After my experience with the S&W SWAT 2000 peeling knife, I had to get a decent defence knife to cover my needs. I knew from the past, that Smith & Wesson had a G10 epoxy handles knife.

Now one thing I do not like with the S&W folders, is that pointing edge at the front, lower part of the handle, right below the screw which holds the blade (red arrow in the picture above). I though that if the handle is made out of G10 epoxy, I could file that pointing edge down and give it a more "CQC-7-ish look". I asked my friend at the S&W distributor for one, and he said that he indeed had one, but it was with a serrated blade. Then an idea started going around in my mind. What if....

What if I could use the plain black blade of the peeling knife with the G10 handles of the new knife (black non-serrated blade, with black G10 handles, I like that!), and trim that pointing edge of the handles a bit? What if I could also use the mechanism which produces the audible click from the peeling knife, in the new knife? Then I would have an almost perfect knife (except of the clip orientation). Well, I ordered the S&W 3000G10 knife.

As soon as the knife arrived in my hands, and after I looked in my tool box for the Torx screwdrivers required to disassemble it, I was ready for the surgical operation. After a couple of hours of work, I was rewarded with success, as you can see above! The blade, locking liner, the click mechanism, everything fitted just perfectly. And my filing of that pointing edge, was so great that you can not tell the knife didn't come like that from the factory! Also, the taller thumb lever which was used on the pervious knife, now that it is combined with the thin handles of this one, makes opening the blade a very easy operation, no way you can miss this lever.

A small problem was noticed though. The axle which stops the blade movement, when you open it, needs to be of a bigger diameter (by 1 mm), since as it is now, it allows the locking mechanism to overshoot the blade. Nothing my gunsmith cannot cure, with a piece of metal and some lathe work. For the time being, the problem was solved by inserting the axle in some hard plastic tube (the ones which shrink when heated). That material, when heated, is hard enough to ensure proper functioning, until I visit my gunsmith for the permanent repair.

At that moment, the G10 knife had become my carry defence knife. Let me note here, that the aluminum knife fits my hand much better than the slim G10 one, but the G10 is so light, that you never notice it, so carrying it is a breeze. In addition, I like its non-serrated blade more.

As a side effect, I had to spend endless hours trying to get used to the new drawing mode, with the tip of the blade pointing down when folded. Not an easy task, you have to learn a different way to grab the knife.

With folders which have the tip of the blade pointing down, you must learn to grab the top part of the knife, with your thumb and index finger, pull it up, use the rest of your fingers to swing the knife in your palm, and then use your thumb to swing the blade open. This is much different from the way I was used to draw the CQC-7, where you slip your thumb in your pocket behind the knife, while your little finger goes around the rear-most protruding part of the knife and pull it up. Then the knife comes out and it goes straight into your palm, and all you have to do is to rotate the blade open. Oh well, training is useful, and I had plenty of time to practice, while baby-sitting the twins.

Update on S&W 3000 G10

The final modification I did to the S&W G10 was to reverse its clip. After some careful studying, and some canibalizing of a cheap folder I found in a pieces box, I started the work. The intention was to use the existing lanyard hole at the rear of the knife, to attach the clip. From the scrap folder, I got the proper screw, which was a perfect fit. First of all, I used the Dremel to mill a recess on the right part of the knife, in which the clip would fit. The recess was trimmed with a file et voila. Although I tried as hard as I could, the recess was not as good as I wanted, but it allowed the clip to fit, without any movement at all. This was the important thing.

On the opposite side, another recess was milled, in order for the other part of the screew to fit it.

The clip was now secured at the proper position. Another issue that remained to be taken care of, was the existing recess, at the front of the knife, where the clip originally was. A small piece of metal was carefully filed, to fit in that slot. Then a hole was drilled, which was carefully enlarged with files, because the axle of the blade is not totally circular, it has a flat part, which had to be taken into consideration. After a lot of filing, the shim was made to fit perfectly (OK, as good as I could make it).

And for the final CQC-7-look-alike, a small detent was milled on the left handle, right where the blade release is. The way the knife was, at this point, originally, hitting the blade release was not very easy. Now, it has become a task you can easily accomplish, even if you wear gloves.

With the above modifications, the Smith & Wesson 3000 G10 has become a totally acceptable (by my standards) knife. It features a non-serrated blade, it allows me to use the presentation technique I am used to, and it functions in the same exact way as the Emerson CQC-7 does (and now, it even looks somewhat like the CQC-7 too).

Project finished!

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