Hand polished RAT-5

leemovie

leemovie

Joined
Jun 23, 2005
Messages
714
This is my first attamp to hand polish a blade.
RAT-5 in black coat is alreaty a handsome knife. The coating is actually very durable. I tried many stripper and failed to remove it. I had to sand it off and it took a loooooong time.
How do you guys think the knife look after polishing?

this is where I started:
1153619578-rat1.jpg

finished blade in sheath
1153619588-rat2.jpg

one side:
1153619209-rat3.jpg

the other:
1153619604-rat4.jpg
 
5-6 hours. Since the paint remover doesn't work on the coating of RAT5, I had to sand it off first. The blade underneath is a little bit uneven.
Most of all, I had zero experience in polishing knives:)
 
Snap! Turned that into one sweet looker!

Would like to have seen you do that to the RAK you had for sale too.

Matador-
 
That's beautiful!
I'm in the process of doing the same to a BK-9. I used Citristrip which made very short work of the coating. I wish I could say the same about the sanding.
 
Talos said:
That's beautiful!
I'm in the process of doing the same to a BK-9. I used Citristrip which made very short work of the coating. I wish I could say the same about the sanding.
Click to expand...
Post a picture when you are done. I will probably strip/sand a Ranger RAK soon.
 
leemovie said:
Post a picture when you are done. I will probably strip/sand a Ranger RAK soon.
Click to expand...
I'll have to post a photo in progress as the knife has been put on hold. I found a Fender Stratocaster one of my co-workers threw in the dumpster (I was emptying my trash can, I don't normally check out the contents of dumpsters but that may change, though!), so I'm refinishing the guitar. What a surprise to see that laying in there. The only thing wrong with it is it's missing a bridge saddle!
 
Here's a shot of the BK-9 in progress. I've just completed 400 grit on the blade. I plan on stopping at 800 as that should give me the finish I'm looking for.

Picture.jpg
 
Those both look great. You're sanding spine to edge? In the case of the Becker, did you start with 400 grit?
 
JohnG said:
Those both look great. You're sanding spine to edge? In the case of the Becker, did you start with 400 grit?
Click to expand...

I started with 60 grit, the blade had fairly heavy grind marks that I had to sand out. With each change in grit I sand the opposite direction untill the previous grits marks are removed. So when I start sanding with 600 I will start sanding lengthwise.
 
Talos said:
I started with 60 grit, the blade had fairly heavy grind marks that I had to sand out. With each change in grit I sand the opposite direction untill the previous grits marks are removed. So when I start sanding with 600 I will start sanding lengthwise.
Click to expand...

That's great info. Thanks--hope you'll show the finished results....
 
JohnG said:
That's great info. Thanks--hope you'll show the finished results....
Click to expand...
I will definitely do that but it may be a while. The Stratocaster is occupying my time right now. It's a nice break from the knife. I'm finding wood a whole lot easier to sand:D
 
Talos said:
Here's a shot of the BK-9 in progress. I've just completed 400 grit on the blade. I plan on stopping at 800 as that should give me the finish I'm looking for.

Picture.jpg
Click to expand...
Looks good. I am in the process of polishing a Ranger Assault Knife. I will post pictures when it's done.
 
Look forward to seeing those.
I've finished the BK-9. Below is a link to the post I started looking for peoples reactions. I know it's not pretty so there really wasn't too much comment I suppose because of that. It's funny because I took it to a nice satin finish but really wasn't happy with the sandpaper marks. I need to get a little sandblaster, I guess if I'm going to keep doing this. So I took it to a mirror polish which my wife thought looked great but I despised. Looked too pretty or something, I don't know, just didn't look right to me. So I gave it several apple cider vinegar treatments, had the blade almost black, then lightly polished it with a 000 steel wool pad untill I had a look I liked. It's not pretty but I really like it.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=417115
 
Wow, the pieces pictured in this thread look great! Very inspiring! I'll have to try that after I complete my other knife-related projects. Thanks guys! Keep up the good work!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top