hand finishing anyone?

[d.weglarz13]

hello guys. I have a question that I just can't seem to get good advice for. there are quite a few knives that i own that I want to do this for, but I will talk about my TOPS Interceptor. I am sure you can figure out where this is going, but I really want to rid myself of the black coating, and try a hand rubbed finish of some sort. I would like to try the japanese way, although I don't know really anything about it, but am willing to try easier methods. Up until now, i have only really sanded the blade by hand length-wise, with 800 grit. Any other methods or techniques I can find out about? also, where the heck do I get these really fine grit papers like 1800 or 2500 or something? I don't have a grinder, so I am doing it by hand, but if I wanted to use one, i would get a cheap one and would rather do it by hand anyway. thanks in advance, and please nobody tell me things like "the coating has a purpose," or "you need to practice for years doing that!" (just a joke) thanks again fellas.

 

[Cougar Allen]

Welcome to Bladeforums!

Let’s see if we can find the right forum …

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Fine grit autobody sandpaper is available in small sheets in the automotive section of Walmart.

 

[siguy]

if you hit up an autobody store they will have sandpaper up into the high grits, the local place goes to 2000. you can buy a pack of sheets for like $5 or so. i recommend skipping every other grit, so you would go 200,400,600,800,1000 etc

i have heard of using a paint remover to take off the gunk (ask around in the hardware store, make sure you get remover and not thinner), and then hand-sanding, changing the angle by about 30 degrees with each new grit. i have also read that once you hit about 600 grit you should start using a cutting fluid of some kind; water, windex, or oil. wet/dry sandpaper that you can get at the store will be fine for this.

i don't know how to do it the japanese way though...

 

[d.weglarz13]

cool. anything else I should know about the changing directions? that sounds like there is definitely something to it. also the cutting oil? I will try to research it, but am not having too much luck. thanks again for the help, and anything else would benefit me. should I post the question a different way? different forum category? etc. thanks.

 

[siguy]

you might do well to look for past threads in the shoptalk area:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=741

i remember one or two inthe past month probably.

like i said, windex should work fine for cutting fluid, it is highly recommended by some of the high-end makers.

with the changing directions-it is mostly to make sure that you can see that you are getting out every last scratch before you move on. if you are always sanding in the same direction, it can appear that you have totally evened out the finish but in fact have missed several spots.

also, make sure that you get every single last scratch out at a certain grit before moving on, or else you will have a lot more work to do later to get it out, or it may not come out unless you go back to that grit.