Knife refinish project your help desired.

Marion David Poff

Marion David Poff

Joined
Oct 8, 1998
Messages
5,403
Good Day,

I know this may have come up before, but if possible I would love you help.

I have a differentially tempered 5160 bowie that I want to refinish. It has a skeleton handle with traction shapes. And it is powder coated.

I plan on sanding the paint off. Then I want to take the finish to a point where I can etch the blade to see if I want to show off the temper line. Then I believe I want to bond micarta handles on.

So, what do I need to watch for?

I have seen advice to the effect of going a different direction with each grit to help with the blade finish.

What grit do I need to take the blade to, to get a good etch?

What can I get locally to do the etch?

After the etch, what?

The handle includes traction shapes around the edge, badly done at that. When I bond the micarta on, I plan on filling the holes with epoxy and leaving the micarta so as to make them disappear. Luckily the traction shapes do not go outside the line of the handle.

Anyone want to donate 2, 2" by 6" micarta slabs? Maybe in OD Green or Brown?

Thanks, any help you can give me will be very appreciated, I want to start on this tonight. I am excited to see what this will look like.

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Thank you,
Marion David Poff aka Eye, Cd'A ID, USA mdpoff@hotmail.com

My Talonite Resource Page, nearly exhaustive!!
My Fire Page, artificial flint and index of information.

"Many are blinded by name and reputation, few see the truth" Lao Tzu
 
You will probably have to start with a coarse grit to get the paint off without plugging the paper overmuch say 60 or 80 grit to remove the paint then go to 120 ,150 after that 240 320 and 400 grit. If its a working knife I stop at 400. It helps to go length of the blade and then across with each grit going length wise with the last grit. Clamp the knife to a board and use a wooden bacxking for the paper somthing like oak or other hardwood on the last 400 grit I switch to a rubber sanding block and wet paper, I use soapy water for the liquid. Is the blade edge quenched? If it is not yhere will be no reason to etch as it will not show a line. If it is you can etch with ferric chloride available from Radio Shack. Do a Search here for info on the etching. I think you will have to put some pins in the handle slabs to ensure a secure grip. I also see no reason the sand off the paint under the slabs, maybe just sand it a little for the epoxy to bite.
Oh yeah you will want to use a sanding block that will elevate your fingers above the edge of the knife, even though it is clamped to the board it can still bite, speaking from experience. How big is the knife?

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Why am I good enough to fix my mistakes, but not good enough to keep from making them in the first place?
 
I agree that pinning the handle slabs is desirable, no need to have through pins though if you don't want them, you could sink the pins part way into the slabs on the inside through the holes in the skeleton handle.

If you have the patience to go to a 1200 grit you can get almost to a mirror finish on the blade. I can't help you with showing the temper line though, I've never succeeded!

Roger
 
Well,

I sanded all the paint off, except for that paint in the traction shapes and holes.

The 80 grit finish on the blade already shows the temper. Very nice looking.

After the grief of getting the blade to this finish I may just leave it as it is and put the handle on.

Any other tips on sanding the blade? So far it looks pretty rough.

------------------
Thank you,
Marion David Poff aka Eye, Cd'A ID, USA mdpoff@hotmail.com

My Talonite Resource Page, nearly exhaustive!!
My Fire Page, artificial flint and index of information.

"Many are blinded by name and reputation, few see the truth" Lao Tzu
 
Don't stop now, getting the paint off was the hard part,I have been showing a friend if mine how to make knives. He always wants to know (after seeing the finish on one of mine) why his blades don't look like mine. I tell him it is because he stopped before he was through. The finer the finish the better the rust resistance also.

Did I mention don't stop now?

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Why am I good enough to fix my mistakes, but not good enough to keep from making them in the first place?
 
Well,

I got the paint out of the traction shapes with a chainsaw file.

As I go finer with the grits, will I still be able to see the temper line?

MDP
 
Yes, the trick to the Japanese sword polishing is the water stones. You can make the temper line show up well by using finer grits, etching and then buffing.

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Why am I good enough to fix my mistakes, but not good enough to keep from making them in the first place?
 
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