Reshaping the handles on finished fixed blades?

[traumkommode]

Hi everyone! I've reshaped blades on a 1x30 belt sander no problem. Now I have a couple fixed blade knives that are nice, and the handles are good, but with a few tweaks they would be perfect.

I'm wondering, though, if I would run into trouble reshaping thesee finished handles, the kind of trouble where the wood scales (knife 1) and G-10 scales (knife 2) will sand/abrade at a different rate than the metal tangs, and leave me with sloppy edges of handle material that recede past the tangs.

I will finish everything by hand with sand paper, this is just new territory for me and I'm nervous to ruin pretty handles.

Thanks!

 

[bodog]

Hi everyone! I've reshaped blades on a 1x30 belt sander no problem. Now I have a couple fixed blade knives that are nice, and the handles are good, but with a few tweaks they would be perfect.

I'm wondering, though, if I would run into trouble reshaping thesee finished handles, the kind of trouble where the wood scales (knife 1) and G-10 scales (knife 2) will sand/abrade at a different rate than the metal tangs, and leave me with sloppy edges of handle material that recede past the tangs.

I will finish everything by hand with sand paper, this is just new territory for me and I'm nervous to ruin pretty handles.

Thanks!

Shouldn't be much of an issue. The steel may crown a little if you're using the belts without backing but it'll be a smooth transition, so no lip or anything can be felt. If you use the platen or whatever the the sander has then it'll probably jitter a little to a lot unless you've reinforced what comes on the 1 x 30 sanders. I took off the platen, if it could be called that, and use a chunk of a 2 x 4 behind the belt and go slower. It doesn't jitter or jump and still backs the belt. Most of the time it's such a non-issue that I go without backing at all unless I'm working in tight curved spaces then I'll use the butt of a screwdriver or whatever to force a curve in the belt. My experience is limited to some working and reworking of full tang and hidden tang knives and thinning primary bevels, reshaping blades, and finishing blades.

Oh, and I rarely finish by hand sanding. Most of what I need to do I can start and finish with an assortment of proper belts. The only exceptions are in really hard to reach areas where I might burn the handle materials if I'm not really careful.

 

[NJBillK]

Careful with G10, it is a glass filled polymer (think insulation). If you are going to work on it, please have adequate ventilation, debris/dust removal, and a quality mask.

Treat it like asbestos, for once it is in your lungs, it is there for good.
------
I rough shape on a belt, then move to files for further shaping then to hand sand for every wooden handle I do.
My average paper progression is 220, 400, 800, 1k, 2k, 5k, then a few baths with BLO and they are done.

Good luck and be safe.

 

[traumkommode]

Thank you both. I'm going to take the dive on Monday when I'm not at work. And I'll be working on Micarta instead of wood or G10. I sand on a table outside on my deck, so I'll be adequately ventilated, and wearing a mask.

I'm going to Harbor Freight tomorrow to pick up some belts, so I'll see what grits they offer. I'm also going to do my first regrind on this blade, because it's pretty thickly ground and it wants to be a slicer. Will report back with images.

 

[bodog]

Thank you both. I'm going to take the dive on Monday when I'm not at work. And I'll be working on Micarta instead of wood or G10. I sand on a table outside on my deck, so I'll be adequately ventilated, and wearing a mask.

I'm going to Harbor Freight tomorrow to pick up some belts, so I'll see what grits they offer. I'm also going to do my first regrind on this blade, because it's pretty thickly ground and it wants to be a slicer. Will report back with images.

They don't have a good selection. I think 60 and 80 grit or something. Maybe 80 and 160. Whatever. Try tru-grit. They have a big selection for 1x30 sanders and they ship fast. The belts they have are also much higher quality. You'll want that quality when you go to reshape the blade. Trust me. I've tried. They're a little more expensive but last a lot longer and give a more consistent finish at those low grits. That makes it easier when going higher.

And keep a bucket of water. Make one medium fast pass and dunk. Each and every time. The blade heats up quick. I'd actually suggest taking a bunch of ice and putting it in the bucket of water and letting the blade get really cold. That way you can do two or maybe three passes between dunks.

