Hand rubbing being a pain?can't get the flats as smooth as you want? Try this trick

Bruce Evans

Bruce Evans

Joined
Sep 26, 1999
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4,486
At my Hammer in this Fall a fellow Knifemaker named David Winston told me this little trick that he had been using to shorten his hand rubbing time.I have been playing around with it and now want to pass it on.It may sound funny to some but it works!

First you will need to make a trip to Wal Mart and pick up a 1/4 sheet palm grip sander or a 1/3 sheet finishing sander (both are vibrating sanders)
Now you will take and peel the rubber pad off and epoxy on a piece of micarta the same sive as the pad ---I unbolted the pad and screwed the micarta on my so it wouldn't ever come off,as the glue will eventually come loose and you will have to re-glue it back on later---
Now i use this as a extension of the belt grinder before hand rubbing starts.I start off with 320 grit paper and work my flats then my blade.When you do the blade you will immediately see if you have and small lumps or divits or really deep scratches.At this point you can either go back to the grinder and work them down or if yhet are not really super bad (like a real deep 2 incher) You are taking metal off with this sander so you can just work it down flat.Don't push real hard as it will leave deep fish hooks with a fresh piece of paper.I put a radious on one edge of the micarta so when I bump up against my plunge lines it matches and thus polishes there also.Don't worry about the funny swirled look at this time just work it until it is smooth,flat and the deep scratches that you missed on the grinder are gone.This even works great on the back edges also.I set my convex edge in before I come off the belt then when I am using the sander I just smooth it all together thus no funny breaks in the lines (this will sharpen the knife as you go so be careful)
Now I move to 400 grit-then 600 grit- then I put some oil on the blade and use 800 grit.This leaves a black mud on the blade but I just keep enough oil on the blade to keep the mud wet and when I stop I wipe it off with a paper towel.Now you check it.
If you don't own a optivisor You really need to purchase one.This will allow you to see scratches that you only seen in the sun after you were done.
If you have a nice smooth surface with no deep grinder scratches you are ready to hand sand the blade.
I go back to 600 grit and rub the blade and flats out with some oil on the blade,This only takes a couple of minutes to straighten out the swirls but when looking through the optivisor you will see them in the back ground just take a few more minutes and work them out,Move on to 800 then on to 1200 and if you do this with the optivisore on all the time when you take it off and look at your blade in the light you will Smile..
Now you may think this will take a long time,But this is the cool part.I have cut my hand rubbing time from hours per side to between 1/2 hour to max of 1 hour for a 12 inch Bowie depending on if I have a small 2 incher from the finer grits on the belt....Skinner sized blades take about a 1/2 hour max to clean up..
This set up will also work to flatten and polish out guards and fine tune the flats of your scales...

Since Fathers day is next weekend I have ben seeing these on sale at Wal Mart and K Mart for $15.00 or less...

Hope this will help someone not mess up a blade by trying to keep grinding out a small divit in the blade when they could have smoothed it out with this trick and save some hand rubbing time also.This is great if your hands hurt from rubbing also...
Have fun with it and good Luck..
Bruce
:cool:
 
Bruce great tip, I'll give it a go on that Bowie coming up end of the month. Cool, thanks,

Dave
 
Hey Bruce I tried that some time back,but
did not care for. But I think I`ll give it
another try usin the micarta that sound like
it will make a big difference in the results
Thanks Bubba;)
 
Thanks Bruce! I think you are about to save me a bunch of time on my titanium handle slabs as well as my blade flats. Sounds like the micarta is the trick so as not to round over the edges. :)
 
I'm really glad to see this post. About 13-14 years ago, I did the same thing and it worked just like you said. I told some other makers about this at a show, and they laughed at the idea, thought I was joking I guess. I never mentioned it again, But I did continue using it. I am really glad to see some parallel developement at work here. :cool:
 
Oh man, will I ever have enough tools?

Probly not, sounds like I'm gonna have to visit Wal-mart. Thanks Bruce.
 
I was thinking about something like that earlier. :) Guess its already been done, and glad to see it works. I'll have to actually get one sometime.
 
I tried that once, I left the funny swirled look, because I thought it was kind of cool.
Kyle
 
An hour after reading this post, I came across one at a yard sale! $5 and I'm in business! We'll see how it works.
 
Glad everybody didn't just laugh at me here:D
Just remember that it will heat up a blade like grinding,and don't push to hard and dig in.Yes the Micarta is the key to making this work ,this way the flats stay flatas long as you don't rock up on the edges.I figure the rubber pad left on will work for convex blades also.
Lets here from some of you guys that have tried it and see what you think of the idea also..
Bruce
 
This trick can also be used to do the hollows. Grind a hollow in a piece of aluminum. I used a thick piece about 1/2". I made a three inch wide grind in the aluminum and took it to 600 grit and then to 15 micron belt.Mix up some epoxy or casting resin.Spray the ground out area with pam or other mold release.Pour in the epoxy or resin and let harden. Remove piece and drill a hole near each end.Drill matching holes in your micarta base on the sander.Cut some pieces of sand paper to wrap around the radius and screw into base to hold it.Now sand youre hollow till the cows come home.
Have Fun and thanks for the idea Bruce,
Mark
 
I went and bought one several months ago tried it and returned
it. I thought it was a good idea.I didn't put micarta on it though.
I wounder if Walmart still has it.

Paul
 
I use the same method as Bruce for cleaning up my blades. But don't throw the pad away. I stick the pad to the micarta to clean up the scales and bolsters on my folders. I don't have a buffer, so I use the pad with 800 grit paper and go over the whole knife (except the blade) to clean everything up. Then I go back and rub it out with "Metal Glow" on a rag. It leaves the scales slick as glass, and a mirror shine on the bolsters.

-chris
 
I just ordered a hand sander on Amazon. I've been using 9" disc to flatten my grind but never really liked it.
 
I understand you can use sticky paper or use regular sand paper hold in place by clip on a sander pad, which for most sanders sucks.
 
Wow, FLASHBACK! This thread came out of nowhere. I remember reading it when Bruce first posted it in '02. I'm not sure why I haven't tried it yet. Maybe because I don't do many hand finishes. But I have some projects coming up that I will be wanting a subtle satin on. I guess this is the nudge I need to grab one of these sukers. Thanks again, Bruce!
 
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