Removing coatings and polishing...

Chang

Chang

Joined
Oct 9, 1998
Messages
1,767
If I had a knife and I wanted to remove the coating (black-t lets say), and polish the blade and give it a mirror or satin finish, what should I do?

-Chang the Asian Janitorial Apparatus
 
Oh Comrad, you are about engage in some serious manual labor. Get some sanding blocks and a jig or vice of some kind and begin with about 80 grit sandpaper and work your way to about 600 grit and see how you like the finish. Then 1200 if that wasn't enough. I did that on a recon scout and it took me about 10 hours of hand work. I don't like using power tools on my knives so I suffered through it.

I think 2400 will give you the mirror finish but I'm not sure since I have never done it.

Some others may have some better ways to do it though.
 
10 Hours....!!!!
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Well, the blade is about half as long as that of the SRK, so it prolly won't be as long.

Thanks for the advice!

-Chang, Asian Janitorial Apparatus
 
Chang,
Great post..... I just scored a BM 730BT and was wondering the same thing. I saw your post on Trades so you are probably working on the same blade?. Anyway, to get a bit more detail, does the sanding motion have to be one specific type like 'little circles', 'back and forth' down the length of the blade, 'up and down' from spine to edge? Or do you just go at it? Thanks for any additional info!
Shawn
 
Oh? On the sale/trade forums I was selling/trading a satin finish 730 plain edge. I ended up selling it for $80.00 (he was pretty happy with this).

As for sanding, I read up on the hand sanding. You should use a sanding block because using your fingers will not be consistent enough. And in between grits, you should switch your movements. So start with like 320 going lengthwise, then 450 widthwise, then 600 lengthwise, then 1200 widthwise. Or something like that.
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-Chang the Asian Janitorial Apparatus
 
Chang I have just finished removing the blade coating from a Busse Basic 7. I used a Dremel tool with a 120 grit sanding disk then I hand sanded with 180 grit, 280 grit, 320 grit and finally 600 grit sandpaper. The whole process took me about three hours. I also replaced the Busse leather sheath with the rigid sheath from a Buckmaster. See the results at: http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=314358&a=2421508&p=22505475&Sequence=0 Bubba
 
Wow! I like that. I think I'll hand sand my Emerson when it arrives (the minute the black-t starts to scratch).

-Chang, Asian Janitorial Apparatus
 
Chang,
If you don't have your heart set on mirror finishes, try using a green scotchbrite pad to remove the black coating. I find the satin finish to be very handsome without the flash of a mirror polished blade. (Plus, it's easier to maintain.) Keep the pad slightly wet to keep the dust down and/or wear a respirator mask.
There are some pics of a Nimravus and a Commander that I finished like this floating about somewhere.
 
Last year I used my
Dremel with the little black sanding disc's to remove the black coating on my CS SRK. Took about 45 minutes, and about twenty discs.
*If* I remember next time I am at my friends house, I'll put a picture up of how it turned out. (The curse of webtv.
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)

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"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."
-Derek Bok
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I used a pad to remove the bead blast on my Buck Mentor. I wasn't very happy with the results. I'm probably going to buy some sandpaper from www.woodnshop.com or something. thanks for the responses!

-Chang, Asian janitorial apparatus
 
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