Rorschach’s House O’ Spyders

I am currently on a long roadtrip in the Midwest, as I am relocating from sunny SoCal back to the heartland. The weather has been very cold, with lots of snow and ice. For this trip I decided to make the Military my EDC, and that was a good choice. The large opening hole has made gloved operation easy and quick. (I also took along my SS Kiwi for public use.)

As for my moving: well, it will be nice to get back to a place which is a little less knife-phobic, and ownership/carry of balisongs is not illegal. I was interviewing for one job, my potential boss wanted to show me a new product that had just arrived. Imagine my surprise when he pulled out his own knife clipped to his pocket to cut open the wrappings. I folded my ss kiwi and put it back. I think it was one of the newer Bucks, but I can swing him over to Spyderco later.

I know a promised a review of my second Dodo (MANY thanks to Spyderco and John F Jensen!!) but alas it is back in Cali and I wont get to shoot many photos as my lightbox is packed up for moving. Briefly, the newer Dodo seems smoother (less gritty) than my old one, and the ball-lock works flawlessly. I still haven’t flipped the clip, but I am keeping this one in reserve as my older Dodo is still in good shape (except that I have worn down the point some from an unfortunate contact with concrete.)

Thanks for stopping by and blogging will be light until all this moving stuff is taken care of and I settle down in my new House O Spyders. 

I don’t consider myself to be expecially handy or gifted with tool/shop skills. But I do have a cut-rate dremel tool and I really wanted to try and mirror polish a clip from one of my Spydercos. This is the result of my effort (probably about an hour’s work, my first time.)

The original clip looked like this. (I don’t really like the chipped black look)

The steps I took:

1. wire brush to remove black coating. It is not paint, it’s a 2 layer coat.
2. felt wheel with polishing compound (the stuff that came with the dremel) until shiny.
3. 1500 grit paper and felt wheel for final polish

Lessons learned (mostly the hard way):
+ don’t use coarse sandpaper or a sanding wheel. The scratches are next to impossible to get out.
+ wear eye protection and work outside/garage, the wire brush WILL throw off bristles (I almost learned this one the hard way)
+ heat from the polishing wheel will dull the finish, so move quickly and keep the work moving to avoid this effect
+ If you’re a perfectionist, it may not be your calling. I am somewhat satisfied with my result, but I could keep messing with the finish for hours trying to get it perfect. At some point you just call it good enough and move on.