New, Outta the wrap Tri.
Is there another photo thread with them and all the handle variations we've added?

If not, I'll start with a plain-jane beauty right out of the wrappers.
Will be an everyday user/carry.

Yeah, right!

Nice Triathelete

go to
http://www.knifetalkforums.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=85789&page=1

to see some with different handles added

Peter

It's nice!!!
My eight one does not have any handles on it and I plan to leave
it looking like your's plain and functional..That's what I said
about the other seven.Had this one since Blade Show so doing good so far.If I had the ability to do pictures I would post them.

Billy Poyner
RKCC-CM021 RKS#5030
NRA Endowment
MM

Saw the earlier thread too late and couldn't pull this one.
The extra handles look Great.
Maybe this'll be renamed, the "Plain-Jane Original" Tri-Athelete Thread!

Just so ya'll can "please" you Tri-Fix!
Here ya' go...Red Masur Birch
Enjoy, Capt. Chris
PS: Billy: Would look good on your "eighth"...CCS

Wow!
Cap'n..that's a real spoiler if ever I saw one...Very Nice.
Why doesn't Randall offer Handle Materials on the Tri's?
It's a great sized little knife, imho and it would increase the utility for an actual user.

Cap,
That Red Masur Birch is mine already!!!If it is the exact one that
is way down on the bottom of your website.That one has taken up residence at my house.I'm glad you posted it so everyone can
appreciate like I do..

Billy Poyner
RKCC CM021----RKS#5030
NRA
MM

58 months behind? I don't think adding one more thing will help that backlog. Besides: It's a bit more work than it appears to do these correctly. ..."AND"...with the limited amount of these I have done, I can imagine the whines the shop would have to hear about custom handle material, pin selection, etc. I prefer to have them completed and post them to my website or sell them (completed) at a gun or knife show. It eliminates a whole lot of angst for me.
Glad you like 'em.
Capt. Chris
Here's one more...
One of my favorites...Tri in Mammoth and a croc sheath...CCS

And now a TRI Fecta.

Major Tri-Envy!!

Team Mates:

Mammoth Tooth

Another Team Mate:

Fossil Brain Coral

Who did those jewels; I have one that needs a handle.

Pap

Pap:

If you are referring to the last two posts, I bought them from Mr. Bowles. They were done by Mr. Hedrick.

Doug

New one to join the group.

Green Stabilized Fossil Mammoth Tooth:

Beautiful handle Doc.

Different. I need to handle one of my Tri's.

Doug,

You're killin' me with those "Tri's".

I always appreciate the imagination you folks come up with to dress up a "plain Jane".

Doug,
Great set-ups! I have a small (very small) "collection within my collection" of Tri's. They are a great carry/EDC once handled.
Best, Capt. Chris

Thanks Captain.

From a collectors standpoint is it worthwhile having a sheath made for these modified Triatheletes?

Doug

Absolutely!
Capt. Chris

Nice handles

Capt. Chris,

Can the original Tri-Athelete sheeth be wet & stretched with an over-sized wooden block that gets inserted down as the leather stretches?

Best Regards,

Tom Flynn

EDO:

Thank you.

Captain:

Don't know if I can ask this here or if I should move to the ordering thread.

Who do you like for making the sheathes for Modified Tri's?
I assume Sullivan's is not currently doing this?

Doug

I've been admiring the various handle materials on the Triathlete knives and thought I would try my hand at it. I like the knives with yellow micarta handles so I took an extra Triathlete and some Westinghouse yellow (linen?) micarta slabs from Ken Davis (kenstix) and some mosaic pins from Leonid Khodorkovskiy and glued them all together. This turned out to be more work than I had thought it would be and it took a lot longer than I intended but here is the finished product. It isn't perfect, but I think it's okay for my first time trying something like this.
- -Buckspen

Looks pretty good to me. I like it. Nice pins and I like the yellow micarta.

Great job Bruce!

Very nice Buckspen.

I would love to handle one of those:-)

Thanks for your comments! I'll bring this with me to BLADE and see if I can find a sheath for it.

- - - Buckspen

Nice job Buck...well done!

When I was working with this yellow micarta, I had some doubts about how it would turn out. The texture of the raw stuff made me wonder if it would really take a nice polish. With the use of progressivly finer abrasive papers (up to 1500 grit) and a couple of applications of Renaissance wax, it smoothed right out.
Here are a couple of photos of the work in progress.
- Buckspen

Thrilling.....

What kind of glue did you use? Are the pins just decorative or do they go through the holes in the handle? Looks good.

Pat - I used a slow setting epoxy. I didn't want the glue to set up before I got through adjusting everything. The pins go through the holes in the knife handle. I ordered large pins (3/8 inch) from Leo because I wanted them to be a relatively close fit for the holes.
I borrowed a belt sander from a friend for this project. Turns out the sander was just about worn out and I burned out the motor. Had to buy him a new sander!

