CGFBM Make-over

H

hawkinsa21

Joined
Jan 5, 2007
Messages
543
Hi guys...

again, due to lots of mods here and there, and the fact that Tyrkon Lawson started a lovely looking project on his favorite NO-E :thumbup:, I decided to give it a shot with my CG FBM...


I litterally drove down the local DIY Depot immediately in order to get some paint stripper...


Here we go:


This first pic shows what I'm using... new box of sandpaper (can only buy up to 600 grit anywhere I've been!) which

has 240, 400 and 600 grit papers... the paper is wet or dry, and using it wet apparently makes a smoother finish, so I guess that'll be the last coat I'll use after the 600... some soaking wet 600. This paint stripper is a gel... its the only one I could find, and thought it was the bomb, until I saw Tyrkons update stating that he covered his for only 15 minutes... I had to wait 2hrs, and did that TWICE!!!! A cork thingy, my FBM and my handy D'Allara drop point sypdie... (intended for just cutting masking paper etc but never actually got used)




The coating was a mare to get off, so respect to Jerry and co. for really sticking this stuff on well :D


I then used a chisel and small flat headed screwdriver to strip the coating off, which took about 20 minutes in all, plus a bit of wire wool to get the harder stuck on stuff... there were a few patches of this.


Next up is the blade after the coating was removed... the metal is a 'gun coat' type colour.. quite dark, which actually looks really cool... but it was coming off :)




I then washed the blade off - BTW, the paint stripper did NOTHING to the micarta.. its some really tough stuff.

This is a shot of the blade after a good buffing with 240 grit sand paper... took about 20 - 30 minutes to get a fairly even spread with the cord thingy wrapped in sandpaper...






Here is a pic of the micarta handle slabs against the steel... although it was the standard 'black' micarta handles, they look kinda green to me, and I really REALLY like the look of them against the bare steel







And here is one more of the blade, with some natural light dashing off of it...







You can see that the corragated lines still have some 'gun coat' darker bits left... this is fiddly to fix, and requires a lot of horizontal sanding with the tips of your fingers nestling in the crevesis and then rigourously and rather frantically sand like a madman... but its worth it! (and for the record.... it works)



There is still a lot that needs doing to this... I've got to figure out a way of getting the harder to sand parts (like around the pomel and talon holes) up to the same end result, without taking off the micarta slabs, as I don't know how to or how to put them back on without breaking it :p May break out the Dremmel multi drill


I will be slowly rubbing the blade up to 600 grit paper, with a final wet sanding after that... getting too much higher will start to put a shinyer 'mirror effect', which I'm NOT after... Satin FTW :D


Thanks for the previous threads to look at similar mods, and also thanks to TK.. his post just made me 'get up and go', as it were - cheers bud...



After all this, I will take the convexed edge down even further.... it bites really well as is, and shaves hair, but can be that little bit more 'scary' - You can see the dodgy uneven convex sand marks in the first pic.. they didn't look nice, but the Mistress was super sharp... looks aren't that important in the user, although I think that'll be a different story when I'm done here...


I'll keep you posted



Thanks for reading....



Alex
 
Awesome -- looks like you're going to have some fun. Can't wait to see the finished product...
 
Looks sweet. It will be interesting to know how long it will take start to finish. So how much time would you say to get to this point?
 
swampfox3, the physical work I put in including applying the stripping gel, was be about 1.5 - 2 hours...

Including the time it took for the gel to actually work, its been a total of about 5.5 hours


Good fun though!
 
That's looking real good so far, thanks for posting. I've been thinking of getting a second FBM to do this with, I *really* want to see the corrugations bare. Don't want to do it with my current FBM as I like the colour and haven't messed it up too much so far.

I've used various hardnesses of pencil eraser (rubbers to us Brits!) with the wet-n-dry paper for getting into tricky areas. Being soft means it moulds a little into the work area and can be cut to fit even better. And my fingers don't get as sore!

Rick.
 
3M sponge sandpaper blocks, might help you some with the grooves. They come in Fine, Med, & Course.

Looks as if it's coming along nicely bro...yeah these "little" projects can be alot of fun!!:thumbup:
 
You can get higher grades of sandpaper at an automotive shop. Look for the paint/finish section. Up to 2000 grit or so I think.
 
Sweet work. When my green linen gets more worn, I'll do the same.

:thumbup: :thumbup:
 
honestly, i found stripping my ganza jack to be a huge pain and i didn't have to deal with the corragations. very impressed. i agree on the 3m sponge blocks, but they are a bit pricey and i would only really use the coarser grits this way...
ryan
 
Looks tiring! I think I'll strip my FBMs the long way -- lots of chopping! :thumbup:
 
Looks great!!! Thanks for sharing!

I was thinking of doing this with my blk/green linen too... but now that Stinky has the heavy mistress without the CBT, I may go for one of those to try it on.

.
 
Thanks for all those who have had a look... and all comments are welcomed! I decided not to get into really high grade sand paper as it'll put too much of a mirror shine on the blade, although if I can get some I'll use it on the convex edge.

The rubbers sound like a good idea, and the sponges do to, although I saw them and thought that they wouldn't last long... may give them a try...


And if you do enough chopping, you can indeed do the satin finish the long way, but it will take you a LONG time.. that stuff took AGES to get off...


And BTW, 05dr, the corrugations are a massive obstacle to overcome... very fiddly, but as the guiness advert says, "good things come to those who wait" - or in my case, those who have the patience of a saint...


Shot of current state after 1 hour with 400 grit paper:





Closer one of the blade, the corrugations are a total female dog, but persistence is key.... they are slowly looking better:





And the much needed spine shot:






Still more to go, as and when I can... its mainly lots of hand rubbing sandpaper.... and it's gonna be totally sweet when its finished...



I also put a super sharp and slightly thinned point on this... its point is pretty much razor sharp... but is still quite thick to utilize the strength of the steel behind it


Cheers

Alex
 
I've never seen or used any of the stropping compounds I've read about, but I get the impression that it's basically an abrasive paste of some sort. I wonder if you could smear something like that into the corrugations, and then take a stiff toothbrush to it. That really does look great though. I'm thoroughly jealous.
 
bwcaq said:
I've never seen or used any of the stropping compounds I've read about, but I get the impression that it's basically an abrasive paste of some sort. I wonder if you could smear something like that into the corrugations, and then take a stiff toothbrush to it. That really does look great though. I'm thoroughly jealous.
Click to expand...

They give a mirror finish when you do that though. I don't strop because that last little bit of sharpness doesn't matter so much to me, but I think it can be done with a leather belt covered with buffing compound?
 
Bro, you and Gunsite have totally inspired me. My black/blk mag FBM is going into the O.R. tommorrow. You've shown me the way. Thanks.
 
Looking very, very good. It can take a while but the results are worth it. Good binding time with your steel, too. ;)
 
Very knice job! It is a lot of work, but definitely makes you more familiar with the blade.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top