Removal of Machine Lines

scout1sg

scout1sg

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Nov 9, 2009
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Considering taking out the machining grind lines from the spine and choil areas on a GS0 5 of mine during some of the slack time as a 1st of many winter project. Any suggestions would be appreciated, especially from some of you that may have prettied up any safe queens out there (Survive or other makes). I have some asst grits of sand paper as well as scotch brite pads but I also have a dremel tool but no experience of using the tool for such a project yet feel it might be the ideal expedient tool for the job. If you have some before/after pics that would be great as well. Thx
 
The only first-gen S!K i have left is my GSO-10, i could work some of the perimeter on that for you if you'd like some photos of how I have done it on other knives. But here are a few tips I have to offer:
While the dremel is great taking off a lot of material in a tight curve or for giving a any a surface a final oing-over with a scotch-brite wheel, it is NOT my first choice for taking out the laser-marks on a long section. The reason is that those laser-marks, while shallow, are sufficiently deep that it takes a pretty coarse grit to smooth them away efficiently, and the dremel is designed to only work small sections at a time. You would want to make sure the dremel is fixed (like in the Dremel "workstation") so you can exert careful control on the knife as you pass it along the spinning abrasive drum making sure not to let it sit too long on any one spot. A better choice is to use the long flat surface of a sanding belt wherever you can (I have an HF 1x30 that i use), or at least a wheel of wider diameter than a dremel provides. Once the marks are pretty-much gone, you can go over it with the dremel with a scotch-brite to polish it all up.
I suppose that if you wanted to do it by hand, you could use an extra-extra-coarse stone (<120 grit) to wear flush the steel and then polish it up afterward, but it's going to take a while ;)

TRfromMT TRfromMT probably will have better tips, being the resident Master-of-Handles :D
 
chiral.grolim chiral.grolim just about covered it. I have a different setup.... I built myself a sanding table out of a Porter Cable 3x21" belt sander laying on it's side. I blocked in the handles and built a table that has a flat bed in front of the belt. The belt is traveling left-to-right horizontally, not vertically. I have it set up so that I can use the front roller or the flat platen. I make sure the belt is 90-degrees to the table with a square, using a wedge to adjust each time I change a belt.

Remove the knife scales and use a fine belt, and very light pressure, work the perimeter of the spine. Use sweeping strokes, never dwelling in one spot. Practice with some kind of scrap steel.

For working the tighter inside radius of the finger pocket the front roller on most sanders is too large to get into the radius. A small sanding wheel chucked up in a bench-top drill press works for this really well.

Chiral is right. The sander/dremel/grinder needs to be fixed and rigid. The knife should be worked up against the abrasive wheel or sander.
 
I appreciate all the input, I do have a couple vise set-ups to arrange the dremel in a "fixed" position. I figure I'll try an abrasive wheel first and than transition to some fine wool.
 
chiral.grolim said:
The only first-gen S!K i have left is my GSO-10, i could work some of the perimeter on that for you if you'd like some photos of how I have done it on other knives. But here are a few tips I have to offer:
While the dremel is great taking off a lot of material in a tight curve or for giving a any a surface a final oing-over with a scotch-brite wheel, it is NOT my first choice for taking out the laser-marks on a long section. The reason is that those laser-marks, while shallow, are sufficiently deep that it takes a pretty coarse grit to smooth them away efficiently, and the dremel is designed to only work small sections at a time. You would want to make sure the dremel is fixed (like in the Dremel "workstation") so you can exert careful control on the knife as you pass it along the spinning abrasive drum making sure not to let it sit too long on any one spot. A better choice is to use the long flat surface of a sanding belt wherever you can (I have an HF 1x30 that i use), or at least a wheel of wider diameter than a dremel provides. Once the marks are pretty-much gone, you can go over it with the dremel with a scotch-brite to polish it all up.
I suppose that if you wanted to do it by hand, you could use an extra-extra-coarse stone (<120 grit) to wear flush the steel and then polish it up afterward, but it's going to take a while ;)

TRfromMT TRfromMT probably will have better tips, being the resident Master-of-Handles :D
Click to expand...

If not too terribly difficult on your end, some before/after pics would be great. The choil area of my 5.0 was a bit roughed out when finishing in the shop so probably the location I'll put a little more effort into.
 
TRfromMT said:
Chiral is right. The sander/dremel/grinder needs to be fixed and rigid. The knife should be worked up against the abrasive wheel or sander.
Click to expand...
I second that. One thing to keep in mind, is that the sanding belt is similar to wheels on the road. It will not give problems going against the flow, but going with it the torque will want to throw stuff. Not a big deal. Just be aware that it will do that. If you have a piece of angle iron or thick sheet metal I would recommend practicing. It is easy to screw up and give the flat v shape corners.
 
If you have some time I suggest using this technique:


I made my ESEE-4 this way

P1020439.jpg
 
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