Here's a pair of already profiled Jugadores ready to go to Paul Bos for heat treating... Made from 154, these will feature a hollow grind and textured CF when they are done. (Pictures 1 and 2)

As they came back from Bos. Now heat treated to RC60. (Picture 3)

I have blasted off the scale on one of them. (Picture 4)

I took the knife through various grits on the grinder (flat grinding at 50,120, 220, 400) I blasted inbetween each grit change (don't know if that actually does anything, but it makes me feel better, like somehow I'm blasting scratches....) It is now at 400, very smooth all over and ready for the bevels. Here is is all blasted up and smoothed over. (Pictures 5 and 6)

I put blue dykem (to mark the blade) and measure edge edge. Right now, it's .138", so I divided that in half and etched a line down the middle with my height gauge. I'll use this to make sure the bevels are even and the edge goes right down the center... I also marked the spine. I used two lines (flipped the knife over) in case something was off. Gives me a good referrence point to where the center really is. (Pictures 7, 8 and 9)

I had to keep grinding away... I cut the bevels and they went fine. Here's a shot of them after they were cut... (Pictures 10 and 11)

Then, I blasted it... (Picture 12)

But then, the edge wasn't thin enough - so, I kept grinding... I finally got it to where I liked it, but noticed that now the edge area seemed warped and flimsy (I could move it with my hands...) I hollowed it out to much!

So, I had to grind away that area to get to thicker material. This is what I'm left with.... Maybe I should just stick with flat grinding for this one. This is what I'm now left with. (Pictures 13 and 14)

I feel like I just went around in a big circle and came up empty! Now my back hurts, I used up a ton of belts, I'm tired and I ate all my oreos...

However, out of this disaster emerged one of my best knives to date. I reprofiled that camp knife as best I could, sanded it, blasted it and then experimented with KG Gunkote. The first experiment was piss poor. The second one worked much better. I then added carbon fiber handles, mosaic pins and a SS thong hole pin. I then went out and bought another dremel (my last one burned out cutting s30v bars with a cut off wheel... doh!) I never worked with CF before. I can honestly say (and, most of you probably already know this - I'm just behind the times) - this is one tough material! I am amazed at how hard it is. I whacked my head with the butt end of the knife (because - I'm an idiot like that... lol) - it's like a brick.

So, here is a sneak peak. It's far from finished. There is no edge on this knife yet. In fact, it's still setting. (Pictures 15 and 16)

I had to put a little more gunkote on the handle part of the steel after flushing in the CF. I also played around with the texture of the CF (trying to sculpture it) I itch like a mofo... Good thing I had my respirator on (when I looked at myself in the mirror, it looked like I had an army design painted on my face from the CF dust going around my respirator and goggles)

I still need to buff out the handles, grind on my edge, hone it down and get that razor ripping sharpness.

So, I went at the other profile again. No hollow grinding. Just straight out flat grinding. I've never had a flat grind come out with bevels that make it look like a hollow grind. Not sure what I did - but, it came out pretty nice (the grind lines aren't that even - but, I wasn't trying to form grind lines... It just sort of happened)

Here's the "El Jugador" camper. It's been blasted with A/O 80 grit. (Pictures 17 and 18)

After I took these pics, it went right into the tumbler for a stone washing.

Well, exactly 1 hour after I put the knife in the tumbler - I blew a fuse. I reset it and blew it again (and, again and again) So, I gave up -figuring that was a sign that it was done (and, a sign to finally hire an electrician to come by and make sure all my wiring is done correctly throughout the house and shop)

So, this one is all stone washed and ready to be fitted with textured black micarta handles. (Pictures 19, 20 and 21)

While I was waiting for the stone-washing to finish, I took out the dremel and went at it, sculpturing some lines. Tomorrow I'll cut the micarta down to fit the knife and then do more sculpting. When it's all handled up - it will go back into the tumbler one more time and then I'll buff the handles and sharpen.

It's kind of hard to tell the difference from being blasted above, and stone washed here - but, it's obvious in person. Looks like a stone and feels like butter.

Here is how I epoxy things together (whether it's handles to the knife, or in this case - red liner material to the black textured micarta) I try to keep it at a constant 70 degree heat over night, clamped down - so the epoxy cures well. I tried something different this time also... I put little dimples from 1/4" drill into the micarta and even the liner material. I also scratched it up really good on the grinder so the epoxy has something to hold onto. Too many times I've clamped it up, let it cure overnight and then when I take it off, the handle just pulls right off the liner material...) But, that was also when I did it in the shop, where it was 50 degrees or less overnight -much less actually. (Pictures 22 and 23)

After I unclamped the handles, did some more texturing, sanded it out nicely on the grinder, blasted it again and it's back in the tumble for an hour.

Here's a pic after I finished shaping the handles - they aren't buffed yet and it's not stone washed - just rough cut. (Picture 24)