Finish On Blade War

S

SkarpKniv

Joined
Sep 21, 2003
Messages
217
So I'm working on that D2 project as mentioned earlier. Everything is coming along fine, I just need to start sanding before heat treat. So I tell frank how we need to buy some wet/dry sandpaper, from 80 to 400 or thereabouts.
Than he goes on about how we don't need to sand by hand, that he has some leather wheel at work that you can put some compound on. Than just use some sandpaper afterwards if I wanted a satin finish. I say that I've read tons of info on the net and never heard of anyone doing it like that.
He has never made knives before, neither have I. I'm pretty sure he's wrong but I can't really explain to him why it's done like that.I jsut theorized that first off he wont remove tools marks the way he did, if it was so easy than why doesn't everyone else do it. He goes on about maybe they do it but don't mention it so it seems like it's a lot of work.
So could someone please explain to me so he can understand why you sand by hand and not just polish it. Thanks
 
from what i know it help to show the Hamon on a blade, someone sait it cuts instead of "smearing" the metal making the steels structure show the hamon better. (or something like that)
 
Leather wheel? For everything!?

I jsut theorized that first off he wont remove tools marks the way he did
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Your theory is pretty good. Polishing compound will smear things around enough that you might get rid of the marks. However, is he proposing to use a round wheel to clean a flat surface? Not going to happen. It's gonna take forever, and look awful - very uneven and no crisp edges, everything gets washed out.

if it was so easy than why doesn't everyone else do it. He goes on about maybe they do it but don't mention it so it seems like it's a lot of work.
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HAHAHAHAHHAHA conspiracy theory at its finest.

You can polish out sanding marks @320 grit if your polishing backing matches the surface. For example, for the flats you can use a cork belt and a flat platen. Or for hollow ground you can use a wheel that matches the grind curve. But using a wheel to polish flats that are still coarse....


Remember you're going to have to do it again after heattreat. And I don't know if buffing is going to remove the discoloration.

Hope that helps.

Steve
 
Yes it is possible to smear metal, even the hardest tool steel.Don't use worn out abrasive paper on the sanding disk.A sanding disk can give you a flat surface but a buffing wheel will round off corners .Doing it by hand with the paper on a wooden block is the best way.Remove all marks from one grit before going to a finer grit.
 
yah it was heated discussion. Frank is the type of guy where if he think's the sky is green, the sky IS GREEN:rolleyes:. He said we could hand sand after heat treat but that we could do the leather wheel with compound now. I said he could do it to his blank but not mine!:D Mete!that's what I told that old fool!Maybe the coffee and smoke is going to the brain. by the way, no hamon is going to be shown. If someone could post a pic for me you could see the finish Im talking about as it is now. ;)
 
You won't have a hamon on D2 because you can't differentially quench it. The air quenched steels get the whole blade hardened as a unit.

Sand it!
 
yah I know, when i said no hamon will show, i SHOULD have said that D2 wont get a hamon. Thanks for informing in case I didn't know though:) No this is not sarcastic.
 
Also, I think its worth mentioning, that if you are hand sanding or even on some grinding, it really helps to change angles before you get to the final grit and the direction you want it to go in. I.e. from horizontal to diagonal against the stone, paper or belt. For example, in the beginning, I was going from 80 to 120 in the same direction and not noticing that a few stubborn 80 grit marks were being masked by the 120 until I got to an even finer grit or upon closer inspection. Because the scratches all passed over each other in the same direction. By shifting the blade a few degrees at an angle all the previous grit marks jump out like night and day and you can see clearly when they are gone. Things work a little different when you can only hold the blade in one direction (pay close attention), as in many cases. But nonethless, its worth noting I think. :cool:
 
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