wet or dry sand?

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willy m

Joined
Nov 27, 2007
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do you guys think the wet/dry sandpaper cuts better wet? i cant tell for sure and was wondering if the wet route is worth the effort for the mess. any ideas would be helpful. thanks,willy:)
 
Use oil (I use baby oil) when hand rubbing your blades...No oil or water on belts unless your using a wet grinder.

Bruce
 
When I start to hand rub my blades out, I use sandpaper and put a drop of kerosene on it and this helps it to cut faster and helps it from clogging up. Great cutting fluid. Hope this Tip was of help to you. --------:thumbup:
 
I use mineral spirits since it very light and leaves a very thin coating on the blade. That coating keeps any oxidation from happening since my shop is always damp. It probably very similar to kerosene.
 
Well, here is another little tip that keeps me reading everything here and making my life and knives better. A simple thing that makes a difference. Thanks guys
 
I used either kerosene or WD40 for many years until one day while visiting my good friend Jim lucie and noticing that he was using Formula 409 to spritz his blades while hand sanding, and everything was much cleaner. When I tried I noticed how a detergent was nowhere near as prone to rusting of the metal , that the paper clogged even less than water or oil so that the papers were much more aggressive and the entire process was much, much cleaner. Oils and the like made the equivelent of black oil based paint that smeared all over everything while my paper would still load up a little. Better yet when preparing damascus for an etch oils need to be throughy cleansed from the blade, while a detergent just needs to be wiped off. Now I don't use 409 from the store, but instead mix up my own solution of dish soap, water, denatured alcohol and TSP and put it in spray bottles. It really cleanses the steel and keeps the abrasives free of gunk while not encouraging any rusting if I need to step away for 10 minutes. I still keep a container of WD-40 on my polishing bench so that I can just quickly brush things down at the end of the day however, but when using such a cleanser the oil washes off in just a couple of passes when I resume the next day.
 
TriSodium Phosphate, you can buy in the paint department of any store or hardware, it is an inexpensive yet very powerful cleanser, often used in wall preperation before painting or wall papering.
 
wow! i never thought there would be so many varriations. after reading the first reply i started using a spray bottle with water and a squirt of dawn i already use to find holes in slow leaking tires. it really made a difference! cuts a good bit quicker. thanks for all the tips im gonna get some tsp. thanks,willy
 
I used to do it dry , until reading advice on here.

I started using a drop or three of dish soap.

Any of the above ideas obviously work or nobody would use them. :D
 
No matter what method you use, be sure to get the right quality sandpaper. I bought some cheap Chinese paper in bulk a while back, and am still paying for it. Norton or 3-M is still the best, I think. The Chinese stuff is too friable, and breaks down too easily, which means constantly changing the paper. Once its gone, though...adios! I learned my lesson!
 
John Frankl said:
Kevin,

Great advice. Now give us the mixing ratios!

Thanks,

John
Click to expand...

No it is a SECRET! This is my super secret magic elixir recipe that makes my blades so indestructible! Along with the contracts I have with the U.S. Military (and some other countries) I have at least 24 patents in the works on it. So no ratios as I have already given too much by mentioning the obvious ingredients. Also be careful how you reply as I have applied for a copyright on the words “elixir” “water”, and just to be safe “patent”.

Actually John, as per the other replies the ratios are not really relevant as long as you get a liquid that will carry away the particles and not tear up the steel or the abrasives. I use this mostly because I was too cheap and lazy to go to the store and buy 409. I mix it a little different every time depending on what I have on hand, and sometimes omit ingredients. Heck I don't even know if anything beyond the soap does anything, but here is my reasoning-

The soap is to help avoid corrosion and make the water "wetter".

The TSP is for much the same but also to help cleanse the steel for things like etching as well as an easy spray to clean off FeCl after the etch.

The alcohol is to keep things from staying wet all darned day and to help cleanse due to the solvent action. However it can also effect the amount of rubbing you can do between spritzing and how the black slurry stays on the blade, today I added a little too much and found things drying out and getting pasty a little too quickly- so I added more water. But in the right amount it seems to keep things from turning orange if you get distracted.

I also use this mix for a coolant when drilling or milling tough items so my hodge podge of ingredients makes it a more versatile multipurpose spray bottle to have sitting around.
 
Thanks, Kevin. Do the royalties I must pay you for each batch I mix up change according to how much of each ingredient I use? :)

John
 
TSP is great stuff, I use it to sanitize all my stuff when I brew beer. Never thought of using it hand rubbing a blade, I've always used Dollar General glass cleaner. I usually keep a small "slump bucket" with dishwashing detergent to dunk the paper in occasionally to get the crud off of it.

I still have my sleeves of 3m paper I bought from Barbkat or something like that on eBay, she sells a lot of good abrasive products at great prices. I'd never use cheap paper on anything as important as finishing a knife for a customer. There are times when you cost yourself a lot of money trying to be frugal.

Will
formerly known as badbamaump
 
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