- - - - Buckspen

This is probably a stupid question, but do you use the belt sander to grind down the size of the pins? In other words, how do you get the pins flush with the handle material.
Thanks

I asked the maker of the mosaic pins what the best way would be to work with these things. He said to use a Dremel tool with a cut-off wheel to cut the pins to the lenth I wanted. He emphasized that using a hack saw might damage the pins. Apparently these things are more fragile than they look. The varying hardness of the different materials used to construct the pins would cause the saw blade to drag and maybe damage them. I suspect that gently using a saw with a very fine toothed blade might be okay, but I did follow his recommendation. He also cautioned me to be very careful not to get the pins too hot as excessive heat could cause the epoxy to break down.
Before the gluing process, I cut the pins to extend about 3/8 inch on both sides of the handle knowing that I would be sanding the whole thing down to the proper size.
After waiting about a week to make sure the glue had seasoned well, I used the belt sander (carefully!!!!) to grind down the pins to the level of the handle material. The micarta slabs were a little thicker than I wanted so I used the sander on both sides until I had it to where I wanted it. I was careful; I used the sander gently and made sure to let the everything cool off before the heat built up.
I used the belt sander (gently!!!) and the Dremel tool with a sanding drum to remove the excess handle material and progressively finer grades of sand paper to finish it off and bring it to a final polish.
Patience is everything in a project like this. It is very easy to take too much off, and you can't put it back! Belt sanders are powerful tools and it's very easy to press a little too hard and ruin the entire project. Believe me, I know this from previous experience!
It was a fun project. I don't know if I will try this again, but I did get some Antique Gold paper micarta from Ken Davis recently and I may just have to do something with it.

- - - - -Buckspen

Thanks very much for the informative response. You did a really great job. The knife looks tremendous!

Thanks. I think it turned out well. About 15 years ago, I bought a Colt Single Action Army revover that came with a pair of unfitted "one-piece" ivory grips. I looked around and found a person who was well known in that field and had him fit the grips to my gun. A couple of years later, the grips popped off. In the meantime, I had met a man who is a master engraver and gunsmith. I talked with him about the grip problem and he told me that one piece ivory grips should always be fitted with pins long enough to go through the grip frame and slighty into each grip to resist side pressure. I later followed his advice when fitting ivory grips to a pair of guns when I was laid up for about six months with double knee surgery. I used his advice again when putting the handles on this knife. The pins are much more than decorative. They anchor the slabs of micarta to the knife and resist side pressure when the knife is used. I still use my Colt SAA's in cowboy action shooting with no problems and I intend to use this knife, too. I've attached a photo of my pair of revolvers.

- - - - -Buckspen

AWESOME!!!

Nice revolvers.

Really nice pair of Colts SAA.

Very nice thriatletes.
Here is one I have made from stabilizsed spalted birch and metall bolster. Loveless bolts. Hope you like:-)

Freaking WOW! Great job Kimmo.

Outstanding, Kimmo.

Great job Kimmo.

BEAUTIFUL wood and outstanding work, Kimmo. All of your knives have looked really great for sometime now.

Kimmo
Wow, that is great looking. I would never of thought of the metal bolster.
Peter

Wow Kimmo, what a great look! Beautiful.

That is the nicest Tri Setup I have seen!!!!

Doug

Thank's great members. I'm glad you like it:-)
I'm going to have soon another one finished to one of ouer members:-) I post some pics of it when ready.

I imagine it will be a beauty.

Thank's Steve. I'm working with yours also :-)

That looks great!

Thank's Robert:-)

Wow!!!

Rehandle by James. Sheath by Kenny Rowe. This won't be my last one

Michael,

Nice knife; can we get another shot of the sheath? looks like a nice rig.

Tom Flynn

Looks like a perfect EDC user for sure. Beautiful work.

Tom,
I'll post sheath pics tomorrow. Don't have it with me today.

Pat,
My thoughts exactly when I had it done.

Thank-You !!!

Mike,
You have caused the old wheels to start spinning.I like the knife and the rig a lot.Guess I'll have to talk to Kenny at the Blade show.He is making me a money clip I ordered at last years show,he
does great leather work.James knocked that one out of the park also.

Very nice, Michael. That little dude is just screaming to be used.

Nice one Mike!!!

Very nice! I talked to James about doing a Tri-Athelete for me and now I'm sure I want one!

Here are some TRi's I hope you'll like.

Very nice! I see you are a brother. Glad to know you I sit in Yadkin falls #637 this is the lodge I was raised in and I also am a member of Stanly #348 where I am SR.decon

Burnie you are correct, 44years.We discussed that several years ago at the Blade show which you probly don't remember.We have several more in the RKCC and on this forum.

WoW!!
That is a slick set up!!

:-)Rocky

Michael,

Thanks-Love it! Did James supply with knife or did you order direct?

Tom Flynn

Billy,

Great set of Tri's! I have one Tri in the works along with a Tailor, I will post pic's when they are done.

Tom Flynn

Tom,
Thank-You...
I asked James to forward the knife to Kenny when he got through with it. Saved some time and postage that way. Everything worked smooth with no problems. I think Kenny did a great job, I'm very happy with the overall package.

Billy,
Second picture down, second knife from the left. What is that handle material, please? Striped handle material.
Also, 3rd picture down, Tri to far right. Is that bone linen, or some sort of ivory micarta? Yellowish looking color.
Nice set of Tri's, all of em'.

Tom,
...& they are "close"!
Soon, Capt. Chris

Thanks!

Looking forward to it; let's talk (this & other things)when you have them in hand.

Tom Flynn

Billy,
Second picture down, second knife from the left

I have the same question as Mike, what is the handle material. As well the grind line looks a bit different from the rest. Is it just the angle of the pic?

Mine now look so naked. I love that sheath, very nice.

Rod,Mike
Lignum Vida Bone linen.Some are older Tri's.I think that is why the grind is different.Good question for the Captain since he took care of this for me...Got to get back and try to sell some hardware.Right now the store is empty.

Thank-You Billy. Must be the angle of the shot, never seen Lignum look like that with those stripes. Interesting though