Great Eastern Scout

[Nomad]

One of my favorite knife companies is Great Eastern. They make some really fine slip joint knives and have done a lot to fill the void when Schrade and Camillus bit the dust. Unfortunately, due to their popularity, their prices have nearly doubled since they first started making knives. Still, they are very good quality and have some great designs.

I've had this Scout for a good long while and it has been an excellent outdoor knife, but I decided that it might also make a good carver so it became a candidate for a mod job. Very nice size handle for carving. Fairly wide and 3 3/4" long. Too good blades with the nail nick far enough forward that you can cut the blade down without cutting into the middle of a nick.

Here are some photos of the modification process. It follows the same procedure I used for the Camillus electrician's knife so whatever steps are missing here are in that thread.

First step is to mark the blades for cutting.



I used a big blob of Cool Blue Heat Sink Paste on the back side of the blades to keep the blades cool during cutting.



Here are the blades cut down and ground to shape.



Next step was to dremel in some nail nicks.

[Tom-H]

Terry, This is great! Any tips on using the Dremel to cut the blade to final shape?

Tom H

[Nomad]

Next step is to grind the bevels. You can use sandpaper on wooden blocks, a TomZ, or whatever you feel comfortable with. This is a progress shot. I've added the Oar Carver for a size comparison.



Nearly done.



Finished.



This knife fills the hand well and is very comfortable to carve with. The backsprings in GEC knives are usually pretty strong, which also makes this a good knife to modify for carving. The steel is 1095 carbon. Generally good carving steel.

[Nomad]

Originally Posted by Tom-H

Terry, This is great! Any tips on using the Dremel to cut the blade to final shape?

Tom H

Tom, when I dremel the blades, I just cut the arc at the front, leaving a good margin. To shape the blade down, I use a belt sander to shape both the arc of the spine and to work the blade edge back. My belt sander has a 2" wide belt so it makes the process a little easier than a 1" belt. I make one pass or two, then dip the blade in cold water, so the key is to never overheat the blade.

[AL...]

Nice job on giving a knife a new lease on life
Looks just the job
Cheers
AL

[Inadv]

Nicely done Terry. Thanks for the illustrations!!!

L.P.

[Nomad]

Originally Posted by AL...

Nice job on giving a knife a new lease on life
Looks just the job
Cheers
AL

Thanks Al. I really enjoy doing these knife mods.

Originally Posted by Inadv

Nicely done Terry. Thanks for the illustrations!!!

L.P.

Thanks Larry. I hope some folks find them useful. The commercial selection of useful folding carvers out there is pretty slim, imo, so if you can't find what you want, sometimes you have to improvise eh.

[Tom Ellis]

Another beautiful piece of workmanship Terry. Did you try the Dura Thin blades yet?

Tom

[Nomad]

Originally Posted by Tom Ellis

Another beautiful piece of workmanship Terry. Did you try the Dura Thin blades yet?

Tom

Mucho thanks Tom! I have not tried them yet but I am looking forward to it. It may have to wait until the summer break but all good things are worth the wait. I have a ton of handle material around here too.

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Great job Terry!

Dave