Bead Blasting Grit

[Themilkman]

I’m looking to parkerize some knives, but I don’t want a really rough grainy surface finish often seen with parkerizing. I would rather have something smooth and satin, or maybe a bit of shine to it. I got some glass beads in a box of 100-170 grit. I tried blasting a knife I machine finished to 320, and the beads pretty much just laughed at it. In low light you can see a faint blasted texture, however in the light the 320 grit marks are still visible. Should I be finishing the knife to a higher grit prior to blasting? Should I use a more aggressive blast media? Will going down to say 60-80 grit glass beads blend things in more, without giving the grainy texture the same grit AO would?

thanks

 

[eric brinkerhoff]

80 grit garnet has worked for me. I go to 600 and after blasting I smooth it a bit with 2000

 

[eric brinkerhoff]

 

[eric brinkerhoff]

80 grit garnet will erase 600 grit sanding marks, but it will exacerbate 320 marks...