Stripping question...?

[Bishop2Queen's6]

Title made me lol. haha, but back to business.

I see a lot of people using a chemical stripper, vs a wire wheel on a bench grinder. Is it that fact many don't have a bench grinder, or using a chemical stripper is preferred method?

 

[flipaldinho]

I am guessing it is mostly due to the fact that many people don't have a bench grinder. I used sand paper and wrapped it around a long eraser and stripped mine by hand. It was a lot of work but it was worth it. If I were to do it again though I would use chemical stripper and then 200-400 grit paper after instead of spending so much time with the 100 grit on it.

 

[B.Mauser]

I think so many prefer a stripper because its faster and easy.

 

[havoc1969]

Because of where I work, and I knew I was going to sand, I opted to have the blade sandblasted and then I sanded from there.... quick and easy to begin with, and showed every flaw the blade had so I could work on it from there. I loved the sandblasted look, but can't leave it that way as it will rust easily...

 

[Haze240]

Chemical stripper is so much easier, just drop it in a pan full of it, walk away. Come back and rinse the coating away, using a wire brush to get any stubborn bits. There is no chance of ruining the blade by removing too much steel, or overheating it. I don't know why you'd rather physically remove the coating, when there is a product designed to remove it. I did hand-polish my BK7 incrementally from 80-2000 grit though, that was done because I didn't have access to power tools.

 

[Flexxx]

Get some Jasco and be done with it in less then 1 hour.....simple

 

[Murphnuge]

I prefer chemical because it's something I can do at work while I'm doing my real job I get paid to do. Gotta grinder at home and plenty at work, but it seems that chemical stripper is a little more thorough. I use Klean Strip, but there's plenty of other brands.

 

[tradewater]

A lot of times I use both. After the stripper I use a brass wire wheel mounted on a low speed mandrel to get anything left.

 

[SpookyDriver]

I posted this info last year back in this thread: I Feel Stupid...

My first Becker was a BK2 that I picked up a few months ago. After seeing the pictures of stripped knives here, I decided to follow the cool kids and do it myself. Took out the paint pan, applied stripping gel to the knife, waited a couple of hours, spent another hour scrubbing off the coating and getting it all clean. Made a big mess, went through half a roll of paper towels and wore out a scotch brite pad. But it looked good, so I didn't care.

Last week, I got a BK9 in a trade and intended to do the same thing since I have a set of micarta on the way and it looks good with a bare blade. I went out to the shop, started to pull out my paint pan, then realized I have a 10" bench grinder with a bronze brush wheel. I turned it on and 90 seconds later, I had the knife below.

It took longer to remove/replace the scales than it did to strip the whole knife.

I've had that bench grinder and wheel brush for over 20 years and I have no clue why I didn't think of it when I stripped the BK2. I was standing less than 10 feet from it the whole damn time...

 

[flipaldinho]

I like the way that BK9 looks, spookydriver. The blade looks clean but at the same time it has a nice "rustic" feel to it. Well done!