removing scratches on an integral

Knifemaker87

Knifemaker87

Joined
Jan 2, 2006
Messages
1,073
hey everybody!
this is driving me crazy... i cant get out all the scratches but i want the wood slabs and the integral handle to be flush.. just flush.. perfect (not gonna happen) the wood is much softer than the steel (obviously) and i tend to cut away more wood than steel. I have been using a peice of G10 to hold my paper flat, but i still am taking away more wood than i want.

how do i remove the scratches on the little place between the handle and filework without digging into the wood?

http://picasaweb.google.com/Knifemaker87/GentlemanSKnife#

what else can i do?
thanks
 
Well, looking at those pics, I think you've got a hopeless situation on your hands. For your health, you should probably avoid the frustration involved in continuing to work on this knife, you know, save your heart. In fact, to avoid continued frustration just from seeing the knife, you should box it up (carefully, please...you know, for safety of the usps/ups/etc) and ship it to my house.

Seriously, that's a tough one. Maybe someone will have some suggestions so you can avoid having to ship it to me. (I GOT DIBS IF HE GIVES IT AWAY, SO BACK OFF PEOPLE!!)

--nathan
 
I feel your pain. I'm gonna go out on a limb and let you know what I've done doing bolser and guard work. More or less the same idea. Get your steel down to 400 perfect prior to setting in the wood. Tape off the metal and work your wood down slowly. When you get close (as in sanding tape), you should be at 400. Remove the tape and work 400, 600, so on and so forth. At that point you're removing very little material, just scratches. That's my process, maybe someone else has something better :D
 
*laughs*
i was about to box up the knife.. or throw it on the ground and jump on it.. thisafternoon.

i made a mistake not finishing the integral part first. I thought that i should leave it rough because i would want to fit it to the wood.. big mistake. i got the part near the wood all done.. then i was cleaning up a part of the filework with a round file and it slipped giving me that beautiful scratch. gahhhhhh! i put it away (carefully.. i didnt know who to ship it to yet) =P and forged some stuff.

Thanks for the offer nathan! i will keep you in mind. my neighbors would prefer your method to the knife throwing which i was contemplating.

gonna clean the next one up before doing the wood.
thanks for the help!
~chris
 
If the "deal" with Nathan falls through <laughing :D> I have seconds!!!! :)
 
possibly buff the pi$ outta yer steel, then put them scales on it and buff the wood down to the steel. should work, and maybe was already mentioned.

looks to be a really nice piece.

andrew
 
It's hard for me to tell how deep the scratch is. I'm assuming it is the dark "X" next to the wood in the fourth picture. A person can get out about any scratch. If they are deep, things around it have to get smaller. The trick is to fool the eye. You won't fool all eyes but you can fool most of them.

You need something small and hard. The best tool for me is little polishing stones. I take a coarse one and dig a scratch out with little bitty strokes. When it is gone, start blending the divot into the surrounding with the next grit up.

If I'm right and the "X" is the scratch, I'd be making sure I didn't touch the wood with the stone. One of the problems is the stones need to be lubricated and if I didn't think the wood would stand that, I'd be gluing sand paper to a small flat tool. After the scratch is gone and the metal is blended, blend the wood to the metal.

This is fussy work. You'd probably get a good part of another knife built in the time it will take... or, at least, that is the way it would be with me.

Mike
 
Mike,
sounds like a plan. those darn scratches. and yes, the little x is actuallya forging mark. the other scratches are vertical, and harder to see in the picture.

i have been using double sided tape on a piece of 1/4" G10. that makes it flat and hard.. but i am still digging in to the wood a bit. just trying to get them out the easiest way.

*laughs* sometimes.. i wonder if it os worth al the trouble to get the scratches out. then when you put in the time.. it really does make a difference.

thanks for the help!
~chris
 
Looks like you have far more advanced technique compared to me
that I feel hesitated to make any kind of advice to you.

If you have to erase this scratch now, as Mike Krall said in previous post,
sharpening stone for shaping or adjusting injection mold
could be useful. They are much better than putting paper on some kind of
flat plate because double sided tape has a certain thickness in its adhesive layer
that causes real trouble in shaping materials of different hardness.
Or, you could try precision files of goldsmith or watchmaker.
 
fujita yuji said:
Looks like you have far more advanced technique compared to me
that I feel hesitated to make any kind of advice to you.

If you have to erase this scratch now, as Mike Krall said in previous post,
sharpening stone for shaping or adjusting injection mold
could be useful. They are much better than putting paper on some kind of
flat plate because double sided tape has a certain thickness in its adhesive layer
that causes real trouble in shaping materials of different hardness.
Or, you could try precision files of goldsmith or watchmaker.
Click to expand...

you know.. i hadnt even thought about the tape being "springy" that is a great point!
i an gonna try the stones. Richard J also mentioned that i use some superglue to kinda bolster the wood while i am sanding.

thanks for your help!
~chris
 
That is a fantasic blade! I am sure you could make a mint if you made a set of four in a smaller version as a steak knife set! Keep up the great work man!
 
Maybe you could put a few layers of super glue on the wood and then sand the metal and superglue down until the glue is gone and the metal is scratch free. If you only use a thin layer or two of super glue, it won't take long to get through it but it would provide a tougher barrier while you get the scratches out of the metal. Just an idea. Good luck.

Garrett
 
Chris, If all else fails, take a vibratory engraver and stipple the entire bolster and tang from behind the rings to the butt of the knife giving it a texturized appearance. Kind of drastic I know but it will cover and blend everything in without having to remove any material.
 
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