Customized Lime/Anti Scratch Boker Plus Epicenter

I recently found a couple of knives from before my move in my toolbox, and decided to do a little work on them.  These were knives that had some quality issues I could not correct on my own before due to a general lack of knowledge, but being now much more experienced in knife making, I could sort out the issues readily.

The Boker Plus Epicenter designed by Todd Rexford is known for having some initial quality concerns.  I don't personally know if more recent production knives have sorted out these problems, but the samples I was sent when I initially recieved the knives had problematic scale alignment, some issues with the lockup and a few scratches in the satin finish.  Besides that, and more problematically, they also both had extremely weak detents.

I fixed these issues by adding a handmade G10 scale, which also lightened the knife considerably, redrilling the detent hole in the blade to help with the weak retension and adding some titanium putty to the blade tang, just enough to clear up the lockup issue and then reground the lockbar face to be a little less shallow.  I used this titanium putty trick a lot in my past life as a roboticist in repairing cracked or damaged parts.  When dry, Ti putty is just like having solid welded titanium, and wears much in the same way.  I then had the blade tang and lockbar carbidized to help the materials wear a bit better, so the knife is rock solid now.

Additionally I textured the entire frame in my anti-scratch finish and anodized the innards blue.  This is a polished Ti finish thats totally impervious to scratching and scuffing, I think it also feels great in the hand and provides a little more grip than the standard media blast.

Experimentation with Regrinding

Regrinding, that is the practice of modifying existing factory or maker grinds into a more subtable cutting geometry for a given task, is more popular now than ever before.  Some excellent custom knife makers like Tom Krein and Brad Southard have made a name for themselves in offering this service, transforming rather lackluster grinds into some wicked edges.  This past week I started experimenting with regrinding myself, and while it's a service I will not be offering due to extreme liability, I was very happy with the results.

The donor knife in this case was a old Benchmade 755 MPR I found while cleaning out my tool-bin.  Some parts for the knife had been lost in my recent move, but Benchmade was kind enough to send out the replacements for the missing hardware.  My biggest issue with my old MPR was the flat grinding geometry wasn't optimal for such a small knife, and it wasn't slicing well as a utility cutter.  I reground the knife to a deep hollow grind, and the result completely transformed this piece.  I also did some other custom work on the 755 while I had it apart, so it now sports a maroon frame and anti-scratch Ti frame in addition to the hollow ground blade.  Still have to make the pocket clip, but so far I'm a very happy camper.

A few Service Changes, Updates from Will Moon Custom Knives

Hey all,

I wanted to announce a few changes in service for Will Moon Custom Knives.  On the back of a pretty hectic father's day season, I've had a record level of interest and enthusiasm for my custom knives, which is awesome.  In an effort to meet demand and help speed up delivery of custom orders and other products, I've enlisted the help of my father to help me in the shop.  My father and I both have a background in metal work, having both been into the Combat Robotics circuit for well over ten years, and I'm really greatful to have a little help in the shop.  With risk of sounding a little like a Sith Lord, together I think we're going to really be able to speed up delivery of orders and continue to increase our quality in an effort to produce the best knife we possibly can.

Some folks have been asking recently about my Framelocks, and I'm happy to say the build is now currently underway.  This is exciting news, I never thought when I first started making knives three and a half years ago that I'd have such a killer design for a Framelock, but I'm really happy with how these are looking.  The initial run will yield around 30 knives, since we had to use more material than we initialy thought for the billets.  The frames on these knives are monolithic, meaning they are milled out of one piece of titanium to use fewer parts and be stronger.  Each one will be unique, however due to popularity of these knives they will be sold on a first come, first serve basis.

Policy-wise, I have had to make a few changes regarding my warranty and return policies.  My return policy has always been extremely generous, I never want to make a customer pay for a knife they don't like, but on the back of recent experience I'm updating my written policy for returns on my website to include two important changes: firstly that custom order sales are final, and secondly that I offer a 3 day inspection period for a full refund, after that I charge a 15% restocking fee up to seven days after purchase.  After 7 days there are no refunds.  Likewise I'm also updating my warranty information.  All of my knives will now come with a specific warranty and information card which will show what's covered and what isn't, but as a general rule of thumb I strive to have the best warranty in the business.  Essentially, if it breaks I'll fix it, free of charge.  It's also transferable, so if you get one of my knives on the secondary market, you're covered.  If you have any questions about my policies, feel free to ask, I won't bite I promise!

With that, I wish you all a very happy June, to all my customers, friends, thank you so much for the business and company, I truely appreciate it.

 -Will