Stone washing a knife in a dryer

colubrid

colubrid

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Nov 26, 2005
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I have a knife with the back coating I want to stone wash (or tumble). I saw a video a while ago that had a guy put the blade into a cup with stones of different sizes and put in the dryer (or use the shake method). I was wondering if anyone can post this video or a link for tutorials on that because I can't seem to find them on youtube.
 
Why not just go to harbor freight and get a cheap rock tumbler? They are like $45 and seems cheaper than potentially ruining your dryer and pissing off your wife, lol.
 
panoz77 said:
Why not just go to harbor freight and get a cheap rock tumbler? They are like $45 and seems cheaper than potentially ruining your dryer and pissing off your wife, lol.
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Because is only one knife I am doing this for and not worth the cost of the knife.

And I am not married and I need a new dryer anyway. Besides that it sound like it will be fun to do this.
 
Generally, this type of things needs to run for days, not an hour. Just saying, good luck I guess.
 
panoz77 said:
Generally, this type of things needs to run for days, not an hour. Just saying, good luck I guess.
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Okay, well good you told me that. I didn't remember that from the videos. But it makes sense
 
Wrap the tub/can in a big blanket so the machine will spin easier and not be a loud thump.
 
uxo2 said:
Wrap the tub/can in a big blanket so the machine will spin easier and not be a loud thump.
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Got it. But someone here said it takes days to get the effect. That would ruin the dryer by probably over heating it.
 
Just throw the packet in each time with your laundry till you get the effect you want. Make sure the package is sealed from the water in the washing machine. I believe stone washing you have to use smooth river stones or better yet I believe they use ceramic "stones".
 
^^^^^^
I have never used a washing machine..
How did yours turn out because I would never do it.
The dry worked well.
Plastic coffee can. Stones.. blade.
 
I have done it a bunch of times with satin or other shiny blades on the cheap. I first covered the detent and blade tracks around the pivot with a thick coat of nail polish. I then acid washed the blades and their clips. I then kept the nail polish on the entire blade track for the stone washing so the action stays smooth. I then got a bunch of ceramic media from ebay ($15) and shook a blade in a plastic container for an hour by hand. I thought it came out great each time. The key is how coarse the stones are. Try it for an hour first in the dryer. Wrap it in a towel, wrap it with packing tape to keep it together and set the dryer to low heat. Skip the acid washing step and you should get a nice Blackwash finish with your black blade.


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Is our dryer unique? We have a no heat tumble option. I used a plastic Tang container, some blue rocks I had, a few old screws (why not) and some WD-40. I taped the lid shut and wrapped it in a blanket. After about an hour it was done! I did this to the Ti handles of a Sage 2. I'm not sure how it would work against harder steel. The Sage came out great! It's the only knife I've really customized much.
 
BTW I have a tumbler but I use smashed up ceramic nativity figures in place of store bought media or random rocks, the stuff works great.
 
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