Trick to deburring tubing on contoured handles?

[Chiro75]

Is there a trick to deburring the edges of tubing for lanyard holes on handles? I've done a few highly contoured handles where the ends of the tubes are pretty uneven, so I can't run a countersink or something like that. Do you just have to get in there and work it out, or is there something better? Also, what do you use for this job, tool wise?

 

[Steve Hayden]

I suppose a 1/4" drill bit would work. I just hand ream it with another knife.

 

[Matt Shade]

Take a drill bit the same size as the inner diameter of the tube and ream it by hand.

 

[Danbo]

Get yourself a thin strip of a flexible 400 grit belt and shoeshine the tube by hand. About an 1/8th inch wide strip will do.

 

[Fox]

I use the buffer. Carefully rotate the knife in a slow circle on a plane perpendicular to the buffer wheel, keeping the tube centered on the area of the wheel where buffing occurs. With a little practice this can be done very quickly and leaves the hole deburred and nicely chamfered. I use white rouge for this.

 

[rlinger]

By hand power, I use a oversize drill bit to chamfer the tube.

RL

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Either abrasive cord,shoeshine style;or a cratex bullet shape abrasive bit for your dremmel tool.The cratex is the easiest.For those who don't use cratex,you are missing out on a great tool.You can shape the rivets in a stag handle to match the contour,remove excess solder on a guard,buff out a scratch on a blade,or do decorative carving on blades,pommel nuts, and guards. Jewelers use them all day long.They come in dozens of grits and shapes.I have them in 6" wheels on one of my grinders.

 

[Chiro75]

Thanks for all the ideas! As usual, I've been doing things the hard way.