steel wool and WD40 treatment

K

kremeking

Joined
Feb 15, 2001
Messages
70
I have a question. I recently read a thread about shining a blade to its original finish with 000 steel wool and wd40. I decided to give it a try yesterday and pulled my beloved 18in. Ang khola out for a shine up. Unfortunately, I saw very little difference, despite the fact that I put nearly 2 hours of elbow grease into it. Am I doing something wrong here or was the technique flawed to begin with? Confused and tired. I'm open to correction, teaching, info. Thanks guys.:rolleyes:
 
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And sort of wondered about it at the time.:confused:
Triple Ought 000 steel wool isn't what I would use to try and polish a blade. I would use at least Four Ought 0000 and it may polish along with the WD-40. I haven't tried that process.

However I used some 0000 Four Ought with some Flitz on one of my Marble's and it scratched the polished finish I had buffed on it.
I had to re-buff the polished finish on it and since have used the Flitz with only a soft cloth to remove any stains I didn't want on it.

To remove any tree saps or other gunky crap off my khukuri's I usually use a fine Scotch-Brite pad and elbow grease.
This leaves a really nice satin finish that's easier to take care of and it doesn't show the big, nasty ugly scratches as bad that appear on our khukuri's when we do any major work with them.:D
 
Memory being what it is (or ain't), I think that was Federico, in relation to getting rust off, and returning the shine after the WD40 had helped lift the rust so the wool could finish scrubbing it off. If scratches or rust pits are involved, they need to be removed with decreasing grades of paper, and when there is nothing left but removing the very light scratches from the finest of the papers used, go to 0000 steel wool and Flitz or Simichrome.

I've just gotten the last pitting off the tip of a GS UBDOTD, and, as a final step, the wool and polish works. The pits had to come the hard way, but if you can scrub for another two hours, it will just about get it:D
 
We must have been typing at the same time, and I'm a lot slower:( Together, we may have left some confusion as to what the steel wool will do to a shine. It all depends on what you are workng on. Your Marble may have been softer than the HI finish (I told you, this GS was the hardest I've seen from HI, but the spine was soft and thanks for that :)) The "wool and Flitz" took off the last of the scratches left by some very worn 600 grit silicon carbide paper I'd saved from scraps. I had used this very lightly, and they were only visible by holding the blade at different angles. There were also some buff marks left by a felt drum with rouge, from and earlier attempt, and the wool/Flitz got this too.

E-mail me before you leave PA :D
 
Walosi,Yvsa,

Thanks for the replies. I consider myself a generally good listener, but I swore that maybe I missed something after I started the wool/wd40 process. I had some light rust near the tip of my angkhola from my last bout with a few trees in the rain. I scrubbed till my fingers ached and still could clearly see the remnants on the finish. I got a fair amount of the rust up though. I was just so dissapointed with the finish. Of course, the finish left by the wool was no comparison to the mirror finish still remaining on the blade toward the bolster. Still looked like it did the first day I got it. I wanted to try this technique here before I went on to any other knives, and since this is my heavy duty work knife, I figured I would not be so dissapointed if this technique further scratched the finish on this baby.

While we're at it. I have had limited success sharpening the blade on a strip of leather laden with tripoli compound. Figured maybe I did not put enough compound on the "Mini Strop" I made or else the makeshift strop is too small. Just wanted something to drop in my backpack. I Mounted a small piece of vegetable tanned leather on a block of wood. One side with tripoli, the other with chromium oxide. Got any ideas?

Maybe one day if yall ever come to bama for one of those darned wonderful conventions, I'll get the chance to see Yvsa' sharpening techniques:D :D

Yvsa, do you use the edgepro prefessional in your demo?
 

While we're at it. I have had limited success sharpening the blade on a strip of leather laden with tripoli compound. Figured maybe I did not put enough compound on the "Mini Strop" I made or else the makeshift strop is too small. Just wanted something to drop in my backpack. I Mounted a small piece of vegetable tanned leather on a block of wood. One side with tripoli, the other with chromium oxide. Got any ideas?

Maybe one day if yall ever come to bama for one of those darned wonderful conventions, I'll get the chance to see Yvsa' sharpening techniques:D :D

Yvsa, do you use the edgepro prefessional in your demo? [/B]
Click to expand...

KK I have about 3 sets of different crock sticks that I sometimes use to touch a blade up with, but other than that all my knive's are sharpened freehand.:D

There's really nothing to my technique that anyone can't master.
Getting a convex edge is a natural movement of your hands and wrists while sharpeining IMO.
The Biggest Secret or Trick is to Get a Burr ALL Along one side of the blade First and then do the Exact Same Thing on the other side and that's it, simple really.:D
Then you take the burr off by honing with progressivly finer hones on each side and then finish with the strop.

KK try laying the khukuri down flat and pushing the strop Away from you at the desired angle and see if that doesn't improve your results.
And if it doesn't try it first with the hones and then the strops. I'm betting it will help you.

All the talk about exact angles and even bevels is just so much talk to me. I don't particularly care what an edge looks like so much as I do if it works or not.
If one is attempting an experiment like Cliff with the silk then. yes, the angles and such become very important, but not so for the average guy in the field.
Just remember to get a burr all along one edge first and then the other. If you don't have to obtuse an angle the knife will cut.
I made metal deburr knives from 3 cornered files, hollow ground on all three sides and then put on a Norton India Fine Hone.
That's an included angle of 240 degrees and it would shave hair readily.:D
I would have to tape up half the blade to keep from cutting myself when using the knives.
 
:
Osiyo Bro.
I dropped you an e-mail just a bit ago.
Don't know which user I happen to be on at the moment and don't know if I will get any messages you might send.
One never truly knows for sure about teeny-boppers.:D
 
Got your e-mail Bro, and replied with an invite to stop by if you can. If I knew for sure when you might get by, I'd stay off the web to make sure I got the call.
 
Kreme,
Give me a call, and you can come over and we'll get the AK fixed up in both departments, rust/shine AND sharpness. We haven't gotten together for a long while, this gives us a reason! Take it easy!


Rob
 
Hiya

I confess I was the person who put up the rust removal thread with steel wool:) Anyways the wool and the wd40 are only for rust removal. They wont polish steel, but Ive found that 0000 steel wool does work on brass and silver. The idea is that if the rust is light the original finish may be intact after removing it. If its not then depending on how bad it is youll have to polish that section with either a polishing compound like simichrome or in worse case scenarios go through the grades of sandpaper and then polish. If you catch the rust early then simichrome is all you need to get the finish back, but if there are deep pits or scratches then its the grades of sandpaper. The advantage though with the steel wool route is that you can remove the rust first without damaging the finish more before deciding how it needs to be polished.

As for sharpening I must confess that I dont use a strop but a block of wood. However if you try them japanese water stones Ive found that a strop/wood step is un-necessary.
 
Thanks all for the information. I haven't been able to check up on the replies for a few days. been in the hospital since my ticker decided to do the mambo on me without my permission. All is well now, and I appreciate the advice. One question I still wonder about though Yvsa. Do you ever use the edgepro professional in the shapening of your Khuks for any reason?
 
Khukman, missed you buddy. Been trying to make contact with you for a couple months now. I'll take you up on your offer. We'll get together soon, taking a few days off to kinda relax. No matter how beautiful the nurses are, layin' up in a hospital bed stinks. I'll call you sometime today or tommorow.
 
I know all about the ticker mambo, krem, and it ain't any fun. Take care and do whatever it takes to avoid the bypass surgery.
 
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