Do your customers care about shiny?

LX_Emergency

LX_Emergency

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Jun 28, 2007
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I just started hand sanding (in preparation for the buffer) an M390 blade.

hand sanding is literally the most time consuming process I can do.....but I wonder...do your customers even care?

And what kind of customers do you have? Because the hunters might not care but the collectors do...or the other way around?

I'm simply wondering if it's worth putting all that work in all the time if the market doesn't really care enough about it to be willing to pay for it.
 
yes,

unequivocally yes.

if its a belt finish there is no excuse for the belt scratches to not be clean, even, and high grit.

a high grit finish will help inhibit rust a LOT

a hand rubbed finish is not needed or required on all knives, but ALL knives should display a good finish.
 
Well obviously if it's a belt finish it should be a good belt finish. But I'm talking hand sanding.
 
A friend who is helping me get started says "if it don't shine, it ain't mine". He only hollow grinds and once you figure it out, its easier than a hand rubbed finish. Anyways, everybody is different. SomeI've seen more people that like the satin finish but he has only polished and has sold around 10,000 knives. I haven't been to any shows yet but I plan on having a variety on the table. If i sell more hand finished, I will make more next time. Do both and let your customers decide.
 
Nick Wheeler's video on hand sanding the Paranee fighter completely changed my outlook on hand sanding. A 320 finish isn't that difficult, using his method, and looks great!
I think the chief benefit is how "flat" the blade looks, though you can get that look with a rotary platen, too. The lengthwise sanding lines are pretty magic for a blade's appearance, though.
With 1095, it often takes about 20 min. to get a good working finish, after the belt and disk sander work.
 
I will also add the higher you finished on the grinder, the easier your hand finish it. I go to 400 on the grinder and drop to 220 with hand sanding. I finish between 600-800.
 
Surprisingly many customers just do not care for a hand sanded finish. A nice satin belt finish, scotch brite finish, bead blast or stone washed finish are more popular and sell better.

I prefer a hand sanded blade, but to be honest it gets put in a case and not used for fear of damaging the finish.

If you are making a display piece then hand sanded finish for sure, the same goes for a mirror polish display piece as well.


What is rather interesting is many high end folders costing upward of a thousand dollars have a belt finish :confused:
 
I like machine and satin finishes, I actually kind of hate shiny, especially when it's a high polish with big scratches peaking out underneath.
 
AVigil said:
Surprisingly many customers just do not care for a hand sanded finish. A nice satin belt finish, scotch brite finish, bead blast or stone washed finish are more popular and sell better.:
Click to expand...

good to know, I was tossing this around in my mind the last day or so.
I just about finished my first 5 knives (that I'm not too embarrassed about) , I hand sanded them with 320 and I agree that Wheeler video breaks it down so it's not terribly difficult.
I was looking for a duller sanded lines finish
However despite my careful taping, when I was sanding the handles, somehow I got scratches near the ricasso and I got more scratches during the waterstone sharpening. Now I'm not really sure how to clean them up, Switch to a scotchbrite finish or hand sand again to cleanup...

as a customer myself, I don't make a choice based on the finish, that's only one attribute of the purchase.
But it's hard to use a shiny knife and put scratches on it.
I don't care too much for a shiny sanded finish

this is the hand sanded finish at 320

C5BE524B-D5D7-48E9-B9EC-7A671202C4DC_zps4nxxres3.jpg


E6F3BE55-931F-436C-8076-14FBC75C9917_zpstne7ee7q.jpg
 
stephanfowler said:
yes,

unequivocally yes.

if its a belt finish there is no excuse for the belt scratches to not be clean, even, and high grit.

a high grit finish will help inhibit rust a LOT

a hand rubbed finish is not needed or required on all knives, but ALL knives should display a good finish.
Click to expand...

No doubt! I learned this the hard way with a few knives. All my hand sanded blades are pure as they were when first finished. A few of my 400 grit machine finished blades (neglecting to oil the 1084) became discolored within days.

And to add to the thread, I prefer a very clean straight machine finish on most blades. I don't know why. Just personal preference. A nice satin finished grind with a 1200 grit polished ricasso. Pretty sweet!!
 
I much prefer machine finish, but I do like a hand pulled satin finish.

This is a 600 grit gator belt finish on 52100
IMG_0004.JPG


This is a clean 240 or 320 on CPM20CV, which is the same as M390.

IMG_0007.JPG


IMG_0008.JPG


The scratches around the handle are from where my customer added his handle. I just did the blade on this one.

It takes time to do it right, but man is it worth it!
 
Something else to think about. If you want a 400 grit finish, lay down a clean 600 grit then go back and pull a 400 grit finish. It looks a lot better like that.
 
I have just been doing a belt finish but will be experimenting with stonewash. This is a 750 grit finish. That's a little piece of lint on the blade.

IMG_20150523_215323_zpshblxddkz.jpg


I put it in a peanut butter jar with some ceramic media and shook it for a while. I think I will be building a rotary tumbler.

IMG_20150523_224925_hdr_zps4pwsc4z8.jpg
 
Another benefit of the lenghtwise hand rubbed finish is that when i clean the blades i am less likely to put visible scrathes as they blend with the finish. And if i want to remove some ugly scratches from using the knife i find it easier to do a couple of hand sanding strokes.
 
colu41 said:
No doubt! I learned this the hard way with a few knives. All my hand sanded blades are pure as they were when first finished. A few of my 400 grit machine finished blades (neglecting to oil the 1084) became discolored within days.
Click to expand...

I've only sold a couple so far, Wharncliffe style fixed blades of 1095, intended mainly for electricians, cable TV installers, instrumentation workers and the like. My older brother and his co-workers seem to really like them.

I read a comment by Stacy some time back where he said the same thing about a high polish finish on a carbon blade being easier to take care of so that's what I've been doing.

When/if I start working with stainless steel blades I'll start using either a machine finish, a hand sanded finish or an acid wash tumbled style finish. They do look good!
 
AVigil said:
Surprisingly many customers just do not care for a hand sanded finish. A nice satin belt finish, scotch brite finish, bead blast or stone washed finish are more popular and sell better.
Click to expand...

I've noticed that, too. Most of my clients feel no need to pay me extra to finish a blade very finely, because they fully intend to use it a lot and scratch it up anyway. Those who do prefer hand-sanded blades are usually quite happy with 400 grit. (as Bruce said, go one step further and come back down, for the crispest look)

Regardless of the style of finish, I think we all agree it should be even and consistent. One trick I use is, when I think I'm done with a belt finish at 400 or 600 grit, I go over it lengthways by hand with just a few strokes of the same grit paper... that will show up any "hidden" coarser scratches real quick. And as others mentioned, coarse scratches that are buffed shiny just look awful and cheap, like flea-market stuff.
 
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