Refinishing/polish with palm sander-grits?

M

MHall52

Joined
Oct 18, 2008
Messages
92
I am about to do what I did once a while back, but never got the results I was trying for.
I want to remove the coating on a couple of blades and end up with a really shiny blade at the end with a high degree a polish I can get, yet using only my palm sander. Last time I did this I started with 400 grit then 600 -800-1200 and 2000. Results were not perfect, but not too bad.
Question: Depending on how thick the coating, and of course what the coating is, shoud I start with a rougher grit, like say 200, or even more coarse?
 
Use the finest grit that will do the job.
Once you have gotten to 2000 grit, you can use Simichrome and a thick cloth on your sander.
 
START with the highest grit that will do the job in a reasonable amount of time.
FINISH with the highest grit you can find.
 
If it is a Cold Steel knife, you can probably use paint stripper.
I used Zip-A-Strip on my Recon Scout and it worked fine to remove the coating.
Sanding the steel to an acceptable shine was a bit more work.
Bruce Evans has a great tutorial on hand sanding on his website.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
START with the highest grit that will do the job in a reasonable amount of time.
FINISH with the highest grit you can find.
Click to expand...

Know I think I get it. Any polish or roughe or something that is good to apply on the blade before sanding?
 
Ebbtide said:
If it is a Cold Steel knife, you can probably use paint stripper.
I used Zip-A-Strip on my Recon Scout and it worked fine to remove the coating.
Sanding the steel to an acceptable shine was a bit more work.
Bruce Evans has a great tutorial on hand sanding on his website.
Click to expand...

One of the blades I was thinking of is someting with a tough finish like a CS Recon or Trail Master OR a Rat 7 or a Ranger RD9. I don't want to ruin my knife or waste money, but so many knives just do not come with a polished finish, which is what I want.
 
No. Just start with the grit that will remove the coating and also remove the blade imperfections.
 
The problem with the CS coating is that it just gums up the sandpaper very quickly.
The paint remover will take it off in a half hour, tops.
What is under that is a dull oxidized bar of steel with no hint of polish.
No shine. No pretty.
Once you take that first step, you've got to take them all.
In for a nickel, in for a dollar :D

I do recommend masking off the handle very carefully because the paint remover and the krayton probably won't get along at all.

Here is my Recon Scout.
Scout_Kydex.jpg

I started with 320 or 400 grit, like Bill says, and worked my way up with each grit to 2000.
After it looked great for a year or so, I scratched the heck out of it while convexing the edge.
Such is life :D
Bruce Evans tutorial page:
http://beknivessite2.homestead.com/guard.html
 
Post #5...
Zip-A-Strip.

Remember, in for a nickel, in for a dollar.
It's going to look real sad under that coating.
That's why they coat the blades, no costly fine finishing... just a dip and they're done.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top