Recommendation? Blade finishes

You're perspective is fine...However attention to detail is more important. When you can complete two knives one with hand sanded blade finish and one with satin belt finish that you could place in front of a customer with the same price tag and the customer has trouble picking one because of the color of the handle material then you can be comfortable with your finishing skills....
 
Took yalls advice
2XduXgP.jpg
 
It's all about clean. A few years back at Blade, I was talking to a MS (Burt Foster IIRC) and he showed me a really clean blade with a hand rubbed finish and asked me to guess what grit it was? I recall guessing 400-600 and he said no, it was actually 220 grit. It was pretty much perfectly done and looked good. ;) I have a couple of AEB-L kitchen knives on the bench that are done to an hand rubbed 400 and they look good.
 
Yeah someone did that on IG a couple of weeks ago. Nick wheeler only goes up to 320 on some of his. The hunter i posted only had 320 or 400. I gotta figure out what belts look good
 
valknut said:
Yeah someone did that on IG a couple of weeks ago. Nick wheeler only goes up to 320 on some of his. The hunter i posted only had 320 or 400. I gotta figure out what belts look good
Click to expand...
Good looking finish is not only in final grit size you use .Speed of belt has a loot with that ................ and from skill of knifemaker of course :D
This is machine finish with 40 grit ceramic.................on 50m/s . When grinding is done , just one more light pass on belt ;)
h7anm16.jpg

VjrZ3RS.jpg
 
This is a A100 gator belt finish which is 180 grit I think. That’s about all I use anymore. I use 50grit blaze for everything and then drop to the A300 then A100 and so on. If I’m hand sanding I will go to around a a65 or a45 then I drop back to 220 grit paper and work up. I don’t care much for the super fine belts. Thy seam to cause more problems then thy are worth.
Photo%20Mar%2026%2C%203%2043%2029%20PM.jpg
 
JTknives said:
This is a A100 gator belt finish which is 180 grit I think. That’s about all I use anymore. I use 50grit blaze for everything and then drop to the A300 then A100 and so on. If I’m hand sanding I will go to around a a65 or a45 then I drop back to 220 grit paper and work up. I don’t care much for the super fine belts. Thy seam to cause more problems then thy are worth.
Photo%20Mar%2026%2C%203%2043%2029%20PM.jpg
Click to expand...
Sweet Knife! I don’t go super fine ether ! By the way, what size wheel do you use on this Sweet Bad Beast?
 
I use an 8” wheel, the blade is 1/4” thick. I’m actualy doing a batch of these out of AEBL for blade show. I’m not expecting them to hang around long. Thy will be slightly thinner as AKS did not have 1/4” AEBL but the .192 should be close enough. That blade is 5160 so the cord wrap is soaked in epoxy. I also coated the tang befor wrapping it. This is to prevent water from rusting the tang where you can’t get to it. But I’m hoping AEBL comes through for me on this design so I won’t have to go back to carbon steels with my cord wrap knives.
 
How do you like to cork belt. I have wanted to try one. I like scotch bright finishes but I find it washes out crisp lines. I use a scotch bright wheel on guards and things
 
JTknives said:
How do you like to cork belt. I have wanted to try one. I like scotch bright finishes but I find it washes out crisp lines. I use a scotch bright wheel on guards and things
Click to expand...

I have been using corks belts for several years and they are great. They last years. I use them with no compound and I use them with compound.

You can run belts on the grinder then go to cork belts up to 1000 grit with buffing compound, then you can take them to a buffer or hand sand them. I really cuts down on the time.

I mostly use 400 cork belts for final finish, I have a 800 cork but that is mainly to make stuff shiny.

They do have an initial routine for break in that has to be done
 
Ok so i need to step up my game with belts. Most of those look better than mh hand sanded finish. I really like that A100 finish JT.
What 220 belt do yall use. Ive been using combatAbbrassives but theyre 220 grit sucks
 
I like my knives with a bit of rustic flair. It's just something that kinda suits the style of knives I produce. But for more modern looking knives, a belt or hand sanded finish looks great.
FB_IMG_1509071176304.jpg
 
valknut said:
Ok so i need to step up my game with belts. Most of those look better than mh hand sanded finish. I really like that A100 finish JT.
What 220 belt do yall use. Ive been using combatAbbrassives but theyre 220 grit sucks
Click to expand...

for 220 I use a trizact (gator) A65 and I run the HERMES 346 in 220. The hermes work well but they do not last long, but are only a couple of bucks so after use them up cut them up for hand sanding
 
Then you step up to a cork?
I have a trizac A45 which i believe is 400 grit.
Thanks for the tips adam
Do you use a disc sander to make sure the bevels are flat? I daw nick do it in one of his videos and ive been using my 6in disc on mg 2x42 and really liked the results
 
What has worked for me is the gator trizacs. Start at the A300 it has a finer cut than the number would indicate . Use that to get rid of grinding scratches. I use mine at full speed. Not saying that the right or only way but it works for me. I find that the light pressure and high speed makes the blade heat more predictable. Also get yourself a diamond wheel dresser. That will keep the belt cutting. Without dressing they clog
 
Cork belts are like the easy button for beautiful satin belt finishes. Most everything I do with a belt finish is either scotchbrite or cork finished.

The one thing I've learned with cork is every belt change in grit progression I hit the flats, then the bevel. When doing flats I'll always get scratches in the bevel on top, but rarely get scratches from the bevel into the flat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top