First Knife Back from Heat Treat

T

TheOTBalisong

Joined
Jun 28, 2012
Messages
288
Just came back from Darrin Sanders, gonna start sanding it today.

2012-08-23133734.jpg


2012-08-23133718.jpg


2012-08-23133656.jpg


Obviously there are mistakes, although not as visible with the black scale still on it, there are scratches, marks, bumps, etc.
But I learned a lot from them and I'm very happy I started knife making.
Thank you to everyone who helped me along the way, I would have never started thinking about knife making without you guys.

This forum has an amazing community, with people offering services and advice to newbs like me, It's amazing.
I will keep posting some updates on this thread so, stay tuned, I guess.

Thanks,
Alex
 
Use a hard flat backing piece behind the sand paper and the scratches and bumps will sand away flat.
Start at 120 grit and go up from there. Use water with a little dish soap in it as a lubricant when sanding. It will go slow at first, but the blade will start to come smooth and shiny as you get to 400 grit. Go as high as you like, but 1000 grit is usually good. If you don't like the look at 1000, , either go up to 2500, or start sanding back down the grits until you like the satin look. Often I go back dawn to 400 (1000,800,400) to get a nice satin hand sanded look.
 
bladsmth said:
Use a hard flat backing piece behind the sand paper and the scratches and bumps will sand away flat.
Start at 120 grit and go up from there. Use water with a little dish soap in it as a lubricant when sanding. It will go slow at first, but the blade will start to come smooth and shiny as you get to 400 grit. Go as high as you like, but 1000 grit is usually good. If you don't like the look at 1000, , either go up to 2500, or start sanding back down the grits until you like the satin look. Often I go back dawn to 400 (1000,800,400) to get a nice satin hand sanded look.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice Stacy, I finished hand sanding yesterday evening. I went up to 2500 and stayed there, but there's this one deep scratch near the ricasso that I can't seem to work out with anything, including 60 grit papers, it's a stubborn scratch :grumpy:

Also, do you have any advice on getting an edge on the blade right now? It's a little under a dime's thickness. What I'm thinking is to go back to 60 grit, and try to sand the edge in, then go back up the grits on the edge, will that work?

Thanks,
Alex.
 
After the post-HT sanding the edge should only be .020 to .010" thick ... 1/3 to 1/5 the thickness of a dime (I take fillet and sashimi blades to .005" before sharpening). From that you sharpen the secondary bevel to make an edge.

Go back to 100 grit ( 60 is too coarse) wet-or-dry paper and re-sand the bevels, leaning harder on the edge part. That should thin the edge as well as get out the deep scratch. Once all is smooth and the edge is around .020", go back up the grits. When you get to the 2500 grit, it should be smooth, shiny, and the edge should be almost sharp. Tape up the blade at this point and put on the handle. After the handle is done and everything else is finished, un-tape the blade and sharpen it on a bench stone.

TIP:
Apply tape along the blade up to about 1/8" from the edge when sharpening. If there is a slip or improper angle, you won't scratch up your shiny bevels.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top