Norseman Rehab

S

Sharperthansticks

Joined
Sep 19, 2017
Messages
1,612
Bought a Norseman with a scratched blade. Had to do some experimentation with various types and combinations of media in a rock tumber, but I successfully rehabbed the blade.

Before:


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After:


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My Norseman is that exact same setup. Great knife. I actually sold it, and then bought it back... Congrats on the rehab, looks great.
 
7east said:
My Norseman is that exact same setup. Great knife. I actually sold it, and then bought it back... Congrats on the rehab, looks great.
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Thanks, man. Initially I contacted the Grimsmo brothers through their portal, but they were a little behind on their reply, so I finally decided to attempt the rehab myself. Luckily it turned out all right; I was ready to send it to them, though. That's awesome that you bought your knife back. I've done that with two knives, one of which is the Benchmade Anthem. I love that knife.
 
Back in the 1970s I worked in a manufacturing plant and it was my first industrial exposure to the art & science of tumbling parts. Whether it was for de-burring machined components or surface conditioning it amazed me how wide the variety of shapes and materials used in the tumbling media is. It also amazed how darn fast it can be at removing material if you are not careful. Back then the most experienced hand was in charge running the tumbling operation. Since that first exposure so long ago I have thought it is a pretty cool process.
 
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Hairy Clipper said:
Back in the 1970s I worked in a manufacturing plant and it was my first industrial exposure to the art & science of tumbling parts. Whether it was for de-burring machined components or surface conditioning it amazed me how wide the variety of shapes and materials used in the tumbling media is. It also amazed how darn fast it can be at removing material if you are careful. Back then the most experienced hand was in charge running the tumbling operation. Since that first exposure so long ago I have thought it is a pretty cool process.
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That's pretty neat; I never thought of it requiring a really experienced hand, but I guess there's a difference between an experienced hand and a steady hand. All of my tumbling has been for knives -- to polish scales or to stonewash, but mostly to polish. It was a pain to get started, because information was very hard to find. I had to call quite a few places before I could find someone that would help me even a little bit. That place sold me a big jug of burnishing solution. The rock tumbler + ceramic media + burnishing solution is a good way to polish titanium, but experience has taught me that sometimes a little Flitz and a paper towel is more effective -- and far faster. To polish recessed nooks and crannies, I use Flitz and Q-tips, a little trick I stumbled upon through experimentation.
 
Stupid question time, how does the edge not get messed up when doing that? Do you block it off somehow?

Also good job, looks nice!
 
unwisefool said:
Stupid question time, how does the edge not get messed up when doing that? Do you block it off somehow?

Also good job, looks nice!
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Good question, and thanks, by the way. The simple answer is to tumble with rocks and coarse grit, with gorilla tape wrapped on the areas I didn't want exposed, and as is shown in this picture. (There's a section of the picture that is ringed in red; that picture markup was done for a different topic thread.) Anyway, I said that that was the simple answer. I wound up later, for a different reason, taking off the tape and tumbling the whole blade in ceramic media and burnishing solution. (There was a dark spot that I was trying to even out, and I thought I might brighten up the whole blade, too.) At that point, the blade did get dull. I sharpened it on a KME.


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