Question about hand sanding a blade.

R

R.H.Clark

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Aug 23, 2007
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For thoes of you who hand sand a blade.Do you use any kind of jig or fixture to hold the sandpaper? I've been using 2" wide shop rolls and just holding a piece on the bottom of a micarta slab and sanding with the tang of my blade clamped to a table.

I'm about to build a tool to hold the paper and give me some handles to grip.I would be interested to see if any of you have built such a tool.Just trying to get some different ideas about the best way to go about it.
 
I just use old files with the teeth worn off and any corners ground smooth, and wrap strips of paper tightly around them. For flats a piece of brass flat-stock would work just fine but I like having the different shapes for little corners and curves. (old rat-tail and round files, triangle files, etc)
 
Those wooden thingies you get for free to stir paint
I have a huge collection :)
I just wrap sandpaper around it in strips. Works good
 
Hengelo_77 said:
Those wooden thingies you get for free to stir paint
I have a huge collection :)
I just wrap sandpaper around it in strips. Works good
Click to expand...

Pretty much the same thing I do. I saw on a jewelery site where they put masking tape on the edge of a full sheet and wrap it around the stick, creasing the paper so it folds along the edge of the stick. You can use both flats and sides and then just tear off the used portion to expose a new surface. I have a stack of them ready to go for 180 - 1500 grit. I tried to clamp the blade to a piece of wood while I sanded it but ended up holding the stick and moving the blade instead.
 
Try this, go to napa and order some carbonite sand paper that is sticky on the bottom,It comes in 2 inch wide shop rolls, works great and their is a variety of grits, from 60 to 400,
 
Like James, I use and old file and wrap the paper around it. I have wrapped some tape around both ends of the file to make it easier to grip.
 
I use a piece of 1/4x1x8" copper. That way if I slip I do not scratch the blade. Also I have a piece of firm rubber glued on one side for my final finish. It conforms to the blade and makes for a more consistent finishing pass.
 
I start with a flat micarta block about 1/4"x1"x6" and cut my paper a little wide, fold it around the edges and sand. I keep a sharp square corner on the leading edge of the block so I can really get the scratches out of my plunge cuts. I go up through my final grit with this block, then switch to an old flat file with some leather bonded onto it for my finishing sanding. Like Mr Richards says, it gives a nice uniform blended look when you finish with a softer block.

For hollow grinds, I make a sanding block out of acrylic sheet, about the same size as my micarta block, then heat it and curve it to the radius I need. Then I bond leather onto it. Rubber also works.

For little tiny stuff like sanding the bottom of the ricasso between the guard and the dropped edge, I usually do something like wrap sandpaper around a needle file to polish.
 
It's true that even a smoothed file can scratch your blade if you slip, so you may want to use brass, copper or wood like the other fellows instead.

The tip about leather or rubber on the block or whatever for final finishing sounds great, I'll give that a try!
 
I dont know if your looking for something small, like everyone else is saying. I have used paint stirrers before, as well as those tongue depressor sticks for fine detail. But if you really want to take a lot of metal off fast just get one of these bad boys for about 4$ at ACO Hardware or something. Ask a painter in your family, or friends, or friends family to have one. They usually have tons.

21424.20D_4.jpg


They have clips on each side that clip a sheet of sand paper in. Throw a 60 grit on there and you'll save a load of time, then add a higher grit and sand it a little more, then use a couple paint stirrer's stacked, or file. I used to do exactly this a while back.
 
I use a 1/4 x 2 x about 21 inch bar of mild steel with leather glued to one side.
On this I stick 2 x 11 inch strips of paper (torn from sheets with a guide) using
3M feathering adhesive. One coating of adhesive holds *many* strips of paper.

All of this is a technique that Don Fogg used and demonstrated in various places
though I think he used auto workers PSA strips of paper.
 
Dan Pierson said:
I use a 1/4 x 2 x about 21 inch bar of mild steel with leather glued to one side.
On this I stick 2 x 11 inch strips of paper (torn from sheets with a guide) using
3M feathering adhesive. One coating of adhesive holds *many* strips of paper.

All of this is a technique that Don Fogg used and demonstrated in various places
though I think he used auto workers PSA strips of paper.
Click to expand...

+1

although I use 70 durometer rubber I got from MSC instead of leather.
 
I guess I'm backwards. I clamp a piece of wood in the vise, wrap sandpaper around it and hold it with my left hand. Holding the blade in my right hand I rub it against the sandpaper. One of my favorite wooden sanding blocks (?) is a piece of hand railing. It has curves of different radius so somewhere on there I can find a place to sand the contours of the tang edges on a full tang knife.

LonePine
AKA Paul Meske, Wisconsin
 
http://www.woodworkingtips.com/etips/2005/12/16/ws/

I have several types of backing blocks. Ranging from a piece of flat steel with the edges rounded ( epoxied to a block of wood), to Micarta, through a variety of hardwoods, to a rock hard felt 2X6X1.5" block. All have their purposes. On most blocks, I use the super wide and heavy rubber bands that they use at the vegetable market for celery and such. It goes around the perimeter of the block and holds the paper well. I pre-cut the paper into the right length strips (9" - as most of my blocks are the same 2X2X6"), and store them in labeled Zip-lok bags. I also rout a deep groove down both sides of the block to make a better grip....and keep fingertips out of the way of sharp edges (ask me how many cuts I got before I came up with this idea).

I can't seem to find a photo of it anymore, but several years back I posted a shot of my 1" shop roll holder. It is a block 1X3X6 lignum vitae that has an oval cut out on the inside. There is a slit at the top of the block to allow the paper to pass from inside to outside. I roll up about two feet of paper and place it in the cutout, bringing it out the slit....around the block...and back in the slit. This holds the paper snug and I can advance it to new grit as I wish.

Whatever you use, make it hard and rigid. The degree of hardness can be played with, but the rigidity needs to be solid.
 
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