Sand Blaster Funn With a Couple of Folders

raylaconico

raylaconico

Joined
Jan 30, 2004
Messages
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Ever since my buddy Mike Vagnino and I got the sandblaster set up and running in my shop, I've been playing a lot with it. I love the finish it leaves on Titanium. I've always liked the look of it but seeing it on one of my knives is really cool for me. I think I like it even more than orange peel and it's easier to do. It's probably the easiest thing I've ever done on a knife that made such a big difference. Here are a couple of folders that I sold last week. Both have the Ti and hardware with a blasted finish. Now I need to try sandblasting a blade. I can't wait to get the tumbler! How do you guys feel about sandblasted and/or tumbled finishes? Thanks for looking.

-Ray Laconico


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Looking sweet, Ray. I love blasted blades, but I hear you want glass bead (#80?) for that. Are you using silicone carbide on the Ti?
 
I like the bead blast finishes Ray!!
Heres a blast finished fighter i made for a customer.
GHaile
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I love my sand blasting cabinet as well as my tumbler.

I have done some tumbled blades with ceramic medium and love the finish.
 
A small blasting cabinet is on my long wishlist of tools... hopefully I will have room for one some day, love those finishes!
 
I would have to say that your knives could have just about any finish on them and still look awesome!

That being said, I really like both of those.
 
Ray, they look great!

What grit did you take them to before blasting? Which blasting grit used? Thanks!
 
Thanks guys.

Daniel, I didn't pre finish the Ti parts. For anything that needed grinding, I used 120 grit and the grind marks disapear when blasted. The equipment I have is very old, homemade, and well used. I used the media that was already in there. I don't know what grit it is but it looks like extremely fine sand. I'm very happy with the results and wouldn't change a thing.
 
Yes I like the blasted and tumbled look..I think I the the tumbled look a bit better. Ray your folders have been coming out so nice. I think I am going to try my hand at making a few. I mean breaking a few
 
Ray, those look great. I use the 80 grit glass bead, and it seems to give more of a matte-silver finish than the AO which seems to give a little bit darker finish (a little more porous, too). Your media seems to have that lighter finish than AO, with a heavier texture, like AO. As far as tumbling, I've been messing with tumbled finishes since I started making knives. I recently picked up the 18 Lb vibration tumbler from Harbor Freight, and I am happy with it so far. When I finish some of the blades I'm working on, I'll post some picks of the glass-beading. David is going to be finishing some of his Scrap Knives in the tumbler, and I'm sure he will post those, too.
 
I blast and tumble knives regularly.

I typically take them to 220 - 400 grit, then apply a heavy blast.

The finish looks great, and is non reflective.
 
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