hand sanding

yes I had a spell check problem, if you type in dificult one of the options is viticulture which I accidentally clicked on. Needles to say I was quit startled when I found that word in my post I didn't even know what it meant.
 
Sometimes you need to think backwards.
I see so many guys say something like they know what they'll be doing for the weekend and that would be sanding out a bowie blade or something like that.
There's better ways to spend your weekend.
Spend your time MAKING KNIVES, not hand sanding.
"Hand sanding" is not knife making.
If you see a bunch of deep scratches and bumps and so on, don't try to sand them out.
Get up out of your chair and go back to the grinder!
Write this on your wall,
"When you are sanding out scratches, you're NOT sanding scratches!
You're sanding everything that is NOT a scratch".
If you find yourself spending a LOT of time hand sanding, that procedure is NOT your downfall or your shortcoming. Your grinding technique is where you need work.
It's not the quality of your sand paper or how hard your sanding block is, etc., etc., etc.
Go back and get better on the grinder.
If I spend MORE time than is required to drink a cup of coffee to bring all grinding marks to a 100% scratch-free surface with 220 grit, then it's a really bad day.
To be quite honest, I just do NOT let that happen.
If I sit down and see more deep scratches than I will accept, I IMMEDIATELY! get out of my chair and go back to the grinder.
My last 6 inch "gent's bowie" took exactly 1/2 sheet of paper to be completely free of grind marks. That was 4 strips of 220 paper 1 1/4" wide.
It wasn't any special sanding techniques or expensive paper - since I buy the absolutely cheapest paper I can find on Fleabay - or groovy sanding blocks or 'secret' lubricant, etc.
It was the result of being more careful at the grinder and doing what Phillip Patton said, "The key is to get ALL the coarser scratches out with the 240, and make sure there's no ripples or gouges in the surface..."
If you do that at the grinder, your time spent hand sanding will be dramatically reduced.
My blade hand-sanding time is now the least significant time and $$ expense of making a knife.
I could even go into dollars and investment here - and I will for just a second.
Can't afford one of those fancy variable speed grinders with all the attachments?
But you're saying that you can afford to spend countless hours sitting there doing slave labor? When what you should be doing is MAKING AND SELLING KNIVES?
Just get a good grinder, learn to use it well, and it'll pay for itself!
And you'll be a better knife maker because of it.
 
You guys are still doing the first step in hand sanding the hard way. You should be using tool and die makers stones for the first step in your hand sanding instead of sand paper. I come off the grinder with a 400 grit finish and do the first step in hand sanding with a 1/2 wide 400 grit silicon carbide stone. I shape one end and it sure makes the plunges easier to clean up and helps with and missed 220 grit lines. After the stone has smmothed everything well I go to 600-2500 wet dry paper.
 
Karl,
Your comment about sanding everything that's not a scratch is a point
well taken and should be up on the wall as a reminder.:)

Thanks,
Bill
 
Really great advice given. Here's a holding clamp set-up I built from a clamp I got at HF. I used a bar of aluminum but you can use a flat piece of wood also as a base. Makes hand sanding allot easier
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