And don't spend too much time near the ricasso. Even passes each time. And don't get impatient. If you find yourself getting frustrated or trying to push through something faster than your common sense tells you is right, put the knife down, go drink a beer and watch the game for a little bit, and then go back. Your knife will thank you in the end.

 

[traumkommode]

They don't have a good selection. I think 60 and 80 grit or something. Maybe 80 and 160. Whatever. Try tru-grit. They have a big selection for 1x30 sanders and they ship fast. The belts they have are also much higher quality. You'll want that quality when you go to reshape the blade. Trust me. I've tried. They're a little more expensive but last a lot longer and give a more consistent finish at those low grits. That makes it easier when going higher.

And keep a bucket of water. Make one medium fast pass and dunk. Each and every time. The blade heats up quick. I'd actually suggest taking a bunch of ice and putting it in the bucket of water and letting the blade get really cold. That way you can do two or maybe three passes between dunks.

And don't spend too much time near the ricasso. Even passes each time. And don't get impatient. If you find yourself getting frustrated or trying to push through something faster than your common sense tells you is right, put the knife down, go drink a beer and watch the game for a little bit, and then go back. Your knife will thank you in the end.

I'm hip to the cold water, done reshapes on small blades. Never thinned a blade though. Any more tips for that specifically?

I'm looking at Tru-Grit's site. Klingspor makes Silicon Carbide, Aluminum Oxide, and something called Zirconia (probably a diamond-like deal, billed for heavy stock removal). 3M has diamond micron and aluminum oxide. Meric and Norton both make ceramic. Which do you like?

 

[bodog]

I'm hip to the cold water, done reshapes on small blades. Never thinned a blade though. Any more tips for that specifically?

I'm looking at Tru-Grit's site. Klingspor makes Silicon Carbide, Aluminum Oxide, and something called Zirconia (probably a diamond-like deal, billed for heavy stock removal). 3M has diamond micron and aluminum oxide. Meric and Norton both make ceramic. Which do you like?

I've used the gators and the klingspor belts at lower grits and the norax (iirc) belts at higher grits ( 1000 and 1200 grit iirc). Honestly, they're all good. I don't do huge amounts of steel removal but I've done some fairly serious wood work. All ironwood and ebony, etc, and I find the aluminum oxide klingspor belts do what I need them to do regarding handles and the gators (the bright orange belts) do what I need to do with steel.

I bought several super high grit belts for polishing. Don't remember what grit they were or who made them. They were blue (some kind of house brand?). They wore out fairly quick and stretched out after awhile but experimented by putting a worn out 600 grit belt under that one and put some 3000 grit diamond polishing compound on the blue belt and it works really well buffing handles and steel. I do remember those blue belts worked really well when I first got them.

My job has me working crazy hours so I've been slacking on working on my knife making/refinishing skills.

As far as regrinding the bevel, just go slow and smooth and keep it cool. You may want to grab a crappy steak knife or something to practice on.

For handle work I used the softer belts that flex (j weight?) and for blade regrinding I needed really stiff belts (x or y weight?). I don't remember which one is which off the top of my head for sure. Just take note the weights of the belts. I think that may be more important than the specific manufacturer for the different uses. I don't think tru-grit offers anything that's just crap as far as the abrasives go. I know I didn't really need any diamond belts or even silicon carbide so I wouldn't spend my money on them. Everything I've done was done just as well with aluminum oxide and ceramics. Silicon carbide, imo, was a waste of my money.

 

[traumkommode]

A local shop had 1x30 belts

Here's a rough photoshop to show you what I did to this Big Chris. I don't have good shots of the tang post-modification, but, with the exception of one spot at the bottom of the handle where you can tell the radius came from two different directions and didn't marry perfectly, it's good.

I trimmed off length, width to give the knife a nice deep finger guard, cut a sharpening choil, thinned the handles to nearly half of their original thickness, and trimmed the scales back away from the ricasso a good bit. Essentially, what I have now is a neck knife with a 3.25" handle, and a 3.5" blade, 3.25" of which is cutting edge.