I just cannot help myself...

I found another Buck 110 (this one has finger grooves).  The handle scales were all laser etched up (probably why I got a good deal on it), but I saw that this one was made in 2000, which is the same year as that which my son was born.  I purchased this knife with the intent of replacing the scales.  All of Andy's projects kind of gave me that kick in the butt to try something like this.  Of course I cannot try something simple for my first attempt...   Noooo...  (a whole lot of self derision there)

So.  I am going to try to replace the scales with something I personally have never seen.  Stone (petoskey - state gemstone of Michigan).  Shoot;  while I have this thing all taken apart, I might as well try my hand at some file work, right?  I might not put the filework on the spine of the blade, but the locking bar is all but begging for some!

So...  here is the 'before' pics of the 110 with finger grooves.

It will probably take a bit of time to do this since almost everything is new to me and I try to plan things out ahead of time very carefully.  I will keep this updated though.  Thanks!

Boy, you had better keep this updated. That looks like a fantastic project...especially with the petoskey stone! Who knows - we may be watching the next Micahel Prater or David Yellowhorse develop his skills right here at iKC. How cool is that. 

Looking forward to seeing your work in progress - count on me to dole out the encouagement!!

How are you sourcing your stone? Pre-cut with the finger grooves then you shape and polish? Or raw stone and you work it all?

Good Morning Lars,

As you know I was born and raised in Michigan.  I have done a bit of lapidary work growing up.  Not as much as my parents, who in turn did not do as much as my grandparents.   None of the work that I saw any of them do was what I would call very challenging.  Of course they did the obligatory pendants, bolo ties, and belt buckles... but nothing that seemed to stretch any boundaries.

I have a fair number of raw rocks that I collected growing up.  Many are petoskey stones.  One thing I noticed that the ones that are found recently are tiny little buggers that I would not have messed with as a kid.  I have one rock that I already threw onto the small belt sander to see if my crazy idea was feasible.  Everything is relative, but as stones go, petoskey is soft enough to be able to be worked without too much trouble,  So I am planning on cutting slabs from one of the rocks I have and the making the scales for the knife form those.  I already have measure how thick of slabs I need for this knife..  Hopefully, I can cut the slabs soon.