I bought a Vanax blade blank from a seller on Etsy, and assembled this knife with micarta slabs, and titanium rivets and spacers. (All purchased on eBay)
I made the sheath from layers of fabric and epoxy resin. I lost a Mission Titanium knife once, because it fell out of the sheath while I was in the water. It had a velcro secured retainer strap. But velcro doesn't work as well when it gets wet. So, five years later I finally made myself a replacement, using vanax this time. I still do like titanium, but Ive been impressed with the corrosion resistance of my Quiet Carry Drift pocket knife.
The spacers, titanium washers, between the blade and the scales are to prevent moisture from lingering, which will corrode any stainless, but by a different means than oxidation (rust).
The pins are also titanium which is much much harder to work with than brass. The handle was coated with epoxy, but the last coat got messed up a little. I didnt redo it. Its a user knife.
The bungee retainer is easier to use in the water and hopefully will be much more secure. This knife and the parts cost as much as my Mission Ti knife did. Vanax will get cheaper as time goes on, but for now, its a bit spendy.
A note on blade hardness:
I had to dill out two of the pin holes the blade blank came with, by 1/64 in. Doing so utterly destroyed a high quality cobalt bit.
by BlahBlahBlackCheap
