Stripping First Becker

By time you wash it , sand a lil bit and coat it in mineral oil then beat on it and repeat it'll be food safe again.
 
Gee, Citristrip's never taken more than a few hours. In Winter it's been known to take a lot longer.

Plastic putty knife to scrap it off.
 
Scroll up and click on that link I posted before. All the answers are there. The wirey pad is your problem. The coating doesn't dissolve into paste. It loosens up. A plastic putty knife will tear that coating off no problem without you having to worry about scratching the blade.
 
Update

11 P.M. checked the 7. top side had little change, but underside with a little scrubbing seems to be coming off in sheets. Opposite of what I expected. With some elbow grease the top layer is stripping as well. Going to re apply one last time and check again in the am.
 
JWheel said:
Scroll up and click on that link I posted before. All the answers are there. The wirey pad is your problem. The coating doesn't dissolve into paste. It loosens up. A plastic putty knife will tear that coating off no problem without you having to worry about scratching the blade.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks! i read what you posted...i just didnt think a plastic buddy knife would do the trick...but i will try it in the morning!
 
The stripper won't hurt the steel at all. Not sure about the wire brush, I've never used it on any of my knives.
 
I've used a wire brush and razor blade didn't hurt mine. Once you remove the coating and see the pits and grind lines a few minor scratches will be the least of your worries anyway lol
 
I thought the CitriStrip did nothing as well after sitting for 6 hours. Wouldn't scratch off so I figured it had no effect. Then tried a razor blade and it came off with ease.
 
JWheel said:
The stripper won't hurt the steel at all. Not sure about the wire brush, I've never used it on any of my knives.
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So yesterday I finished removing the epoxy. The plastic putty scraper helped a lot and in combination with the pad I had I got most of the coating removed. I still have a few tough spots that I couldn't get off...I have heard a razor blade works for that?

Now my main concern is the steel seems to be "stained" In certain areas from the citristrip. Can that be sanded away? If so do I use wet/dry sandpaper or just normal paper and what grit?
 
It is stained but that's called a patina and something that happens when the steel is exposed to acids from stuff like apples, strawberries, oranges, or in this case, CitriStrip.

You can remove the patina with sandpaper (use finer grit, like wet/dry 400-600) to even out the finish. You can keep working up in the grit fineness to the point of using polishing compounds like Flitz and make a mirror finish.

Or, you can force a patina with mustard, vinegar or other stuff as noted in JW's post that links to a ton of great info.

Did you etch the laser engraved logo? If you haven't already done that then unless it's a roll stamped BK7, it's going to be very faded or gone completely.

By the way, you need to post pictures of your work! As a wise man once said, "This thread is worthless without pics!" ;)
 
orezona said:
It is stained but that's called a patina and something that happens when the steel is exposed to acids from stuff like apples, strawberries, oranges, or in this case, CitriStrip.

You can remove the patina with sandpaper (use finer grit, like wet/dry 400-600) to even out the finish. You can keep working up in the grit fineness to the point of using polishing compounds like Flitz and make a mirror finish.

Or, you can force a patina with mustard, vinegar or other stuff as noted in JW's post that links to a ton of great info.

Did you etch the laser engraved logo? If you haven't already done that then unless it's a roll stamped BK7, it's going to be very faded or gone completely.

By the way, you need to post pictures of your work! As a wise man once said, "This thread is worthless without pics!" ;)
Click to expand...


I will post pics later today!
The logo was completely unaffected by the citrus trip and looks great. Just going to make sure I don't sand over them.
Thanks for the info on grit, I will get some today and see how it looks. Any proper way to sand? Certain direction or motion?
 
Yeah, that's the 'citrus' in Citristrip. ;)

Anything acidic will put a patina on carbon steels. A hot vinegar bath will give it a nice dark finish.

When working on a finish, start with high grit - 600, 800, 1000. Go to lower grits if needed.

For smoothing/flattening it's the opposite - start low 150~220 and then go higher.
 
A bit of advice that I read somewhere was to alternate sanding direction with each progression of grit. The idea is that you'll work out the scratches from the previous grit easier going the opposite direction. So if you start at 200, sand in the direction of the blade length from handle to tip. Then when you move to 400, go from spine to edge.

For what it's worth, you'll go through some elbow grease the more polished you want it to be. You can go as high as you want but know that the really super fine stuff is more expensive but the good side is you shouldn't need and entire packet (usually 2-4 10" x 10" sheets) for one project so you'll have left overs.

Another note is that just like a patina, a mirror finish will wear off pretty quick depending on the amount of use the blade gets. You can always go back and re-do a polish or patina but it depends on how much work you want to repeat.

For a user you might want to stop short of the super fine grits (above 1000) and keep a "satin" finish. Also, the more you use your blade the more "honest patina" it will get from cutting foods, etc.

A patina will help a blade keep from getting rusty but it's still extremely good advice to oil your steel after use and before storage. I use mineral oil because it's cheap and food safe.
 
TTHL4uR.jpg
 
OutdoorBuck said:
I will post pics later today!
The logo was completely unaffected by the citrus trip and looks great. Just going to make sure I don't sand over them.
Thanks for the info on grit, I will get some today and see how it looks. Any proper way to sand? Certain direction or motion?
Click to expand...

Had a busy day, just getting around to sanding but here are some pictures of what it looked like before, during, and after I used the stripper. Will post pics of finished product when I am done.

bqLovsq.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/EOZtGkz.jpg

EOZtGkz.jpg


7q1xrTv.jpg


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