Cleaning up a hamon at the ricasso

I

Ian Fifelski

Joined
Oct 4, 2017
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528
Hey all I have been working on this hunter/skinner and I did all of the etching and polishing on the blade and glued everything up. Some glue made its way up through the guard slot and I let it dry and used an exacto knife to cut the bit off. I ended up scratching the ricasso. Because it is etched, I can't just hand sand in there to even it out. What can I do to fix this? I assume I will need to try to etch and polish that area again? I also slightly scratched the top guard face and need to hand sand that, any advice on sanding that tight area without just making it worse would be greatly appreciated.

Here are some pictures. The hamon doesn't have much activity but this was the second attempt and the blade was too thin to redo the heat-treat so I had to settle :/
img-20200403-113644_orig.jpg

img-20200411-185405_orig.jpg


Thanks!
 
Nice project.
I have questionable credibility since I recently scratched up a tanto while chasing the hamon.
However, if it were me, I would try sanding the ricasso with a wood backing, then try to match the shade of the etch by applying it locally with a Q-tip.
 
On the ricasso you could get some thin g10 or steel (think .03 or less) and almost sharpen one side. Put whatever finishing grit sandpaper wrapped around it tight or even better, use adhesive to attach it to the bottom of the firm backer. Get it to where it barely kisses the guard while doing straight back and forth sanding. Then reapply your enchant with a q-tip.
You can do the guard the same way but tape up the opposite side of whichever one you’re doing.
If you need pics of what I mean let me know.

In case you need to remove epoxy in the future, flatten/sharpen some brass or copper (preferably copper) and use that to scrape the epoxy.
 
in the future, acetone will dissolve/loosen epoxy. leave it on the for a minute or two. scrape off with a piece of wood.
 
The brass rod works great. I also find it helps to heat up your scraper with a torch. The dried epoxy will melt away like wax. You may need to hold it with pliers or make a quick handle. I also like to keep some wax nearby when gluing things up. Once glued I wipe it down so it clean and then liberally apply wax on the Ricasso and the front of the scales or guard so if anything does seep through later it should just pop right off.


Josh Rider said:
On the ricasso you could get some thin g10 or steel (think .03 or less) and almost sharpen one side. Put whatever finishing grit sandpaper wrapped around it tight or even better, use adhesive to attach it to the bottom of the firm backer. Get it to where it barely kisses the guard while doing straight back and forth sanding. Then reapply your enchant with a q-tip.
You can do the guard the same way but tape up the opposite side of whichever one you’re doing.
If you need pics of what I mean let me know.

In case you need to remove epoxy in the future, flatten/sharpen some brass or copper (preferably copper) and use that to scrape the epoxy.[/QUOTE
Click to expand...
 
I use a sharpened bronze rod (1/4" silica bronze boat bolt) with a handle attached, shaped like an angled chisel/screwdriver for cleaning up steel & epoxy. The bronze is pretty hard, but not as much as hardened steel, so it scrapes the epoxy without marring the steel finish. At times, a coarse steel finish will abrade the bronze & leave a slight residue, but that just means I didn't do a proper job of finishing the steel prior to the epoxy. This is roughed in, not sharpened yet, but you get the idea...

Bo4s3EB.jpg
 
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