Knife sanding Board

canranger

canranger

Joined
Feb 11, 2004
Messages
467
I could use some help with a problem I am having. I don't use a knife makers clamp when doing my hand sanding on a blade instead I clamp it to a board. I have been finding that even when i use a hard wood board it gets filled with the sanding grit so when i sand one side then flip it the side I just sanded gets all scratched up and i have to keep flipping back and forth.

Any recommendations on how to cure this proble besides putting dopwn a peice of cardboard. Is there a better material for this then wood????


Abe
 
Abe-

I use a piece of angle iron with several 1/4-20 tapped holes in it (all in line with each other).

I put allen screws up from the bottom of the iron, and these support the tip. You need this because the blade will taper from ricasso to tip, and the blade constantly gets flexed downward, wasting a lot of sanding energy.

I clamp the blade down over top of a piece of 10 oz. leather with a quick clamp. A Vise-Grip "C" clamp.

Also, the above advice about masking tape! I sand one side out (let's say at 320X), then tape it up. Then sand the other side to that grit (320X).

THEN move up the the next grit.

It's not good to sand one side out all the way to the final grit, and then do the other side, as you're just asking for contamination from a previous grit.

You need to clean the blade up good before moving onto the next grit.

Can you get away without these things? Yes. But sooner or later you will get bit and find scratches you don't want if you don't dot your "i's" and cross your "t's" :D

-Nick-
 
I clamp my knives to the end of my workbench with a c-clamp, so they free float over nothing. I finish one side completely, then do the other side, and I wipe evrything down very carefully between grits, etc. Works fine for me. But, the longer the blade the less likely I would recommend this method. I do lots of knives with sub-4" blades (and most are 2-3"), so for shorties it works great. Gets a little scarier on longer knives, particularly if you accidentally run the paper/sanding block off the tip and it springboards a little! :eek:
 
Thanks guys for all the good info I tried the tape idea tonight and it worked fine I will try building a few of the jigs and see how that goes . Mostly now I am making smaller knives withthe ocassional one over 4" but I still try and support the whole blade.

Thanks again.

Abe
 
NickWheeler said:
Abe-

I use a piece of angle iron with several 1/4-20 tapped holes in it (all in line with each other).

I put allen screws up from the bottom of the iron, and these support the tip. You need this because the blade will taper from ricasso to tip, and the blade constantly gets flexed downward, wasting a lot of sanding energy.

I clamp the blade down over top of a piece of 10 oz. leather with a quick clamp. A Vise-Grip "C" clamp.

Also, the above advice about masking tape! I sand one side out (let's say at 320X), then tape it up. Then sand the other side to that grit (320X).

THEN move up the the next grit.

It's not good to sand one side out all the way to the final grit, and then do the other side, as you're just asking for contamination from a previous grit.

You need to clean the blade up good before moving onto the next grit.

Can you get away without these things? Yes. But sooner or later you will get bit and find scratches you don't want if you don't dot your "i's" and cross your "t's" :D

-Nick-
Click to expand...
Abe,
There is a drawing of a device similar to what Nick describes in this
thread .
Regards,
Greg
 
One caution, if you hang your knife off the end of your bench be very carefull, it can hurt!. I stabbed myself not to long ago doing that :o . I learned! I don't do that anymore.

Jerry
 
Yes, don't run at your workbench and throw yourself onto it, for sure! I'm pretty careful. I'm the only person who steps foot in my dungeon room, and I make sure I take the knife from it's perch whenever I leave the room, so like if I'm running into the room at night for a wrench or something and I've forgotten to turn the basement light on (which I do every time I go down there) I don't impale myself or cut my arm off! ;) It's probably not the safest way to do it, no doubt. Except for my Tactical Orange Peelers, which are only 2" blades, I actually clamp a piece of steel under the knife so the edge and point ae protected. I've never had a problem with grit and much building up on the steel and messing up my finish, but like I said, I do one side completely, wipe everything down really well, then flip and repeat. The more you flip the more chances you'll have to scrape the knife or twist it as you're clamping it, etc (those circlular twist scratches are really cool when you've hand sanded to 1500 grit).
 
Clamp over a piece of newspaper. Every time you move the knife, clean it and put a new piece of paper down.

Or tape. :)
 
Canranger, I have a Wilton swivel vise that I mounted about 18" from the edge of the workbench with the jaws swiveled 90 degrees and padded with some medium density rubber blocks in the jaws. The tang gets held in the vise. To support the tip I put a couple of 1" nuts in the middle of a flat 12" 2x4,
then used a 1"X 12" bolt padded on the head to adjust up to the tip. With this arrangement you won't have to worry about grit getting under your blade. Also, keeping the tip area on top of the bolt head keeps you from jabbing your fingers as much, or worse yet, forgetting the blade is still clamped up and running your hand or body into it. Pat McGroder
 
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