Double cut to Satin

Liu Kang

Liu Kang

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Ok, been looking for this one knife, I think it might be my grail knife, it's the meaner street limited edition for a while. It was my first knife and I sold it before knowing what a Busse even was. Well, that lead me to search what a Busse was and I'm here today because of it. So it's sorta my grail knife to get because it got me started on Busse and I owe a lot to that one knife, so been trying to get that one back for a while now.
Well, it turns out that's sort of a hard knife to come by, so anyway, I got a hold of a sterile original meaner with a double cut flat ground. So the only reason I even bought it was cause I know the double ground knifes turn into satin a whole lot easier then coated blades. I was going to send it to the shop but well, I was messing around with a different double cut blade I had and it didn't turn out bad so I took 2000 grit sandpaper and went at this meaner. I only did one side so you can see the difference. So if I sorta mess it up or don't like what I do to it, I figured I send it back to the shop and have them turn it into satin for me. It didn't turn out so bad, I sorta like it. It's not the same as a factory satin though, mine is not as silver or ight in color but is so much smoother then the factory satin finish. The top two pictures are of just the blade sanded down, the bottom three are of the pictures of the factory double cut finish.
So is there a right way to do this? Like the grit of the sandpaper, from what to what? Anyone have any advise?
The other thing I was thinking, will I like this more then my other Busse knife because I worked on it myself and put a little bit of myself into it or will I like the factory Busse work better? What have you done and what do you think you like more? What do you guys think?




 
Well, it's ruined. If it wasn't so fat, I'd give you $200 for it out of sympathy.
 
DC is basically bead blasted satin. It doesn't take much get a nice satin finish on it. Looks good!
 
I dunno Dan I think you should send it to me so I can get a closer look at it. :D ;)
 
That looks great! There is a guy named Peppercorn that does some of the nicest looking satin finish by hand that I have seen. He may be able to help you:thumbup: I am sure there are others also:)
 
Yes you definatly ruined it, but if you'd send it to me I'll be glad to dispose of it properly Dan. :D No really it looks good from here. :thumbup:
 
Did you use a belt sander? Or by hand? I have a DC BOSS that has rubbed shiny in a few spots from kydex wear, I would love to have mine look like yours :)
 
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Liu,

Here is an example, in this case one of Jeremy Horton's knives, that I did by hand. The top photo is the before shot.

Supplies: standard sanding block, flat on one side and curved on the back. Wet/dry sandpaper in: 100, 220, 320, 400 grit.

I use a sanding block and work it all by hand.
Start with 100 and work back and forth from spine to edge using the curved side of the sanding bock while maintaining a perpendicular orientation to the spine. You can also work around the slabs on the ricasso with the block...more on that later. Once you get it fairly even apply some masking tape to that side. This will protect it from incidental scratches while you work the other side.

Once the other side is where you want it tape it also.

Next do the spine and underside with the block, using a small piece under the handle with your fingers . I usually end with a smallish, say 3 inch piece of 100, which you have removed from the sanding block, rolled like a dollar bill and work the spine with that in a parallel rather than perpendicular orientation. This keeps the focus of the paper on the center of the spine rather than on the edges.

I should note here that you will most likely be resharpening due to paper contact with the edge.

Take another small piece of 100,again from what you used on the block already, and, with your finger tips work around the ricasso up next to the slabs.

Now do whole thing with 220 in the same order.


In the last step, using 320, try to make single strokes in one direction as you will sometimes see ''curly cues'' from changing directions.



Note, I usually have the tip of the knife, or the side lying flat on a chopping block or any piece of wood as a working surface.



Remember to tape the sides after each step to avoid unwanted scratches.

I hope this helps.
 
Nakatomi said:
Did you use a belt sander? Or by hand? I have a DC BOSS that has rubbed shiny in a few spots from kydex wear, I would love to have mine look like yours :)
Click to expand...

Everything by hand, it was a done lightly and with 2000 grit so it won't take much off. Here are two pictures of my satin finish compared to a Busse factory finsih


here is a shot from a different angle


and here is the double cut side aginst the factory satin finish

 
You know, you could really get crazy and go all the way up to like .5 micron paper. :D
 
Cool....so that's what it looks like with a satin finish on it.


Great, sell back to me now!;)

Glad you're that much closer to your grail bro. Everybody needs a grail knife.
 
Ok, finally done, I love this knife, it's my favorite knife for right now. This things is so smooth and worth all the many cuts on my hands from fine sanding and polishing this knife completely by hand. I finally appreciate it being sterile. I love this thing, not just because this is the smoothest knife I have, but I think cause I did it myself...
Here are two pictures. One is the one I polished and the other is a factory satin finish. They show each others reflection against each other.



Two more picts of them next to each other. And yes these are the flat ground .22" Meaner Streets:)

 
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