Well here we are, I too am going to move on my BLF GT. I’ve replaced the emitter with a higher binned XHP-35 and the carriers have the positive terminals solder tabbed to accept flat tops. I know y’all know what it looks like, so I’ll post pictures if required.
I made the handle by cutting out a piece of 3/4” thick G10 laminate and carving it into an L bracket, made the aluminum handle on my lathe. It mounts to the tripod screw so the handle is on the opposite side of the switch. I can include turningbluechips custom bracket that wraps around to position the handle within reach of the button if wanted.
Yes, I knew exactly what it’d be. But what I didn’t know was how much overbudget I’d go starting this year out. I have so many lights, including some throwers that come close, so this one can make somebody that’s waiting happy.
Price is $150, which includes shipping within the US. I won’t be including the cells for shipping reasons. (And because I need the 30Q’s elsewhere. ) Price is nothing special but it does include the handle. Light has been proven with pics at across the lake distances and 1.9 mile shots of the water tower that most are probably familiar with already.
Anybody?
Thanks for looking,
Dale
PS: Couple of pics anyway. first my handle and then the bracket by turningbluechips…which uses the same handle.
PSS: I have one bracket from tbc that I radius’d but still shows the water jet cutting marks at the top of the profile and I also have one that’s raw, untouched. Name your choice if the handle is wanted.
Yokiamy, because I spent too much at Christmas and the first part of the year.
I got a chance to buy a second GT from a forum member that found it too big to use, which I did, gave it to my son-in-law for his birthday Feb 3rd along with cells and an 8 bay charger. Expensive 22nd birthday present. lol
And then I got this crazy desire for a serious EDC pocket knife and went on the search for the perfect blade steel, found I really liked Bohler M390 or it’s equivalent in CPM 20CV or CTS 204P and so I went on a hunt for a knife in one of those steels that struck my fancy. I ultimately found the perfect EDC folder, a flipper, mid-tech by a young man named Bill Koenig. Called him, spoke with him about an hour, and committed to having him make me a knife. Some $602 later I have a beautiful flipper with DLC coated blade and hardware and purple anodized Ti scales with a CTS 204P blade.
All this while also paying off my surgery from last June, some $3500 to the hospital. So it got me to looking at these 150+ flashlights sitting here gathering dust and I figured I’d thin em down some, sell off a few blades I’ve managed to collect, and see where the dust settled.
My own scratch built DBC-06.7 manages something over a mile in throw, also puts light on the water tower at 1.9 miles, and does it with an SST-40 and a single 32650 cell. So I thought that if I sell the GT it would force me to use my own built light when I need throw and make someone else in the forum happy at the same time.
And then a friend came up telling me he was going to sell something I never thought he’d get rid of and well, I just had to open my mouth and commit so here I am, figuring out how to pay for everything.
What? You didn’t expect the short answer, did you?
But i feel with you, sometimes you have to makes choices, how difficult they may be.
I feel the same for the GT, its standing on the shelf for a week now, not untouched, but barely used. Other projects come by now and then, which are fun as well, everyting consumes time and money and financial commitments have to be made.
Choices are always difficult, but the main question is;
Koenig Arius, CTS-204P high chromium stainless with DLC coating… 3.5” length and .15” thickness… flat ground, Ti backspacer and scales, SS lockbar with ceramic detent ball and ceramic bearings in a cage.
The framelock is cut out with an EDM process that allows a very thin gap, never saw that done before.
Edit: Another detail that is well thought out, look at the V cut-out in the blade to ramp the ball detent back onto the surface, this is for the detent that holds the blade closed. Makes for a very smooth transition when closing the blade. Really neat, never saw anyone do that before and I’ve seen more than a few…
Darn you Dale…. this is an addiction “I thought” I had kicked until I saw this post!! :person_facepalming: ……
That is one sweet looking knife my friend!!! :+1:
You can tell it is well thought out & designed. The SS lockbar insert is a very nice touch too. If lockup ever wears all you have to replace is the insert… not the complete lock side slab. Well thought out!!!
You said you talked to him about an hour…… did you ask him what the “Lightening Pockets” were he offers on some of his knives by any chance?
I am “guessing” he has machined out some of the material on the inside of each slab to make it a tad lighter. BUT… that is just a guess. I could find no mention of it on his website besides the fact he offered it on some models.
Again…. you did good!!! :+1:
However…. should I be overcome & relapse to the call of yet another “must have” blade…. I blame you & this post!! .
PS…. And yes sir…… that detent ball ramp is a very nice touch! I have only seen that once before.
teacher, the lightening is a skeletonizing of the inside scales, he was working on those when I spoke with him and I prefer the weight of the full scale so I opted out on the revision. All the new ones will have the skeletonized scales.
Newlumen, no display case here, this one is an EDC that I use for whatever comes up that needs slicing. I cut a straw off for my kid when it’s too long, slice a burger in half, I open packages, slice tape and/or cardboard, on a rare occasion I’ll cut aluminum off a part at the lathe. Whatever needs cutting. Down here in the South the heat and humidity makes a guy sweat a lot and this salty perspiration eats blade steel in many cases. So this CTS 204P should alleviate that with a Chrome content of 20%.
Bill has these blades hardened to 62Rc, this is supposed to be the optimum for this steel chemistry and it’s known to hold an edge really well. Guess I’ll find out.
Oh yeah, teacher, notice the tab on the stainless insert, it’s an overtravel stop. Slick, with a detent in the frame to catch it everything is integral and works superbly.
I should also note that Bill’s second knife design (his first was a full auto) won awards for design, he created a tool less folder by making a dovetailed scale system! BEAUTY! (and quite clever too!)
I need to take my Benchmade 913 apart for another cleaning. It’s been clipped in my pocket for probably 7 years now. I hate to steal somebody’s idea but I’m pulling out a diamond file and making a groove for the detent.
I haven’t had any cherry tomato’s since I got it, but I aim to find out how that works. I am pretty sure the tomato will fall in halves to either side of the blade, the treetop test is effortless (legs and arms both) so it’s on a high level at any rate. Haven’t tried to carve a hair with it yet. Keep forgetting.
A cucumber is not a good test as it’s much heavier than a cherry tomato and will by sheer weight alone easily be sliced by a blade not nearly as sharp as one that would slice a cherry tomato.
(For those that haven’t heard of it, holding the spine of the blade against the table a cherry tomato is dropped on the blade from above… a dull knife will bounce the tomato off, a fairly sharp knife will nick the tomato where a sharp knife will cut into it. A wickedly sharp knife will cut it cleanly in half just by the weight of the small tomato.) I guess the ultimate sharp knife will scare the tomato and make it detour around the blade and try to run away.
I didn’t buy this to run a series of tests on it, I bought it to carry it and use. I know it’s stupid sharp, it’ll cut anything I need it to cut. I’m hoping the steel’s chemical composition allows it to do whatever I need and remain sharp. That was, after all, the reason I hunted it down.
) Price is nothing special but it does include the handle. Light has been proven with pics at across the lake distances and 1.9 mile shots of the water tower that most are probably familiar with already.
