Bead Blasting

Pre heat-treating/bead blasting:
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Post heat-treating/bead blasting:
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like sand blasting, except using ceramic beads.
 
Why would someone want to bead blast a knife? It takes away most, if not all, of the glare from the reflection of light.
 
When a knifemaker says bead-blasting he's referring to puttting an abrasive blasted finish on the material in a blast cabinet (basically "sand-blasting" it in a cabinet).

Most guys use beads or aluminum oxide abrasive.

I like beads, but I also like crushed glass.

It's an easy finish to do, and it gives a matte finish.

I will take a hand-rubbed satin finish over anything else, but a blasted finish is clean and serviceable.

It's typical to think that it would wash out grind-lines, but it's actually the opposite, it leaves them very crisp.

Just my $0.02
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Nick
 
I just bought a small sandblaster unit and have tried some 000 grade sand in it. I don't see a lot of difference in the finish between the sand blasted finish and the bead blasted finish on the bolsters of my Microtech LCC. Can someone give me an example of the difference and possibly the name of a supplier of the different media?

Thanks.

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Peter Atwood

email:fountainman@hotmail.com
 
Peter-

I keep hearing about ceramic beads, but apparently it's top secret where to get them, since nobody ever answered when I asked.

I order my blast media from TP Tools. I like their Skat Magic, it's a crushed glass. The sharp edges cut faster than beads. I like it.

Anyway, you can get in touch with them at

http://www.tptools.com

or give them a call at 1-800-321-9260

This is one of the friendliest places I have dealt with when ordering products.

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Nick
 
Nick,

Thanks for the pointer. They have quite a lot of choices don't they? An excellent resource that I'll probably be checking out later.

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Peter Atwood

email:fountainman@hotmail.com
 
There's another benefit to bead blasting. Like Parkerization on firearms, the surface texture on a bead blasted part will retain protective oil better than a shiny surface. You just have to be careful not to get fingerprints or dirt on a bead blast surface before you coat it with oil.

Try MSC or McMaster Carr for various mesh glass beads and silicon carbide.

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Tom Anderson
Hand Crafted Knives
 
2 additional thoughts come to mind. Blasting as a primary or aftermarktet finish is an economical alternative to hand finishing/ polishing. For real working/ "tactical" knives a blasted or at least subdued finish may be preferrable.

For skeleton (scaleless) blades, the blast finish may provide an improvement in grip retention.

L8r,
Nakano
 
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