Noob Needs help please

K

KBotta

Joined
Nov 3, 2016
Messages
3
Hey Y'all,
Been picking up a lot of ideas and methods for the last 6 months or so from this site. Love the resources!

Been learning knife "assembly" and handle construction etc- before moving on to stock removal and hopefully forging.
My question: I picked up a couple of Damascus "blanks" and went to work. Here I am- almost finished- removed blue tape- and I do not like the finish (Belt marks, etch) on this blade.
My question: Can I re-polish the exposed blade, and then etch again? Or am I asking for trouble?
In hind site- I should have inspected the blanks more closely for finish because as you can see from the picture it sux.

Anyhow- please offer your feedback/ method for doing this- I'd like to save it if possible.
DamaBAD.jpg
 
Yes you can repolish and etch. Those scratches look significant so I would start hand sanding at 220 and work your way up to 1000 and then re-etch.
 
What material is the guard made of? You might have a hard time etching the blade and not the guard. Also getting all of the ferric chloride out of the inside of the guard if you go below that point. I would etch by hand rather than dunking if possible otherwise you are going to have a line near the guard unless you submerge the guard.
 
Check out nick Wheeler's hand sanding 101 videos on YouTube. It'll help you out tremendously!


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Just sand & polish again. I use wax to protect non etch areas. Of course your etchant cant be too hot.

Well done. That Looks better than the average "noob-job" !
 
BKT the guard is brass- sorry don't have the material cert to determine which kind of brass (got it from work). I seen some folks talk about using clear nail polish to put on the guard as a "mask" and then suspend the blade so that it just barely touches the guard- I thought that "sounded" good. Not sure of what wax to use as Lieblad suggests. Paraffin perhaps?
I'll have to look up etching by hand to see how that is done.

Got a Baldor grinder 2x48 given to me today and a bunch of AO belts - So I'll probably grab some scrap 17-4 to learn how to grind bevels by hand- Thanks guys!!
Kevin
 
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