Finishing Nickel/silver

[Dixieblade57]

I am in the process of building my first knife using Nickel/Silver bolsters and a Nickel/Silver pommel. In fact this is my fist use of Nickel/Silver. I have been really surprised at how hard this material is too work.
I guess I shouldn’t have been because I know from my construction days that Nickel is used often too plate the teeth of heavy equipment. Nickel beads are laid down side by side on the teeth of equipment as a wear surface. I guess I figured there would be more silver than nickel in the bar I bought from the knife supply.

Anyway back to the subject at hand. I need to pick everyone’s brain for information about finishing N/S! I have used 80 grit to sand too shape, and strip of an old 80 grit belt to refine the shape. I have then polished with 180grit.

I am beginning to see this is going to need to be highly polished to look right. So what I am asking is what grit do you sand out N/S too? Do you buff out the final finished look?

My problem is the bolster is going to have to be in a finished state before it goes back onto the knife. However the Camel bone (jigged scales) I am using cannot be finish shaped till they go back onto the knife as they will have to be blended into the finished shape of the bolsters and pommel. Has anyone got any advice on this particular step?

Any advice on finishing N/S, as well as any advice on the blending of the Camel bone into the finished N/S pieces without screwing up the finished N/S would be greatly appreciated!


C Craft Custom Knives

“Do a good job and your name will get around fast enough, do a bad job and your name will beat your from job to job”
My father

 

[Darrin Sanders]

I always wait until the bolsters and handle scales are installed then I finish them together. I may be missing something but I can't understand why you can attach the bolsters first, attach the scales next, & then finish them at the same time. You've got me curious.

 

[james terrio]

I guess I figured there would be more silver than nickel in the bar I bought from the knife supply.

There is no silver in "nickel silver" or "German silver". NS is a copper-based alloy, not terribly different from brass, except with nickel in it. It was developed as a less-expensive alternative to real silver, and a good substrate for silver plating.

As you say it is surprisingly difficult to machine, drill and polish. I hand-sand it the same way I would steel, all the way up to 2000 grit. I don't own a buffer but I have heard you shouldn't use the same wheel on steel that you use on copper alloys, it will make them tarnish badly.

I think it's much prettier and "warmer" looking than stainless for fittings, and it patinas very nicely.

 

[LRB]

Dixie, if possible finish after installing, as a unit with the grip. I do recommend finishing the front edge first though, to keep from scoring your blade. Sand to 400grit, 600 if you wish, buff with green chrome rouge, then clean and follow with yellow rouge, if you want a really mirrored finish. Depeding on the grip material, using black rouge before green is best, but the black might imbed in some materials, as well as the green. If you take it to 600 grit before buffing, then yellow rouge will do it very nicely. I don't find NS much harder to work than brass, but it will show any and all scratches or flaws that you might have missed.

 

[Dixieblade57]

Thanks for the finishing info evrybody!

OK let me try to explain myself better. Sometime pictures do a better job and I will say up front the pics are not that good ( in fact they are horrible, in a hurry and too much flash) but I hope they help to explain better what I was talking about!

This is my bass ackwards knife as my dad used to say and if you don't understand that just put the b on the ackwards and you will!

This is a fixed blade but it is build much like a folder. I think I figured out how to get the preliminary sanding done on the bolster and the pommel without screwing up the blade. I made a copy of the blade handle out of mild steel complete with drill holes to match what is on the knife.

The bolsters and pommel are angled as well as the scales. The bolster especially has to be 100% finished when it is attached to the finished blade as there will be no way to sand the leading edge against the blade without messing up the blade!

I realize now that the scales will not be as hard to fit against top and bottom of the bolster and the pommel as first thought!

So what I will do is finish the bolster (especially wherethe leading edge of it touches the blade) as well as the scales, and the pommel. That way when I pop it off of the mild steel copy of the blade and pin it to the real blade after HT and finish all I will have to do is a final sanding of the bolster, scales and pommel, to fit it too the real blade!

Oh by the way the reason the blades grind is not complete my file guide snapped while grinding the blade. I had made several passes when all of the sudden it just poped!

I suspect I had tightened it a little tight and the heat build up and cooling of the blade must have put to much pressure on it!

C Craft Custom Knives

“Do a good job and your name will get around fast enough, do a bad job and your name will beat your from job to job”

My Father