these kinds of posts.

[Bill1170]

You’ll never know until you do it, so I’m talking you into it.

[The Deacon]

Guess my three reservations would be:
The difficulty of keeping metal chips out of the pivot.
The difficulty of grinding/cutting away that portion of the handle without marring the blade.
The question of whether the greater exposure of the front end of the locking notch when the knife is closed might prove uncomfortable in your pocket.

[Evil D]

Man I don't even know where to begin, been working on this for 6 hours. I'll try to remember what I was thinking of showing when I took each pic


I started off on the mini bench grinder to remove steel faster. Actually I tried starting with the Dremel but it was clear it would take an eternity and probably eat through every sandpaper barrel I have.




After about 10 seconds of grinding, the mistake of packing the knife with Vaseline became quite clear as it quickly turned to liquid and started running everywhere. Should have saw this coming. It almost made it worse than not packing it because it just carried the metal dust right into the pivot. Oh well. Maybe next time I'll use a high temp axle grease.



Yeah...that black inside the clip screw holes isn't a shadow...it's dust filled liquid Vaseline.




Anyway, I ground it down as close as I was comfortable getting close to the tang, then the rest gets finished with the Dremel.




Hogged off a lot of steel





I failed to take pics of the bevel grinding process but it's not rocket science, just very tedious trying to freehand match the angle that the factory used.





I also failed to get pics of the whole knife at this point....it kinda snowballed at this point, as I quickly decided that the rest of the finger groove points had to go.






And then more bevel blending that I once again failed to take pics of. No exaggeration, I was "done" no less than 5 times. I had a curve of that handle in my head and I just couldn't find it. You ever hear that saying about carving, that the thing you want to carve is inside the piece of wood and you just have to find it? This was like that lol.


Here's the Dremel barrels I use, two different grits I wanna say they were 60 and 180 but I don't remember and they weren't in a package. I did finish everything by hand with sandpaper wrapped around a Sharpmaker rod, and I even toyed around with using my CBN and medium rods but I settled on a 400 grit sandpaper finish. I figured being stainless, it's going to scratch anyway so no reason to try to make it look perfect, just make it look "right".

Oh and here's my stupid self covered in metal dust.



Also nobody mention to my wife that I used the bench grinder in the kitchen or she's going to kick my arse completely off my body

Finished pics in next post.....

[Evil D]

It's hard to take a pic of but the tiny flat edge below the bevel is still there.






I almost got in trouble on the closed side, I totally didn't think that it might expose the tang lock notch.





In hand grips. It changed the ergos quite a bit for me. Now I can grip it anywhere I want and it's comfortable and I can choke right up to the very edge.






Pros and cons....I love how it looks. Ergonomics are better for neutral grip positions. I'm not crazy about the extra tang exposed when closed, but that's purely an aesthetic thing since I carry this knife tip up. I would love for the handle to be taller, but it's really not much shorter than factory, I've just come to prefer tall grips (thanks a lot Shaman). It's a slippery knife that is now even more slippery so there's that. There's less guard to stop your finger from sliding into the edge. If I had it my way I'd just magically redesign the whole thing as a Rock Jumper style handle forward knife and make the grip area taller but this will definitely suffice. I did also manage to get the pivot cleaned out and it's smooth as ever.

[Evil D]

Oh and here's a video with a little Dremel action if you're into that. It might still be optimizing.


https://studio.youtube.com/video/kMyW-Y9I2pI/edit

[cabfrank]

Well, I knew there was no talking you out of it, on a day off and all. I think it is great work, a great result, and I'm sure you glad you did it.

[Evil D]

Well I'm done for today but probably not done. I keep seeing a bit of a kink in the curve here that's bothering me.

[cabfrank]

Time for a beer.