Bead blast to satin finish

syntaxerrorsix

syntaxerrorsix

Joined
Oct 8, 2000
Messages
351
Any recommendations on cleaning up a fairly rough looking bead blast finish to a satin finish? I have quite a few knives that are pretty scarred up and was wondering how best to restore them.
 
Wow, in Lakeland huh. North Brandon here. Okay. Do you plan on removing the handles? going for a straight satin finish from blasted would be a little time consuming because you would have to sand out all the tiny pits from being blasted. Maybe... I have never tried to do that before. and cause the blade is hardened you have to be careful not to overheat the blade cause it will lose temper, While at the same time it will be more difficult to remove material. Then again too, maybe you already knew all that technical stuff. Another question would be what sort of equipment do you have?
 
Yes. My experience with bead blasting is that it does not tend to cover up scratches and such. Instead, like blueing, it tends to highlight them. I like the bead blast type finish.

rlinger
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My first attempt will be a grinder with a cotton buff wheel, next some metal polish with the wheel and so on. Think I should try some light grit sandpaper hand work first? I will be disassembling the knife first.
 
well, you are going to have to start with a low grit to get some metal removal. I would start with a 220 by hand and work your way up to 400 or 600 before I buffed. This would be easier if you had a belt grinder, but it sounds like you only have a bench wheel grinder. anyhow Try using a red sharpie to mark all of your scratches before you start, and cover the blade with said marker right before you go from a lower grit to higher. it really helps you see what scratches are left behind, either from what you are trying to repair, and scratches left behind from a lower grit. things will go faster if you use sandpaper like it's free. using the 220 I would go less than 10 strokes before I changed. you will remove metal faster. As you go up in grit you get less strokes. Sometimes if I am unsure as to if I got all the scratches, I would hit the blade with the buffer real quick even though I am not done, that brings out the scratches left behind also.
 
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