Bowies and a tip

LongRifle

LongRifle

Joined
Apr 5, 2000
Messages
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I've been making large knives almost exclusively the last few months. There is nothing worse than hand sanding a 10" blade. One of the best ways I found to reduce the hand finishing time is finishing with cork belts.

The cork belts don't remove any material, so there is very little danger of putting marks in the blade. I take the blade to 800 grit, and it comes off the grinder with a nearly mirror finish. When the blade is at 800, it takes very little time and effort to put a nice hand rubbed finish on the blade.

I buy the belt through Pop's, they aren't terribly expensive, and considering the time saved are VERY valuable.

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I posted some more pics in the Custom forum.
 
those are really nice. They have the look.... the right look!

So... take us through your steps say from a 320 a/o belt on down. I take it you've ended with cork@800? but what's in between?

regards, mitch
 
Mitch, I use 220, 400, 600, 800 grit cork belts. I start with a 36 then 80 x weight, next I switch to 120 and 220 j flex.

I'll brag a little and say that both knives cast true reflections without any dips or waves. The blades are dead flat because of the cork belts, not because I'm a good grinder :).
 
Thanks for the tip -- I'll have to get some of the cork belts. I always work up with j-flex belts and will sometimes get the "dip." What is it about cork belts that makes it better?
 
Michael, the cork belts don't remove much material. So when you slip the edge of the belt doesn't cut into the blade.

The cork belts look like 36 grit ao belts; they're very course. Even though the belts appear rough, they're almost rubbery. They seem to last forever too :).

Also, make sure you have all the lower grit scratches out before moving on. The cork belts will not take out a scratch, even a 120 grit scratch.
 
There were a couple of extensive threads on CKD Forum (now TKN) a couple of years ago on cork belt finishing. One really good one was on the Steve Johnson forum there.

Cork belts work really well for taking out scratches and polishing especially if you get rid of their grit and use CrO rouge on them. They last forever, I have one that is over a year old now I just keep adding the rouge to.
 
What are you using on your platen so you don't get the thump, thump, thump on the fine grit belts you use? Pyroceram? Past 120 grit and I start to get little marks in my blade from the thumping. I've been using a disk on my Burr King to get out a lot of the deep scratches, but it's hard to get close to the plunge cut.

Paul
 
Ok.....have to ask.....are you grinding perpendicular or parallel to the belt when you use the cork belts? (assuming a flat platen)
 
Paul, I'm using a standard platen on my KMG. I've had a ceramic platen lying around for a year or so, still haven't put the damn thing on there :). I don't have a problem with skipping, try adjusting your platen a little bit. That's the best advice I can give, sorry.

Dan, I am grinding "standard;" perpendicular to the spine.
 
Paul - I've noticed more "skipping" (from the joint) when the platen is out farther than the wheels. Make sense?


LongRifle - so the longitudinal lines are put on by hand after you finish the 800 grit belt? I do the same - was wondering if the technique was universal.
 
Dan, that's exactly how I do it. It's nice to start hand rubbing at 400 or 600 opposed to 180 :).

Matt
 
LongRifle said:
I've been making large knives almost exclusively the last few months. There is nothing worse than hand sanding a 10" blade.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah? How about hand sanding an 18" blade? Starting with 100 grit. ? :mad: :eek: :D

Geeze, there are certainly times I wish I had a real belt sander.
But thanks for the tip on the cork belts. I'll file that away in the mental archives.
 
I use cork belts a lot as well, I'm lazy, and grinding is my second least favorite part of knife making, hand sanding is my least favorite part.

Cork belts don't really have the bump, the cork takes up the shock of the seam fairly well since it's so pliable And thick.

Tony
 
butcher_block said:
i have 1 400 and 1 600 grit cork belts and can say that once there broken in there great
Click to expand...

That was the point on the TKN threads, that you use scrap steel to wear the grit off the cork belts first then use the Chrome oxide rouge on them to polish with. Try it out, it really works well, much better than just using the cork belts with the grit on them.
 
Thanks for the tip Matt. Those are some beautiful CLEAN knives. Keep up the good work!!
Ed
 
the links are all CKD (vs. knifenetwork) - need to be updated....
 
Daniel Koster said:
the links are all CKD (vs. knifenetwork) - need to be updated....
Click to expand...

They were all from the old forum. I just went to TKN and searched the S.R.Johnson Forum for the reference.

They worked over there from the search result page. I guess just sign in and search cork belt polishing. You should get several different threads. Steve Johnson did a couple that summarized the process.
 
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