which sandpaper

B

bdmicarta

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Feb 16, 2012
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I was watching a youtube video of someone using sandpaper to augment their Sharpmaker. In this video he used a light tan sandpaper, looking similar to what I've bought for woodworking. This stuff looks like actual sand glued to paper. When I used to hang around my father's body shop they used a wet/dry paper that was very dark gray, almost black. I didn't know what the abrasive material was but it didn't look like any form of sand. I've bought very fine grit paper of this type to try for sharpening and thought it was the preferred material but after seeing that video I'm not so sure.
 
Use what you have, if what you have works buy more, if not... don't buy more

Also, what's wrong with good old fashion shapening stones?
 
If the 'light tan' sandpaper is actually the stuff used for wood (garnet abrasive, which actually is sand), it's not going to be very effective for many steels. The abrasive won't be hard enough to work well, if at all, on many modern steels. The better option is the so-called 'wet/dry' sandpaper, which will be either black or various shades of grey (most often silicon carbide, but sometimes aluminum oxide). Better brands are 3M ('Wet-or-Dry') and Norton ('SandWet').

Garnet abrasive is not nearly as hard as aluminum oxide (very hard) or silicon carbide (even harder), which is why it won't work as well on hardened steel knife blades.


David
 
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I completely agree that the wet/dry is the way to go, but wood grade sandpaper does work.

Especially on 'regular' steels.

This is an example.

IMAG0760_zpsbf66448f.jpg
 
Although 3M Professional Grade Sandpaper sells toward wood working however the abrasive is Aluminum Oxide, which has no problem abrading steels. So far, I've used 100, 150, 220, 320 and 400 grits of this sandpaper, they worked very well. it is much more durable than SiC w&d sandpaper because AlO is less friable than SiC. I got these from HD (in store they sell the latest 3m version - 7x no slip grip). It also less loading/clogging than SiC, plus it's pink so you can see easily tell how much swarf came off your blade.

Side note - I made a mistake tried to sand wood with SiC w&d sandpaper, ugh(ly) black specks seem to embeded all over into soft wood. For wood working, best to use garnet sandpaper.
 
bluntcut said:
Although 3M Professional Grade Sandpaper sells toward wood working however the abrasive is Aluminum Oxide, which has no problem abrading steels. So far, I've used 100, 150, 220, 320 and 400 grits of this sandpaper, they worked very well. it is much more durable than SiC w&d sandpaper because AlO is less friable than SiC. I got these from HD (in store they sell the latest 3m version - 7x no slip grip). It also less loading/clogging than SiC, plus it's pink so you can see easily tell how much swarf came off your blade.

Side note - I made a mistake tried to sand wood with SiC w&d sandpaper, ugh(ly) black specks seem to embeded all over into soft wood. For wood working, best to use garnet sandpaper.
Click to expand...

There are a lot of good AlOx sandpapers, especially in very high grit. I have some mylar-backed honing/polishing film in AlOx, down to sub-micron size. Very aggressive, even at small grit. And durable too. :thumbup:

I used SiC wet/dry (somewhere in the 400-1000 grit range) on the walnut handle of this Opinel, when re-shaping it. Worked great in that particular job, at least.


David
 
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Hey David, what did you modify on your opie? Just looked again closer, and assume you sanded down the top flair on the end of the handle? Looks good. I have the same model in walnut. Great little knife.

Blessings,

Omar
 
That is lovely David.

I've certainly considered modding my Opinels handle, but once, while horsing around, I slipped and *almost* had my hand slip up on the blade. I believe that the shape helped keep that from happening, and out of all of my knives that's the one I fear the most by a wide margin.

You know how they are. One slip and you can forget about super glue, its straight to the ER. :eek:
 
OHALLUM said:
Hey David, what did you modify on your opie? Just looked again closer, and assume you sanded down the top flair on the end of the handle? Looks good. I have the same model in walnut. Great little knife.

Blessings,

Omar
Click to expand...

Here's a 'before' pic of the same knife, alongside my 'Carbone' model with the beech handle. I'd also thinned and polished the blades on each of these (using SiC wet/dry, and some AlOx polishing sheets), before re-shaping the handle on the walnut version. Most of the sanding involved reducing and reshaping the butt end of the handle, though I did thin the overall profile somewhat (seen in the 2nd pic below). Also finished with Watco Danish Oil. The new profile makes it a lot more pocketable, and feels very good in-hand too. :)


David
 
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David, I noticed that you have the lock collar off in the bottom pic. How do you do that, and put it back on? Does it make the collar loose at all?

Oh, and what do you mean by thin the blade? Do you mean the edge, or the actual blade? If the blade, why?
 
You can remove the lock collar by prying open the collar gently with a pair of needle nose pliers or something similar, and slip it right off. It will snap right back on. Just don't pry it open too far to spring it out of shape.

Blessings,

Omar
 
Strigamort said:
David, I noticed that you have the lock collar off in the bottom pic. How do you do that, and put it back on? Does it make the collar loose at all?

Oh, and what do you mean by thin the blade? Do you mean the edge, or the actual blade? If the blade, why?
Click to expand...

I 'thinned' about 1/3 or so of the blade, from the edge up, to just below the thickest part of the blade's convex grind (roughly mid-line on the blade). Just as a quest to see how sharp I could make it; Opinels have a great blade grind to start, and I wanted to see what thinning it a little further could do for slicing capabilities. This is also a good way to find the limits of the steel, in terms of how durable (or not) the edge will be at thin angles. I figured out the 'carbone' blade is a little more fragile at the edge when thinned out, though the same steel is also very easy to hone/strop back into shape. The stainless (Sandvik 12C27M) I think is hardened a little higher (Sandvik specs it up to RC 59), and it seems to support a thinner edge better than the carbon-bladed model. Takes just a little more time to get it there, but it's still not bad at all.

The locking collar can be removed and re-installed very quickly, using a pair of snap ring pliers like these:



David
 
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