Sandblasted steel

[hvychev77]

Do any of you knifemakers sandblast your steel to give it a satin look? I am making a knife currently and thought this may look decent as I am not super skilled at sanding yet. Any advantages or disadvantages? I am using 1095 steel...Thanks

 

[Drew Riley]

Personally, I try to give carbon steels a little more of a polished finish to help minimize the propensity for rust. The theory is that a rougher surface is harder to clean and wipe down and tends to not only attract more stuff, but is a much better surface for moisture to "stick" to. On that same note, however, there's the idea that oil will stick just as well, so I guess it really just depends on how well you care for the knife.

Either way, a polished blade is usually a little easier to care for, in my experience. YMMV.

 

[Tkrocky]

If you haven't sanded well enough, the sandblasting isn't going to fix it. That being said, I like a sandblasted look and it is pretty easy to do. A blast cabinet and AO media from harbor freight can do the trick for pretty cheap. You also have to have a pretty good compressor with high cfm. Good luck man and keep truckin!

 

[Lo/Rez]

I like using it when I'm doing a two tone finish on a knife. I grind after heat treat so I blast the blade prior to grinding and leave a belt finish. AEB-L with glass media.

 

[Nic.]

I have sandblasted blades before...you have to be really careful not to wash out your plunge lines

 

[bdmicarta]

Personally, I try to give carbon steels a little more of a polished finish to help minimize the propensity for rust. The theory is that a rougher surface is harder to clean and wipe down and tends to not only attract more stuff, but is a much better surface for moisture to "stick" to.

I have an older folder with blasted ATS34 steel and it was always hard to keep clean.

 

[lukus]

When I made my first couple of knives in high school (early 80's and 440C steel), I sandblasted them. Looked good, but I found them to be a little harder to keep clean and would get light spot rusting. However, I like and still use glass beading sometimes. It gives a fine matte finish. Glass beads will peen the steel rather than cut it like sand or more abrasive material. The finish is fine enough that it won't hide any imperfections in grind, so might not be what you're after. I take them to 400 grit by hand before glass beading them.

 

[me2]

I'd recommend against sandblasting plain carbon steel. It will rust so fast you can watch the rust move across the surface if conditions are right. I've always considered sandblasting a preparation for the final finish, not the final finish itself. That said, I have and will buy knives with stainless that has a nice bead blasted finish. But, if they rust, it doesn't surprise me any more.

 

[lukus]

Yeah, to reiterate. Glass beads will leave a very fine satin/matte finish. It's no rougher or promotes rust any more than any other satin finish. Maybe even less so because of the peening action. The popular stone washed finish is rougher, and it's not a problem for rusting.

I once had a friend that worked at an auto parts store sand blast one of my knives. Turned out they used a very aggressive medium; pink stuff, so garnet? Anyway, I had to keep that one oiled like it was a carbon steel.

 

[Lo/Rez]

The problem may be that the media that had been used was not new and had contaminated the blade with carbon steel from a previous job. I never use belts, files or dipping buckets that have been exposed to carbon steel with any stainless I am working with.