How can I make a knife blade "sterile"? Please give me advice.

MTHall720

MTHall720

Joined
Sep 21, 2010
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1 I keep seeing knives I like but don't want lettering or printing on the blade. I ruined one knife already. If I start 1000 wet sand paper applied by hand, then go to finer grit do you think that would work ok, without putting any scratches on the blade?

2 I have several black blades because that is all the knife came in. Advisable to start with 800 grit sand paper to remove the coating, or better to use a chemical remover first, then start with 1000 grit to achieve a satin finish?

Thanks VERY much
 
There is a lot more work involved than a little 800-1000 grit sandpaper.
I took the black off my CS Recon Scout with "Zip-A-Strip" paint remover (read & follow the directions!).
That left me with a knife that looked like an unfinished steel bar.
Many hours working thru the grits later I have a nice shiny knife.
220, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500 and then 2000.

As far as blade etching goes, much the same work.
Some etches are deeper than others.

Now before you go sanding all willynilly on your nice knives, read the tutorial here.
http://beknivessite2.homestead.com/handrubbing.html

If you just scrub back and forth, not following the directions above you will have a scratched up ugly blade.

Finished CS RS, since scratched up in use :/
Scout_Kydex.jpg

Queen Canoe with blade etch removed:
EDC.gif


Again, this takes effort and commitment or you get some ugly results.
Good luck :D
 
throw it in an autoclave, thats what i do after I perform a necropy an animal.
 
Great link from Ebbtide!

I've tried cleaning up a few of my blades with mixed results.
Here's a pic of my Izula, I sanded the blade down with progressively finer sandpaper then stropped. Came out pretty good I think, but it's not completely flawless..
various2008-2009190.jpg

Izula on top...
various2008-2009194.jpg


I think it helped that the Izula is a small blade, oh and one thing to note is that all the sanding thinned out the edge pretty noticeably.

I also sanded down a couple bowie knife blades. That was more work and they came out looking more sattin than mirror. You have to work pretty hard to get rid of the etchings, then sand the rest of the blade if you want it all to match. When I was done you could definately still see small scratches from the sanding.
 
Nice job!
It isn't an easy thing to do by hand... that's why a really good hand rubbed finish is a source of pride for the custom makers.
 
My two cents worth. I have had success using a 3m buffing wheel. It's used for deburring metal. Used on an adjustable speed grinder then finish it off with a regular buffing wheel with hard metal polish. Finally another buffing wheel with high gloss polish
 
tattoosteve99 said:
My two cents worth. I have had success using a 3m buffing wheel. It's used for deburring metal. Used on an adjustable speed grinder then finish it off with a regular buffing wheel with hard metal polish. Finally another buffing wheel with high gloss polish
Click to expand...

That sounds like a good way to go! Got any pics of your equipment or knives you've used it on?
 
jimnolimit said:
what knife did you "ruin"? how did you ruin it?
Click to expand...
'
I ruined a large CRKT Crawford Kasper folder. It was black coated. I took various grits of sand paper and used my palm sander. All the black came off but the blade shows lots of scractches.
 
MTHall720 said:
'
I ruined a large CRKT Crawford Kasper folder. It was black coated. I took various grits of sand paper and used my palm sander. All the black came off but the blade shows lots of scractches.
Click to expand...

post a pic of the knife. just because the blade is scratched up, doesn't necessarily mean it's ruined.

p.s. didn't CRKT make that knife with both a coated blade and uncoated blade?
 
jimnolimit said:
post a pic of the knife. just because the blade is scratched up, doesn't necessarily mean it's ruined.

p.s. didn't CRKT make that knife with both a coated blade and uncoated blade?
Click to expand...


ok Here is the knife after I took off the black coating:
crktold1.jpg


CRKTold2.jpg
 
I have the one pictured below which I want to use a much better method to remove the coating:

CRKTNew.jpg
 
My camera is not the best. It looks Satin in this photo but is grayish. I will post more pics.
 
Forgive my ignorance, but why would you buy a knife with a finish ,then go to the trouble of removing the finish. Seems you could just buy one with no blade coating to start. Please explain.
 
Good question. Sometimes I really like a knife except for the blade coating or color. At the time I got the knife in question it only came in black coated form. A good example is Becker BK7. I like the knife so when I get one I want to strip the coating since it doesn't usually come in Any color except
Black. Personal preference for not wanting black
 
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