jeweling a knife blade

T

three crows

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Mar 23, 2013
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Had a request for a jeweled knife blade, good idea? bad idea? any help would be nice never heard of a jeweled knife blade. Thnx
 
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Yes the same as a rifle bolt, Im guessing the knife wont be used much just wondering how it would hold up, I guess if it doesnt turn out I could sand it out
 
three crows said:
Yes the same as a rifle bolt, Im guessing the knife wont be used much just wondering how it would hold up, I guess if it doesnt turn out I could sand it out
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ya you can just sand it out.

It might not hold up very long in crazy use , but for a EDC that occasionally opens packages it would look pretty cool and hold up.
 
I had a custom set that were both jeweled. The guy said it was to hold oil in the high carbon steel. It looks awesome. I think it's done with a drill press, a wooden dowl, and some compound.
 
I have played around with jeweling a bit and found the easiest way for me, was to use the abrasive rubber polishing bits for a dremel, and chuck them in my drill press. They didn't need compound, and they left a pretty nice pattern, however the wood dowel and compound would probably give a deeper pattern
 
I fixed your title for you.

An izmel is the only knife blade I know of you could call jewed.....but jeweled ones are more common.
 
I have never done it, but I have heard that a pencil chucked in a drill press with the eraser down works pretty well. Use compound on the eraser and go. Like I said, never tried it, but sound like it would work.
Cody
 
Jeweling is done with abrasive cylinders (Cratex #6 point) in a drill press. The work is placed under the end of the cylinder ( held solidly), and the cylinder lowered in place while it rotates. It is lifted, the work piece re-positioned, and then lowered again. With practice it can be done fast by hand on a drill press. With CNC mills, it can be automated.

There are special holders for the abrasive points, and jigs for positioning the object, but it is not complex to do by hand with just a drill press. Practice for 30 minutes on a polished piece of steel chucked in the drill press vise and it will be no problem to do a knife blade.

It can be done by hand with a Dremmel or flex-shaft, but that requires some skill.

While pencil erasers and grinding compound have been used, that is about the same as surgery being done with a pen knife. It might work in a pinch, but it is not the right way to do it, and the results may be compromised.
 
When I was a teen, in shop class I had to do this to a bottle opener made form 1/4" flat stock. We used hard wood dowel and valve lapping compound. Probably 1/2 way between Stacy's method and the eraser method.
 
Yes, the old way was an orange wood dowel ( soft maple would do in a pinch) and valve compound. Watchmakers still use that way.
 
IIRC, we used hemlock. About the same as a soft maple. Readily available at Home Depot here.
 
It is common to see jeweling on the inside of the liners on liner lockling folders. I always go that way on mine. You can buy cratex cylinders of different sizes to do this with. You place them in a drill press, bring it down on the item gently, hold it there for a second or two and then move on to the next circle to be done. Frank
 
This is the set I had.....

cus3.jpg
 
thanks for the input guys Im going to make a aluminum mandrel to hold the craytex, I made on from nylon but it walked way too much. maybe Ill see if I can post a pic when its done.
 
I have to ask why the mandril? For added stiffness just wipe the cratex cylinder with some thin crazy glue.
 
While called jeweling, the proper name is engine turning. The original use was to help hold lubricant in areas where needed.

As a gunsmith I learned to do this with a wire brush that has been wrapped with additional wire around the bristles to hold them tight. this makes the best consistant pattern and allows you to do surfaces that are not flat. Use of a compound (such as Craytex) will not do this well, and you have the problem with breakage which really messes up the job. Use of a wooden dowel is only acceptable for a flat surface. Using a pencil is really cool until the time you press down and the soft erasure disentigrates and you mash the tin into your once polished piece.

It is best done with a jig that will allow you to move the piece you are working in mutiple dimensions in a precise, repeatable, manner. Also, the better the piece is polished before you start, the better the results after turning.
 
Brownells sells kits.It's a cylinder with a wire brush that fits in your drill press along with the cutting compound(like valve lapping).I think the wooden dowel sounds like a good idea.But only on the flats.
 
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