Aggregate Tumblers

[drlozier]

I am an experimenting novice so I have a lot of questions. Thanks in advance for your responses to a newbie. Does anyone else out there (besides me), use a tumbler at any stage of their knife-making. I generally tumble my blades after quenching and heat treating but maybe this is an unnecessary step....or maybe there is a more appropriate use for a tumbler that I am unaware of ???

 

[Nathan the Machinist]

I use a vibratory tumbler before and after HT to apply a frost finish that I leave on the flats. It is a fairly popular finish in the industry.

 

[drlozier]

Interesting idea and I have not tried that. I usually polish the whole blade after tumbling. After the tumbling, is there another step or two that you take to get the finish you want ? Thanks for your response.

 

[Nathan the Machinist]

If nothing else I'll apply a scotchbrite belt finish to the bevels. But if I want a very thin edge I'll grind the bevels more after HT because very thin hollow grinds get wavy in HT.

 

[drlozier]

Good pointers...thanks !