Buck 663 Experiment

Project: March 2024

Writeup: March 2024

A study in blue.

The Model 663 - "Alpha Guide" is a relatively new design from Buck which I decided to shamelessly copy for a quick weekend project. I expect the International Knife Police™ will be breaking down my door any minute now for flagrant intellectual property theft. But in my defense, they want £240 for their version!! It's not a terrible spec, just seems pricey to me. Maybe it's more reasonable in dollars.

"You wouldn't download a knife..."

My version removes the (ugly and questionably useful) jimping in favour of a more refined "MKM-style" crowned spine and handle. I was actually amazed at my efficiency when I managed to do the designs, cut the blade profile, drill the scale holes and lightening holes, file the lanyard hole, round over the spine etc. and cut the bevels all in one day! Still no belt grinder, so the good old file on a stick method again here. I'm getting quicker at setting everything up.

Spa day

Used some fire brick sealant to attempt a differential hardening (hard edge, soft spine for durability). See The Hot Log warming up in the background here. The clay definitely worked! The edge was over 60HRC (very approximately) according to my test files while the spine was nice and soft. It also produced a very distinct pattern when etching the blade in ferric chloride later, but it wasn't as visible as I've had with 1095 in the past.

Post heat-treatment

I also specifically picked this design with some nice simple scales was so that I could play with this bit of Kirinite I impulse-purchased a while back. I thought the scale contours would show off the material nicely. I haven't used a lot of plastics really, so was just testing it out. It was actually very pleasant to work with: cuts and sands easily. Makes a big old mess though and I probably sucked in about 10KG of microplastics. Oh well.

Shiny!

It's hard to photograph, but the little finger-divots at the front of the scales came out really well. I ground them out with a rounded carbide burr on a dremel. Surprisingly leaves a very smooth finish on the acrylic which then sands out nicely.

I don't really know the proper process to polish this stuff up. Most places seem to use a very fast buffing wheel, which I don't have. But wet sanding with some very fine silicon carbide paper seemed to work well, with a final hand polish with some plastic polish to make it shine. Grip is ok, it's not mirror-slick. But I don't think this stuff is intended to be the whole handle really... Looks nice though!

No epoxy under these scales, they're fully removable with some M4 bolts and some custom sleeve nuts which align everything. I've found it to be a nice reliable system, and greatly prefer it over the pressure of just gluing everything together. Much better for future maintenance too.

The blade was hand sanded to 800 grit, acid etched in ferric chloride and then lightly tumbled in some ceramic media. I find this leaves a very pleasing matte finish which is much more practical than a mirror polish. I also have a theory that the etched surface is better at retaining a thin layer of oil which will help with corrosion resistance in the long-term. Would be interesting to test one day.

Taco time

The scales and sheath were completed in the second weekend. Not bad four four relaxing days I think!

This is my first "taco" style kydex sheath. It's ok. I think I could have had the tip slightly closer to the top edge of the sheath, which would make the end nicer. But the retention is excellent, and the thumb ramp is very satisfying, having been moulded directly to my personal thumb.

Put a very pretty edge on it with my TSProf (around 20° per side), and it's an absolute laser beam. More thorough edge-retention testing needed, but there's now no longer any cardboard left in my place and it's still going strong!

Ooh, a different background for some reason...