- Joined
- Oct 30, 2002
- Messages
- 3,974
I just wanted to share my experiences here. I recently made a jig to hold my blade while hand sanding. You can see pics if you go back 6-7 pages and find my work-in-progress thread.
Formerly, I was holding the blade, usually on my knee, and using the other hand to sand either with hand-held sandpaper or with a micarta block backing the paper. I thought to myself, "some jig to hold the blade might be somewhat easier, but I don't have time and this is working just fine." :foot:
So for anyone out there who is as lazy as I am or for any noobs just starting up, TAKE THE TIME TO MAKE A JIG!!! I'm telling you, it cut my time sanding in 1/5th or more!
For backing sticks, I cut up two pieces of small angle iron into 1 foot lengths and ground the flats to be truly flat. I rounded off all the sharp edges on either end for the handles, and on one piece, I cemented a scrap piece of leather in the middle, wrapping it all the way around the angle iron. I have a couple of simple spring clamps, and I wrap a square of sand paper around the iron and just stick the clamp on to hold it. Use some windex to make a slurry. Two hands for sanding, nice sharp angles/edges to work into plunges, solid flex-free backing sticks, and a nice jig to solidly hold the knife on the work bench and support the tapering blade makes all the difference! I can even sit comfortably on a stool and hardlyl even break a sweat when sanding now!
Anyway, I know most of you figured this out long ago, but I'm a little slow sometimes
. I was able to pre heat-treat sand 5 blades, both sides in about 2 hours yesterday up to 400 grit. Maybe that's still slow, but it's way faster than it used to be. I'll update my WIP thread as I get some more pics.
--nathan
Formerly, I was holding the blade, usually on my knee, and using the other hand to sand either with hand-held sandpaper or with a micarta block backing the paper. I thought to myself, "some jig to hold the blade might be somewhat easier, but I don't have time and this is working just fine." :foot:
So for anyone out there who is as lazy as I am or for any noobs just starting up, TAKE THE TIME TO MAKE A JIG!!! I'm telling you, it cut my time sanding in 1/5th or more!
For backing sticks, I cut up two pieces of small angle iron into 1 foot lengths and ground the flats to be truly flat. I rounded off all the sharp edges on either end for the handles, and on one piece, I cemented a scrap piece of leather in the middle, wrapping it all the way around the angle iron. I have a couple of simple spring clamps, and I wrap a square of sand paper around the iron and just stick the clamp on to hold it. Use some windex to make a slurry. Two hands for sanding, nice sharp angles/edges to work into plunges, solid flex-free backing sticks, and a nice jig to solidly hold the knife on the work bench and support the tapering blade makes all the difference! I can even sit comfortably on a stool and hardlyl even break a sweat when sanding now!
Anyway, I know most of you figured this out long ago, but I'm a little slow sometimes
. I was able to pre heat-treat sand 5 blades, both sides in about 2 hours yesterday up to 400 grit. Maybe that's still slow, but it's way faster than it used to be. I'll update my WIP thread as I get some more pics.--nathan
