Blade polishing

F

Fatstrat

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Sep 27, 2008
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Newbie here. Gathering info for 1st knife project.
Please forgive if a question asked and answered a hundred times.
My 1st knife project will be customizing and old WW-2 vintage USMC knife. Basically I have a good blade w/no handle. Intend to put a bone/stag handle on it. Hidden tang w/new guard.
The old blade needs a good cleaning up. Not so much pitted, but stained.
Would like to polish it to as shiney/new looking as possible. Would like to know:
Will this steel polish up shiney? And how to do it. Can it be done by hand, or do I need power tools?
I have a belt sander and bench grinder. If these will help, please advise what type of belt or wheels I need. Thanks.
 
Welcome to BF. The information you want is available to you. "Click on the Newbie Info"
sticky at the top of this forum. Scroll down to "tutorials" and click on the link. It will carry you to a wealth of information. The 2nd line has polishing from hand to machine with lots of information. Polishing a blade with a buffer can be extremely dangerous. Another reason to check out the tutorials. A blade fllying off a buffer at mach speed can get your spincter in check. Another suggestion, why not fill out your profile so we can be informed something about you! Some folks like to know something about a person requesting information. Thanks and welcome once again!
 
Last edited:
Thanks for reply. Will check out Newbie forum and fill out profile. Thanks Again!
 
You need to look at the blade and match your stock removal (grinder/sander) to the scratches in the blade. If there are not deep scratches or gouges you will probably be best off hand sanding to 600 - 800 and then buff if you want more polish.

If you start grinding with too rough of a belt or grinder you will cause scratches and need to do more sanding than necessary. The other problem is since the blade is already beveled (has and edge) you cannot remove alot of material before you run out of edge.

If I was you.. I would start with 320 grit with a little wd40 and sand a bit and see what you your have, it may be best to leave a few scratches rather than sand too much. To sand clamp the blade to a small board, a little wider and a little longer than the blade and use a piece of wood with a leather backing as a sanding block.

good luck
 
Dull the edge before you do any hand sanding. The last thing you want to do is lay your hand wide open.
 
Ditto that and keep it dulled. I dulled the edge of my chopper and while sanding it got it back and let me know!

Make the stokes as long as possible. Don't work small areas, get each whole surface until any scratches are of the same texture of the grit you are using. Solid pressure and clean sand paper help you efforts be effective. Windex spray your wet and dry paper. Once you get it to a good 220, the 320, 400, 600 and 1200 will go fast. If you leave a scratch at 220 it will not come out at 320 and it won't come out buffing. What you will have is a shiny scratch. Trust me I have made shiny scratches.
 
ib2v4u said:
Ditto that and keep it dulled. I dulled the edge of my chopper and while sanding it got it back and let me know!

Make the stokes as long as possible. Don't work small areas, get each whole surface until any scratches are of the same texture of the grit you are using. Solid pressure and clean sand paper help you efforts be effective. Windex spray your wet and dry paper. Once you get it to a good 220, the 320, 400, 600 and 1200 will go fast. If you leave a scratch at 220 it will not come out at 320 and it won't come out buffing. What you will have is a shiny scratch. Trust me I have made shiny scratches.
Click to expand...

If possible, alternate your stroke direction with each grit. It makes scratches from the previous grit much easier to see.
 
Well my blade is looking better. Got most of the pits & scratches out. Except in the blood groove.
This hand blade polishing is alot of work. I think next time I may go to Lowes and hire an immigrant to do it. ;oD
 
Fatstrat said:
Well my blade is looking better. Got most of the pits & scratches out. Except in the blood groove.
This hand blade polishing is alot of work. I think next time I may go to Lowes and hire an immigrant to do it. ;oD
Click to expand...
Good luck with your project. I'm about to waste some good steel grinding my first blade in a long time.... Never had much luck back then either! I have a general question for the experts. I know the "blood groove" is called a fuller on a sword. Is it really called / considered a blood groove on a knife? Doesn't the flesh simply conform to the knife's profile, preventing the letting of blood?

Thanks!
Balin
 
Balin said:
Good luck with your project. I'm about to waste some good steel grinding my first blade in a long time.... Never had much luck back then either! I have a general question for the experts. I know the "blood groove" is called a fuller on a sword. Is it really called / considered a blood groove on a knife? Doesn't the flesh simply conform to the knife's profile, preventing the letting of blood?

Thanks!
Balin
Click to expand...

The "blood groove" is kind of a vent that prevents the wound from sucking up around the blade and aids in removal of the blade.
 
Fellows:
The BLOOD GROOVE is not for any purpose related to blood. It is called a fuller (bo-hi on Japanese blades) .

The old story about the groove being there to keep the blade from getting stuck due to a vacuum is just a funny tale told to novice smiths and Army privates so many times that the grinding crowd (stock removal chaps) started to believe it. It is not there so the wound will bleed out faster, either. The term was made popular by it being used in WW1 and WW2 with bayonets and fighting knives. Many well meaning Sergeants taught the recruits that they could not pull out the bayonet or knife without the "Blood Groove". A blade will pull out as easily as it goes in, unless it is lodges in bone. The body is under the same pressure inside as outside, and would create no vacuum. If the blood groove story was the case, you wouldn't bleed when cut (think about it?).
After the wars, the knife industry called it a "Blood Groove" because it just sounds meaner (and cooler) than "fuller". A knife called "The Combat Commando, with a Blood Groove" sold much better than "The Camper's Pal, with a fuller". Todays ,marketing and hype haven't helped with this at all. Even though less than 1/1000 of 1% of all knives are used in person to person combat, these selling tactics are still predominant.

A fuller is a way to make a blade lighter and stronger. It acts sort of like an I-beam does, by applying a stiffening factor in two directions. A fuller on a large sword can significantly lighten it, too.In the days when good steel was a precious commodity, a fuller also saved steel. In forging, a fuller widens the blade, thus allowing narrower stock to be used to create a wide blade like a bowie. In pattern welded blades ( and laminated Japanese blades), the fuller needs to be forged in to get the proper look. On regular mono-steel blades, like bowies and fighters, the fuller can be cut in with a mill, shaved in with a hand fullering tool, or forged in with fullering dies.

With all the bad press and other knife related legislation ,we as knife makers can do our industry a lot of good by stopping the use of terms like "BLOOD GROOVE and SWITCHBLADE.
Stacy
 
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