When my daughter graduated from boot camp, I bought a new Ka-Bar and had her name laser-engraved on it. This was done for me as a favor by engineers in my company. I donated my Ka-Bar so they could test the process before running the final part on my daughter's knife.

I'm sending the blade, hand guard and pommel out to have them bead blasted, then parkerized. I might have it Cera-Koted at some point in the future.



Tony.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: benny6,

This has been on the backburner for a while. I finally got around to having it bead blasted and re-parked.





I'm on the fence as to whether or not I should have it cerakoted or not. It looks nice, but I would like it to be my field knife again. Cerakote would give it way more protection than just parkerizing. The original leather handle was hit by a laser so I ordered a rebuild kit from Ka-Bar a while ago. Now I just have to figure out how to stack it all and contour the handle, then stain it and add the grooves.

I bought this in the early 90's and it's been on lots of camping and hunting trips. Maybe I should just retire it to being a brisket carving knife.

Tony.

If you have it Cerakoted it will need to be bead blasted again, making that Park job unneeded. I would just rebuild as is.

There's a lot of life left in that blade. If you like it and it has spent that much time with you, and you already have the rebuild kit, I think the easy answer is "just put it back together, sharpen it, and keep it oiled." You know better than I that parkerizing just gives the surface a better ability to hold oil. It's a carbon steel knife - even if you cerakote it, you'll have to keep the edge oiled to keep it from rusting.

I needed a little distraction today, so I numbered all the old handle sections and traced the new leather pieces so I can pre-sand the leather pieces before stacking them. Once I stack them, they'll have the rough contour and all I should have to do is sand them all to form.















I'm going to paint the tang with a few coats of rustoleum, then epoxy the stack onto the tang.I'll compress the leather and pin the pommel in place while it all cures.

I'll need to find a good leather stain and sealant now.

Tony.

Fiebings made an oil stain in many different colors. I think they now have "Pro" stain possibly due to cancer, etc. etc. Call Shoe Supply and talk to Joe. Others make leather conditioning; ask him about that. Of course there are other oil stain companies such as Angelus. Check around.

I painted the tang with rust-o-leum before assembling the handle to add some corrosion prevention.



I used the Barge rubber/leather cement and got it all stacked. I mounted and pinned the pommel.





I'll let the glue cure and start sanding the leather, then stain with Fiebling's mohogany die and finish with Resolene.

I can't wait to finish my edge with my Edge Pro sharpener!

Tony.

Couldn't leave it alone. I hit it on the belt sander and did an initial contouring of the leather...











Now it's on to hand-sanding, grooving, staining and finishing.

Tony.

Sweet!

I finished contouring the handle. I sanded it with 600 grit sandpaper and cleaned the dust off with denatured alcohol. I haven't even stained it yet.





The black streaks are from the 600 grit sandpaper. It left a black residue as soon as I hit it with a fresh sheet. I'm trying to get the black stains out but maybe staining it with leather stain will cover over it.

Tony.

I decided to stain it and see how it would look. I really like how it came out and I'm debating not even cutting the grooves and just calling it done. All I really need to do now is seal it.







Tony.

Great job there Tony!

Finger grooves! The grip is much improved! While I liked the look of the smooth leather, the grip wasn't so good. It has a much more solid grip in the hand now.

A couple of files and a sharpie, followed by another sanding and staining, and voila!



Next step: sealing and sharpening...

Tony.

Final update.



I put three coats of Resolene sealer on the leather, then spent about 2 hours removing three decades of bad sharpening to create a proper edge. I went with about 25˚ on the edge. It's not shaving sharp, but it cuts paper and grabs a fingernail just fine. Worked it with 220, 400, 600 and 1,000 grit stones until I had a good edge and a mirror finish on the blade.

I finished off with a wipe-down of CLP on all the park'd areas.





This project is completed! Thanks for the comments and helpful suggestions!

Tony.

Nice job!
Looks better than new.


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