General finish question

[PIndelicato]

Now that I've got a couple under my belt and am working on a few more, a finishing question has occurred to me that I don't recall reading anything about before.

It appears to me that handles will frequently be finish sanded (or even buffed) at a higher grit than the blade. I can think of a few options to address this:

-Finish everything to it's appropriate level, then carefully go back over the spine and tang steel with the same grit that was used to finish the bevels of the blade

-Finish the spine and tang at a higher grit than the blade to match the final grit of the handle material.

-Somehow blend the two?

Of those possibilities I've thought of, the 2nd seems like the best way but I don't recall reading what anyone else does or recommends. How do you all do this?

Thanks!

 

[Jack O'Neill]

I always hand sand my handle material and then buff to give it a shine . It does not matter what the finish of the rest of the knife is , satin or polished .

 

[PIndelicato]

Thanks Jack, after re-reading my post I don't think my question made any sense. What I'm referring to is that as the handle material is sanded/buffed, the exposed steel around the tang (full tang knives specifically) will also of course be affected. So for example, if I hand sanded my blade flats and bevels to 400x and the handle slabs to 1500x, now the exposed steel in the tang is finished differently than the rest of the blade.

Hope that makes more sense!

 

[galadduin]

For some knives I leave the handle at 400 and don't buff, just oil. Shiny handles are slippery for wet and oily work conditions, its my feeling that to leave it at 400 gives not a beautiful handle but it is much more safe for user than for example 1000X finishes...

 

[Jack O'Neill]

stay away from the tang , tape it if need be and go slow and be careful. I just look for a nice clean handle with no visible scratches . I'm not making a violin .