Remove coating

It is pretty easy to strip them. Search on strip or naked or nekkid for many threads on the topic, including how to pictorials.

Getting them to satin is a lot more work. Coated INFI can be fugly under the paint. It takes a long time with hand sanding or some time with a belt grinder to make a decent satin. I use a belt grinder now, and settle for a ghetto satin. (search on that)
 
Gel paint stripper works great, but it's nasty shat so be sure to wear heavy duty gloves, it can eat through some wimpy ones.
 
[video=youtube;LglM_N_FvZ4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LglM_N_FvZ4[/video]
 
dericdesmond said:
[video=youtube;k75QQemkZ0Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k75QQemkZ0Q[/video]
Click to expand...

Hey Eric, what product is that you're using in the video? Man that stuff works fast! :eek: I also like the EZ application method... :D ;)
 
120 grit aluminum oxide in a media cabinet works great too.....I have stripped many a knife that way. They follow it up with either a fine glass bead or hand rub it to the desired finish.
 
The stripping part really is easy! But the guys who replied before me aren't kidding about needing hours of hand rubbing in order to give your knife a satin (or at least ghetto satin) finish, as these blades aren't too pretty underneath the crinkle coat...Actually I love the INFI dimples and (for lack of better words) weathered appearance of the blade with a not so shiny-and-perfect satin finish.

I consider myself a noob when it comes to actually modifying and customizing any of my knives on my own and I finally took the leap stripped down my new CGFBM last night. I am about 1/3 of the way through sanding with scotch brite pads and anticipate a total time of at least 4 hours of rubbing to give it an acceptable appearance (shiny but not too shiny)...I'll post some pics when I finish (I'm guessing tomorrow) so you can get an idea of the amount of hand-rubbing you can expect to invest.

The scariest part to me was masking off the snakeskin micarta scales and applying such a gnarly, corrosive paint-stripper so close to those beautiful handle scales. I kept fearing the sight of the scales just melting away under the stripper, but so far they're still intact and the masking tape has done it's job! As a new guy, my biggest recommendation is to take great care to mask the scales, and then mask them again before proceeding...also pay attention to not get the gunk onto the handles while you scrape the coating off the blade.

It's fun and reasonably easy and a great way to bond with your INFI. I highly recommend it :cool: :thumbup:
 
Can't wait to see your CGFBM Habib! I hope your taking plenty of pictures along the way.
 
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