Since I am writing this after some have seen the pictures, thank you for kind comments. And for the record, I think the original tanto blade is a wonderful design, and will pick up another Warn to leave as-is (except I will again dye the backspacer-- hate the red). I love the strong linear blade design, the thick steel, and the LONG straight cutting edge. However I did not find it as useful as the mild recurve built into both my 14255 PE and my 14250-200 PE tantos, both of which I carry-- hence the change. At first I was going to make a sheepsfoot, which I find exceedingly useful for gen'l utility work, but Trailboss suggested I consider a droppoint-- 10 seconds of thought, and I was sold-- thanks bud!

A tanto has 2 grinds on 2 separate intersecting planes. If you simply started sanding it flat, you would evolve 3 different planes that would eventually merge into one-- but you'd have 3 distinct, straight, cutting edges. I had to wrap my head around the math to figure out how to simultaneously arrive at both a single flat plane and a desired sweep radius. Once I figured that out I started, pretty sure it would evolve into what you see. Was out of 220 so decided to start w/ 320, to get a feel-- the D2 cut so quickly I just kept going, and in 2 concentrated sessions totalling 2.5/3 hours, I had the blade you see. I could have stopped there, reprofiled the spine, edged it and been done, but decided to take it further.

I flatsanded to 1500, then flatsanded on glass (perfect plane) to 3000-- that took another maybe 3/4 hours. Then the polishing, w/ Flitz-- an hour or 2 handrubbing and I could see progress, but w/ an infinity stretching in front of me, so thought why not flatFlitz? I polished as if flatsanding, and in 5 or 10 minutes did what would have taken an hour, but at a cost. I could see a myriad of pinprick bright spots on the D2, everywhere. I figured it had to be craters I was polishing, as a result of me pulling out the huge carbides, but didn't know if this was possible. Did a little research-- sure enuf, it's called "plucking" the carbides-- you literally tear them out of the matrix. So I backed off on pressure, and plodded along-- trouble is, w/ D2 you're screwed either way-- if you don't pluck them you sand over them, meaning they evolve into microscopic mountaintops as the softer matrix surrounding them erodes away at a faster pace. So the end result either way is a topo map of Wyoming, at a fine-detail level. But still- it's pretty. I would love to polish out some M390-- CPM steels are, by definition, extremely fine-grained.

Reprofiled the spine over a couple sessions-- best to take my time there, so the results of one session can sink in-- often that changes my perspective on the remaining work. Dyed the backspacer w/ navy Rit, thinking I'd maybe get a dark purple. There is a hint of purple in the result, but it's pretty dark. The edge of course had to be completely reprofiled-- what little remained of the original edge on the rear was "flitzed" into a butter knife, and where I had worked the front was raw. I freehanded an edge, of course touching my polished blade faces in the process-- more Flitzing. You have to be so careful-- washed my hands raw during this whole process, just to keep an errant bit of grit off the blade-- still, it happens.

You don't see it, but I spent a couple hours further skeletonizing the liners, under the scales. Not so much for weight reduction, as rebalance-- I had removed a lot of steel from the blade. Got the weight down to 4.9 oz, balances perfectly, for me. Ditched the assist-- I carried it w/ the assist for a couple weeks and thought it was neat, but extraneous. Saved some weight there, also gave the top cleaner lines. The axis studs are almost recessed on this knife, making them difficult to grasp w/ bare fingers, impossible w/ gloves-- I took a rattail and carefully bevelled off some G10 in front of the hole, and a bit of bevelling along the bottom. Opening on the underside of the scales remains original size, didn't go that deep. It may not look like much in the photos, but believe me, it make the studs MUCH easier to grab, and I would highly recommend it (finished w/ a little 320 dry wrapped around the rattail). Considered jimping the top (the handle of this knife, to me, has some shortcomings for hard use-- altho it looks fantastic) but decided it wouldn't help-- the liners are thinner stock than my other 3.5" knives (same as on my 14210) so between that and the thick G10, it wouldn't make a difference. Slapped on a black chrome split arrow-- voila!









Sweeps as a rule on BMs are way too exaggerated, for my taste. So by doing this conversion I was able to design in a sweep more to my liking, as well as a much-lower, more-aggressive tip. Tip strength as profiled, BTW, on par w/ the 520. I love the 520, but frankly it's the handle and how it works w/ the blade that is the strongest feature there, for me. Both knives freehanded at about 15 degrees, but you see a difference-- on the 520 I dragged the 600 high on purpose, just cuz I like the look. Both secondarys are little more than a few passes on 3000 followed by a handheld ceramic, both are razors. Surprisingly, I find the D2 to be quite easy to work. I also find it to be at least as easy as 154CM to sharpen, w/ an added bonus of less burr issues. So all in all-- I LOVE D2!!

Warn blade was 3.60" original. I shortened it by almost a tenth inch, to get the tip down where I wanted it. But that still leaves the blade an eighth-inch longer than my 520, which is 3.40". Now if I could only have this blade, on a 520 (or in my case, a 522) handle. Hmmmmm..... I think I see a 523 in my future....

Comparison shots of the droppoint Warn to a streamlined (on the spine only) 520 blade:





--Rick

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

They said you were good Rick - this only helps that...beautiful work!

Sending PM with questions.

Great work, you have some skills...thanks for sharing!

nice work

Cool! The shape reminds me of the 470.

Very nice work.

Outstanding. Love the new blade shape as well as the mirror polish.

congrats for your great job !

Very well done.
I'm impressed