I'm too impatient to wait until next year to get something different than black scales for my Rift, so I decided to paint them. I had pretty good success painting my (former) M4 AFCK and mini-Grip scales, so I figured I'd try it with the Rift.

The difference is that I didn't use my acrylic urethane paint. Since this is supposed to be my workhorse/camping knife, I wanted something with more grip, so I used some Rustoleum deep forest green Multicolor Textured paint to get a rougher grip.




It is definitely rougher texture! The downfall to this paint, however, is that the texture makes it go on pretty darn thick, so it's going to take quite a while to fully cure. Not only that, but it fills in the scallops somewhat. The channel for the Axis lock buttons definitely needs to be kept clear of the paint (or cleaned out later).

I like the color, however, I'm not sold on having the scales one solid color. I'm going to experiment with partially painted scales and get some more pics up. I'll remove the paint from the center on one scale and from the top and bottom (the scallped parts) of the other to see which will provide a better grip but still give a nice 2-tone look.

They also have a brown and a tan in the same kind of paint. I'm curious how green/brown or green/tan scales would look...

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

I dig it!

I like where your head is at.

Actually on the knife:

I'll take one in pink, thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by Rodent:
I'll take one in pink, thanks.

Well, umm... you send me the knife, and I'll see what I can do. I don't think I've seen flat pink spray paint. If you don't mind a metallic look to it, I have some metallic red and pearl white acrylic urethane (quite durable, I think) and I could easily whip up a metallic/pearl pink and airbrush it on. It won't be textured, though. I'm not sure how well the pink would cover the black. Depending on what you want, it could end up pink/black, or all pink if I prime it first.

Wow. Speechless..

looks great nice work

quote:

Originally posted by Patrick:
Wow. Speechless..

So, is that a diplomatic way of saying "wow, that is the most gaudy, fugliest thing I've ever seen?"

The scales have since been traded. Right after I painted them, gbarber contacted me about trading them. Go figure. Why didn't I wait another week? Fortunately, some mineral spirits and a nylon brush had them cleaned up in no time and looking as good as new. The 2-tone scales will get the Rit treatment. Red/black G10, here I come!

Anyone know if there are special instructions for dying G10?

I like it a lot! This finish has a denim look to it. Maybe for the next project you can go with a classic denim color too?

A new chapter in Urban Knife Carry - DenimCamo handle scales.