Strip without removing the handle? What to do with the coating beneath the slab?

S

shqxk

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Mar 26, 2012
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I plan to strip and give it a beautiful satin hand rubbed finish. But I'm not sure if I need to remove the the handle in order to make it looks clean enough.

Anyone one has pictures at the handle of full stripped Busse blade? I would like to know how its look like. Thanks!
 
I don't have a picture but stripped a TGLB myself already. IMHO you don't have to mess with the handle. But it might be difficult to polish the areas which are closest to the handle...
 
Currently don't own a stripped TGLB...but I've stripped all these myself.

I used chemical stripper from Lowe's...you can apply it right next to the handles, even onto the handles themselves if they're Micarta or G10-- I wouldn't risk applying it to natural materials.

I then use a cheap set of dental picks from Harbor Fright to tease out any residue from right next to handles.

To remove decarb from right next to handles I use a shim with sandpaper wrapped around the narrow edge.

It's a simple process just a little time-consuming.

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I always soak the entire knife in Acetone and then use a wire brush and thhe coating comes off super quick and easy. With the wire brush you are able to get clean removal around handle scales without all the tedious scraping. Then use a drill mounted scotch pad on slow speed to remove the decarb. All in all I have been able to do the whole process pretty quick
 
I've got a noobie question about stripping... What is decarb? What is its purpose for it being applied to the blade beneath the color coat? How difficult is it to come off?
 
As I understand it, decarb is a byproduct of the heat treatment process, where some of the carbon is lost from the surface of the steel. INFI is pretty rust resistant, but if you don't remove the decarb layer, it'll rust just sitting in a drawer.
 
This one still has the coating left under the scales. I would venture to say that what is left is so unnoticeable that if you didn't tell someone about it, they would never notice it was there.
 
JohnTheTexican said:
As I understand it, decarb is a byproduct of the heat treatment process, where some of the carbon is lost from the surface of the steel. INFI is pretty rust resistant, but if you don't remove the decarb layer, it'll rust just sitting in a drawer.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that explanation John! So from pics I've been seeing in various stripping threads, once you're down to decarb, the blade has a dark gray look to it. When you start the sanding process, how do you know you've got it all off the blade? Are you essentially sanding till you see shiny metal?

I apologize to the OP for this thread drift, but it sounds like you might be as curious about this as I am. :)
 
Nerfherder said:
Thanks for that explanation John! So from pics I've been seeing in various stripping threads, once you're down to decarb, the blade has a dark gray look to it. When you start the sanding process, how do you know you've got it all off the blade? Are you essentially sanding till you see shiny metal?

I apologize to the OP for this thread drift, but it sounds like you might be as curious about this as I am. :)
Click to expand...

You can't miss it. The decarb is very, very dark gray and when you get through it, the steel turns back to the traditional light silvery gray.
 
I really am wondering if the 'decarb' is instead a pretreatment AKA chemical conversion coating.

I stripped an old CG B9 this past fall. After a light scrubbing with a stainless wire brush, it was beautiful ghetto satin INFI. Just did a CG BB13. Smooth dark gray under the tan paint. It will need a ScotchBrite wheel to clean it up.

Why the difference?
 
Nerfherder said:
Thanks for that explanation John! So from pics I've been seeing in various stripping threads, once you're down to decarb, the blade has a dark gray look to it. When you start the sanding process, how do you know you've got it all off the blade? Are you essentially sanding till you see shiny metal?

I apologize to the OP for this thread drift, but it sounds like you might be as curious about this as I am. :)
Click to expand...
Just as evltcat said.

Coating stripped shows the decarb,
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About half finished sanding,
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Finally down to steel.
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It also seems different from model to model. A SHe I had was fairly quick work, where as the NMFBM shown in these pics took many hours of hand sanding.
 
resinguy said:
I really am wondering if the 'decarb' is instead a pretreatment AKA chemical conversion coating.

I stripped an old CG B9 this past fall. After a light scrubbing with a stainless wire brush, it was beautiful ghetto satin INFI. Just did a CG BB13. Smooth dark gray under the tan paint. It will need a ScotchBrite wheel to clean it up.

Why the difference?
Click to expand...

Agreed there seems to be some difference. Recently started stripping an older sterile CS AMS, just figuring I'd loosen up the coating with some aluminum oxide cloth, but I was pleasantly surprised to find basically nothing between the coating and shiny INFI. Coating sanded off easily by hand, no decarb I can see. No idea how old this can be given that it's an AMS, though.
 
Just a heads up, this is what I found under the slabs on my HUCK. I'm glad I pulled them now... this spot where they stripped the coating was rusting pretty bad from the decarb.



~Chip
 
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