Mirror polish bevels, acid stone wash flats

T.Saslow

T.Saslow

Periodic Thinker
Joined
Jun 12, 2013
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I currently have a very special build in the works. I am building a neck knife out of 1/8" 1080. I was asked to put a mirror polish on the bevels and an acid stone wash on the flats. This is the first time i have been asked to/actually done this and i was wondering how you guys with more experience do it? The way i was going to do it was to sand up to 2000 grit with a piece of sand paper on a file or other straight piece of steel. I would work my way up the grits until i have a polish. My only concern is that i will scrape away the finish close to the top of the bevel when i go to sand the bevels. I hope to be able to leave power tools out of this so i can watch what i am doing more carefully...

I did have one idea and that was to take apiece of steel and glue the sand paper on so it would prevent the paper from curling off the file and scraping up the flats. I'm sure there are better, more thought-out ideas out there and i would love to hear them!

Thank you in advance!
Tanner S.
 
I'm not a knife maker at all, but I have polished just the bevels of a knife before leaving the flats the original finish. I just used sand paper loose in my hand (not attached to anything) it worked pretty well for me, had enough control of the paper. I think I stopped at 2000 but I'm not sure.
 
You won't have a problem as long as the paper is tight to the backing material. Don't use a file wrapped in sandpaper! A flat piece of G10 with a single layer of sandpaper will work fine. Sand mostly lengthwise and not edge to spine.
 
Okay, that's what i was originally going to do but i want to eliminate any chance of messing up the flats. The grind if fairly high so i doubt it would take much to make it look a bit...off. I would assume the steeper the grind, the easier it is to keep the sandpaper off the flats.
 
Varga Knives said:
You won't have a problem as long as the paper is tight to the backing material. Don't use a file wrapped in sandpaper! A flat piece of G10 with a single layer of sandpaper will work fine. Sand mostly lengthwise and not edge to spine.
Click to expand...

Ahh, okay. That makes sense. i have hat problems with the file leaving some faint marks before. i have some scrap G10 so i'll see how that works. perhaps i'll jut wrap the sandpaper around the piece and sand like that?

Thank's for the advice!
 
I've had better luck and a better result when I glue the sandpaper to the sanding block using Super 77 type spray adhesive. Wrapping the paper around the sanding block rounds off the edges and can scratch the edges of the adjacent finish. When I'm sanding a hollow grind bevel I use a curved sanding block that matches the hollow grind. I clamp the sanding block in the vise and move the blade across the sanding block. Seems to work better than the other way round, at least with small blades.
 
Okay, i don't have spray adhesive at the moment. I don't suppose Elmers glue sticks would work? I'll try the glue and the G10 method together and see what happens!
Thanks!
 
Elmers, sand paper and hardwood would work.

You could always do the polish first, paint the blade with fingernail enamel, sand it off the flats, then apply your acid. The enamel will leave a very sharp line where you sanded it off.
 
That is a good idea but i have already acid stone washed the blade :( if i mess up the finish, i'll just sand it all off and try it again like that. Wish me luck...
 
I've done similar feats. I used to wrap my file in sandpaper but it will leave tiny little waves from the teeth. I didn't use stone washed flats, but I left my heat treat scale on which I assume would be the same difficulty. I wrapped a piece of oak, that's what I use instead of g10 or micarta for sanding, and took it to 2000ish and just buffed with precision. Should turn out nice for you. Good luck.
 
Thanks! that sounds about right although, i would assume, The scale may be a bit harder and a bit thicker than the acid stonewash? i don't know.
Thank You All For Your Advice!!!!
 
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