help! bk2 re-surfacing

DKibb

DKibb

Joined
Mar 29, 2012
Messages
31
Hey guys, DKibb here.

My beloved bk2 needs some work,a while back i let my buddy show me a sharpening technique with a stone,i dont use them often because tghey dont work to great for me,ive always used diamond rods and ceramic angle sharpeners,but anyway when he did it he scratched the blade up,it doesnt look horrible but im a bit picky with my beckers.

could someone tell me how to make it look sexy again?
a list of materials needed and a walk though would be amazing.
i want to romove as little metal as possible.

thanks guys,

-DKibb
 
Sanding, sanding, and more sanding. I'd need to see a picture to guesstimate what grit to start at, but don't skip grits unless they're really close together and when you get to the higher grits use wet-dry sandpaper (and use it wet). What grit to go up to also depends on if you're trying to go to mirror or satin or whatever. If you're going to mirror you're talking using buffing compounds and such.
 
I was thinking about starting a similiar thread, but my question seems to fit here just fine I think. Anyway, I'm considering stripping my 16. Never stripped a knife before. I've done some searches and wrote down some stripping product references (which by the way...searching stripper products on google isn't helpful unless you're a pole dancer). I'm going to try out Thrill's advice on removing the coating. I intentionally didn't want to say, "Thrill's advice on stripping."

Once you remove the coating, what grit sand paper do you start with? Do you start wet or dry? I've heard only to sand one direction. Which direction? From edge to spine? From grip to point? Etc? Also, what is the progression of sand papers used to get a decent patina-ready finish?

Gotta love a forum where you can use the words strippers, sand, and wet in the same post and it have nothing to do with with South American or European Beaches lol :p :p
 
well i want the finish to be as close to what it was when i removed the paint,some of the scratches seem like its just the patina scratched off but others are more shiny,all the scratches are very fine though.
 
If its Over a patina why not just apply vinager or what ever you used to re-patina it?
 
randori said:
I was thinking about starting a similiar thread, but my question seems to fit here just fine I think. Anyway, I'm considering stripping my 16. Never stripped a knife before. I've done some searches and wrote down some stripping product references (which by the way...searching stripper products on google isn't helpful unless you're a pole dancer). I'm going to try out Thrill's advice on removing the coating. I intentionally didn't want to say, "Thrill's advice on stripping."

Once you remove the coating, what grit sand paper do you start with? Do you start wet or dry? I've heard only to sand one direction. Which direction? From edge to spine? From grip to point? Etc? Also, what is the progression of sand papers used to get a decent patina-ready finish?

Gotta love a forum where you can use the words strippers, sand, and wet in the same post and it have nothing to do with with South American or European Beaches lol :p :p
Click to expand...

Everyone seems to kind of have their own tweaks on how they strip and sand their BKT's but here is mine:
-Remove scales
-Coat liberally with Klean Strip gel stripper, do this either on a warm day or next to a heater (making sure there is proper ventilation) because it will not strip as easy in cold climate. I recommend either hanging it on a wire hanger from the lanyard hole or flipping it and agitating the stripper on the blade every 15 mins if you can't hang it.
-After 20 minutes to an hour, whenever it looks like the coating is bubbling off and flaking (every time I do this it seems to change, depends on the knife/conditions) I take a razor blade or wire brush to it and scrape off the stripper, wire brush works good to get coating out of the etching and such (there will likely be a few spots left of coating on blade and tang, that's ok). I then give it a quick rinse to get any lingering stripping compound still on the knife off so I don't burn my hands as I begin sanding haha. Then dry well with paper towels.
-I start with 80 grit first to remove remaining coating. I then move up to 120 grit to start smoothing out some of those 80 grit scratches. I like to sand down the blade toward the point, YMMV. I've done it willy-nilly before and as long as you take your time and don't skip grits it still turns out okay (unless you're going for a show piece).
-One quick note, don't move on to the next grit until the scratches from the previous grit appear to be gone (no big 80 grit scratches left, only 120 grit sized marks, does that make sense?). My progression from 120 is 400, 600, 1200, 2500. You can skip the 2500 if you're just throwing a patina on it anyways, would be a waste of effort. When you get up to the 2500 use wet-dry and use it wet or you will go through paper like a mofo. If you're going to mirror, I haven't gone that far (too much work) but someone around here can help you. I know you need to go all the way up to using buffing compounds, etc.
EDIT: Wanted to add to use less pressure as you go higher up the grits.

Hope that helps. Again, you'll probably develop your own method, mine was through trial and error but it works for me.
 
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Thank you for the response. I don't think I'll have to worry about a cold climate down here anytime soon :p I'm going to try this out in a couple of weeks. Only getting paid once a month SUCKS!!! I'll definitely post pics of the before, during, and after. Still trying to figure out what kind of material I want to use to patina the knife anyway.

Thanks!
 
Hey guys,

i wet sanded it with some 220 grit up to 600,it did the trick,my bk2 is looking sharp again :D

Thanks for the help

-DKibb
 
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