Finished knife,hand sanded blade, big spot, big problem,what to do?

R.H.Clark · Apr 26, 2011

Well I've screwed up big time.I was in a rush to finish a knife I'm donating to charity.I finished the bowie and then drove an hour to a friends house and used his Personalizer Plus II to etch my name.I'll never etch a finished blade again.I've done it before with no problems but never again.

Everything looked great.I cleaned the blade,wrapped it in an oiled rag,and put it away.I was delayed 3 hours getting home and when I unwrapped my knife,there was a copper looking spot the size of a silver dollar on my blade.All I can think is I must have spilled solution on my rag or possibly left some when I cleaned it.

I couldn't polish it all out with Flitz so I panicked and used green compound on the buffer.The spot is gone but so is my perfect 600 grit hand finish. Now I have a spotty looking near mirror finish with lots of micro scratches.

Is there anything I can do to fix it? It's a 10" stag bowie hidden tang with brass guard.I might try to hand sand again but now with it assembled I can't start way down on the tang for one smooth stroke all the way to the tip.

Any suggestions appreciated.
I really need them.
Thanks,Randy

jonnymac44 · Apr 26, 2011

Randy, that is a painful story! I feel for you. I've gotten to where I finish a blade, then put my etch on it, and then put on the handle. That order works best for me. That way, if I mess up an etch I can still hit the whole flat with the grinder to get rid of the botched etch and redo it.

As far as your current situation, to keep your nice looking hand rubbed finish how about taping up the guard and putting your sanding block or pad right up against it trying to get your strokes as hook free as possible at the guard? You've already had it on the buffer with compound, so shouldn't you be able to start with a fairly fine grit like 220 or so?

Best of luck with it.

Kunklec · Apr 27, 2011

Fold a piece of sandpaper over a single edged razor blade. That way you can get right up to the guard to get full stroke scratches. Also, it sounds like you did not completely neutralize the etchant before you wrapped the blade. I learned this lesson the usual hard way and got this advice on this forum. Now I etch,windex, do a few strokes with 1000g through the windex, clean, windex, clean and oil. Since then I have not gotten the dreaded spot.
Chip Kunkle

Salem Straub · Apr 27, 2011

+1 on the above. I'd tape the guard face, and use something like a dulled razor blade with some paper wrapped around the edge to start pulling the finish back right from the guard joint. I've done it on a lot of knives. I would think that if your finish is near-mirror buffed, you could maybe even just start right in with 600 paper.

It shouldn't be too big a deal to feather that sanded finish back in to look natural. Good luck.

Will Leavitt · Apr 27, 2011

+1 to all the above suggestions.

Remember that window cleaner is cheap so don't scrimp on using it to neutralize....

Justin King · Apr 27, 2011

I would be tempted to go for a Scotch-brite hand finish in your situation. I have gotten away with this on assembled blades before, it seems less risky to me than taking sandpaper to it.

NickWheeler · Apr 27, 2011

I have heard this razor blade thing a lot over the years and I think it sucks! LOL I understand the idea.... to get the paper right in the blade/guard junction, but it means trying to hold onto a tiny little razor blade and it also means you're using a completely stiff (steel) backing on the sandpaper.

If you have a regular sanding block that you can actually hold onto that has a face glued onto it with just a little give (like hard rubber), then you can spray a piece of sandpaper with spray glue, and glue it to the sanding block. If you grind the block down like a chisel grind... then you can see right where the front of the block is.

This lets you get right in the junction, have a good hold of the block, and have a better backing for the sandpaper.

A block like this

R.H.Clark · May 2, 2011

Thanks everyone.Sorry for the delay in answering,we have just got power back after the storms.

Just wanted to let you know,I'm happy with the finish now.I spent another hour on the buffer getting the polish more even then about 4 hours with a leather covered block loaded with green compound hand sanding to get out the micro scratches from the buffer.It may not be MS perfect but it's as good as I think I will be able to do under the circumstances.