How to Satin Finish a Blade?

Balislinger

Balislinger

Joined
Nov 11, 2003
Messages
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I have a Benchmade 42. I'd like to give the blade a duller satin finish, but only if I can make it look professionally done--that is make the finish look even. Is this easy or hard to do? What is a good method (I've heard scotchbrite pads might work well)? Should I avoid the tang area where the butterfly logo is? I don't want to remove the blade. Thank you
 
I've tried to satin finish a couple of factory blades. It takes about 3 times more work that you would ever think. I tried sandpaper backed with the white rod from my Sharpmaker on a Camillus chef's knife and on my Boye Prophet Companion. It seemed to work pretty well, as long as you're patient and as careful. I also stopped at 220 grit or 320, I cant remember which. For a thorough description of satin finishing, go to www.engath.com and check around in the notebook on techniques. You may also want to ask in the shoptalk forum.
 
Thanks me2 but that link doesn't work. Is it spelled right?

MODS please move this to shop talk if you think it would be better there. Thanks
 
gfhoward,

after checking in with the guys in the makers forum, By the way they are an incredible bunch, they really seem to enjoy sharing and helping folks who want to give this stuff a try.

I was at Sears yesterday,

I picked up a med scotchbrite wheel(3") item #64799 $3.99

Buffing compound(came with 4 different grits) item #2896 $5.99

6" in dia buffing wheel item #64939 $4.99

Arbor adaptor, item #26124 $4.99

Total = $19.96 plus your local tax

This total assumes that you have a drill, or access to one.

The scotchbrite wheel came with an arbor attached.



The arbor adaptor allows you to take a drill and make a home/budget buffing wheel

If things go well today I will get a chance to try it out, will get back with the results,

If you try this I would like to hear about your results as well.
 
OK,

I tried the med scotchbrite wheel, it actually did a very good job.

I started with an older fixed blade that had some superficial rust/corrosion and stains, did not take long to have it looking pretty good

Next, a fixed blade that already had a satin finish, but needed some scratches removed, no sweat.

I have a coated blade that I`m going to try one day next week.

Be sure to hold the drill or whatever so that the wheel is turning down away from the edge and not into it, the edge will grab the wheel and put your hand in serious danger.
 
Why use a wheel over just doing it by hand? Is the result more even with a wheel or does it just do the same thing faster?
 
I took my 806D2 AFCK and buffed off the black teflon coating as close to the pivot as possible without touching the scales using my bench grinder and a fine wire wheel. I then used a Dremel tool with a wire wheel and buffed the rest of the black coating off while moving the blade to make sure all the visible coating was removed. Switching the Dremel tip over to a buffing wheel and using jewelers rouge, I polished the blade out to a fairly nice satin finish considering what the D2 looked like when the coating came off. My best guess on total time for the job would be around 3 hours. The Dremel folks make a paste that's available with the attachments that is fair for a polish. Hope this helps.

710BMFAN
 
gfhoward said:
Why use a wheel over just doing it by hand? Is the result more even with a wheel or does it just do the same thing faster?
Click to expand...


I can't speak directly to speed on finishing a knife, but as to speeds in general...

I worked in a hydrostatic unit repair shop, and to remove the gaskets (both paper and the asbestos rubber) we used a air powered die grinder with a fiber pad on it, much like the pads they are talking about here. If you knew what you were doing you could get the main gasket area completely cleaned in about 2 minnutes with the power tool. The day it broke, it would take over 10 minnutes to do the same thing by hand, even when we soaked the thing in the hi-temp parts washer for a while first.

If you have the opportunity, try the power method. One caution from work however, be careful that the edge of the disk doesn't dig into the blade and scar it. You may want to practice on a piece of scrap for a little while just to get a good feel for it.
 
Wheel is faster. You can do a great satin finish with sandpaper, but it takes practice. Is your blade polished? If it's polished, I'd probably start with 800 grit wet/dry and use a lot of water. Make sure you go the full length of the blade and use something like a piece of wood or something with a flat surface behind the paper. Go in straight lines and control the side to side movement as much as possible. If 800 isn't satin-y enough, do 600, then 400, then 320, etc until you get what you like.

I've been doing knives for 5 years and every time I finish a blade it's better than the one before it, so you may want to practice on something before making a nice knife your first shot at it. Here's a pic of an AT Barr Combat that I finished recently, by hand. I think that's a 600 grit finish, if I remember right...Use lots of water and switch the paper frequently because it will dull quickly and that just means more work for you. And, share pics when you're done! Your other option would be to find a maker who will do it for you. I'd volunteer, but I'm super behind so I would have to pass.
combat10.jpg
 
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