Custom PM2 Scales
Project: April 2022
Writeup: May 2022
Another day, another thing made from brass...
The Spyderco Para Military 2 may well be their most iconic design. I always thought it seemed elegant, and less obnoxiously scary and "tactical" looking than some of their other stuff (despite the name...). So when I saw the sought-after CPM Cru-Wear version* actually in stock, I knew I had to pick it up!
*Cru-Wear is an insane powder-metallurgy steel, with sprinkings of all the spiciest additives you love to see in a sharp pointy thing. Knife Steel Nerds is an interesting resource for all the info on the crazy world of steels, metallurgy and performance.
I love the design and the performance, but the unfortunate downside of this version is the sand-coloured micarta scales. I've got nothing against micarta usually but for whatever reason, these ones just happened to turn completely dirty and gross after only a little light use. The micarta is very matte, so seemed to attract grey and oily fingerprints easily. I had hoped it would age in and look amazing like an old cowboy's dusty Levis or whatever. But alas, it just looked like I had a dirty knife.
Fortunately, the design is great and the whole thing is easy to take apart and remove the scales. I tried cleaning them: no bueno. So then I tried dyeing them bright orange. Which worked but then it was just dirty orange instead!
For the normal Para 2, there are a whole load of aftermarket scales available (see Flytanium etc.). But this Cru-Wear version uses "full" liners**, so the off-the-shelf replacements don't fit. So naturally my next thought was to completely engineer a new set of scales out of the objectively best material ever invented: brass.
**For additional strength with the micarta apparently. Source
Scale blank with stock liner. See also my stock scales dyed orange.
The full liners actually make custom scales much easier to manufacture though! Since you just make your scale follow the outline of each liner: no need to cut a pocket in your material to accommodate the smaller inset liners. So all I had to do was cut the shapes out and add the other features with enough precision to fit with the threads etc. on the liners.
Accurate-ish
I'd be interested to know the "proper way" to transfer the position of a hole on a thin piece of material onto another (I know about transfer punches, but I think the liner is too thin to use them here?). I ended up just very carefully scribing the holes onto the brass and bisecting them with a pair of calipers. It ended up being accurate enough, but didn't feel particularly precise. I feel like there must just be some kind of tool or geometric technique for doing it!
Test fit!
This was me making sure I could actually make everything line up before I spend days cutting the shape out. I was pleased! The production scales actually have holes for all four possible orientations of the pocket clip. I just chose the one position I tend to prefer for cleanliness. Countersinks aren't deep enough here. I crept up on them.
Arguably I should have left them like this...
Shaping also went well. Just lots of filing and sanding. Honestly I was expecting to have to do a second set, but everything fit well enough for me!
Torn. (Also, why did that one countersink go hexagonal?? All the others are fine....)
Then I had a brain aneurysm and thought I should risk days of work and add some texture for aesthetics and handling. I saw the nice cutouts on the liners and thought it would be easy to engrave some kind of texture! Tried a couple of test pieces and settled on this effect using a big rounded punch. I like how it turned out, but I think if I did it again I'd just do a more aggressive texture all over rather than trying to follow the lines. The above shot is after a few days in the good-old tumbler. Never fails.
Went together nicely
The hardest bit to do was the slight pocket for the compression lock on the left-hand scale. There's ~1.25mm relief in a small section to allow the springy bit of the lock to sit in when the blade is closed. You can just about see it at the top of the above shot. Ideally you'd just mill it out, but I just did it slowly with some Dremel burrs and files. Accuracy isn't critical, and you can only see the very top of it when it's assembled.
Bring me patina
Overall I think it looks amazing. It's now just a hair over 200g so almost double the stock version, but I like it! I even drilled some material out of the inside of the scales to save some weight, but it only took off about 15g. The tumbling gave it all a very pleasing and organic finish, and the brass makes the lockup feel even crisper and more positive. I'm looking forwards to seeing how it looks after a few years of having my moist and acidic loving hands all over it for a year or two.