Yet another Damascus Finishing Question

[unky_gumbi]

So I am zooming towards finishing up the Dan Seaver Damascus blade I have been working on, just finishing up roughing in the scales before attaching them.

I had no problems with the etch and like the way it came out, but what I have noticed is that while shaping the scales I removed the etch from the spine where the scales start, all the way around to be honest. So what do most of you do to finish the edges of you full tang Damascus knives? I was thinking that I would just brush on some etcher before attaching the scales to bring the color and the light pattern. I will have the scales fully sanded before attaching them if I go this way and all that would be left to do to them is buff them out with leather and some denim after. My other choice is to attach the scales buff them to their finish and then do the light brush on etch and hope that it doesn't hurt or stain the stabilized scales.

Any suggestions to point me in the right direction? I want this one to look darn near perfect, it is going to my brother as a 50th birthday present, even though he is only turning 49 this year sort of a little brother joke

 

[Russ Andrews]

The best way I've found is to assemble the knife temporarily.....do all
the finish sanding and buffing...then disassemble and do the etching.
Then do the final assembly with no finishing to be done after assembly.

 

[deker]

There are a few ways to deal with this. My least favorite (which many makers do) is to do nothing and leave the tang polished. Now, you're obviously like me and want to show off all that damascussy goodness, so here are the ways I know to deal with it.

First you can do as you're already thinking and lightly etch after the fact. A slight modification on this is to coat the scales and pins with clear nail polish and then etch the whole thing as you would normally. It's kind of a pain to get right, and you have to apply the nail polish after your acetone cleansing since it will remove the nail polish. So, you'll want rubber gloves for this method to avoid gettiing fingerprints, etc back on your cleaned blade, etc.

Another method is to fit the scales with corbys and get them all sanded flush. Then, take some 600 grit paper on a hard backer and very lightly break the corners on the scales and the tang. Then, etch the blade, assemble the finished scales, and finish up your corbys. If you have just a bit of a softened edge at the transition between the scales and the tang, if things shift slightly your finger won't "catch" on it and feel wrong. Additionally, if your handle material shrinks or swells a bit, it won't have a sharp edge then either.

-d

 

[unky_gumbi]

Unfortunately I don't use corby pins, I use straight brass pin stock and Miles Gillbert glass bedding epoxy. I realized after the fact that I should have waited to etch the blade, but its too late now. I guess that I am going to have to fully finish the scales before attaching them and re-etch the blade. The glass bedding kit comes with a release agent so I am hoping I can use that on the tang area to protect the etch this time from the epoxy. The pattern on the spine and edge of the tang is very fine hair like, you can feel it but you have to have the light on it just right for it to pop out at you, I like it

 

[A C Richards]

You can do the nail polish trick deker mentioned. This will get you by this one. If you don't want to use corbys, you can drill and install your pins loose and put two small drops of super glue under each scale one at either end then clamp it and let it set up. Then you can remove the pins and finish the whole handle. The scales will come off with a light wrap from a rubber mallet. It should not do any damage. Then do your etching and re-install your scale with the pins and bedding compound. Just a slightly different way of doing it but it works. I like to make the scales just a hair smaller than the tang. That way I can round the tang and give it a slightly different look.

 

[unky_gumbi]

Well so far this has been my solution, I had the scales temporarily attached with some fiberglass pins and double sided tape, finished sanding them out to 1200, removed the scales and washed down the blade with acetone, put nail polish over my makers mark and then re-etched the blade.

I have a couple of small voids in the scales that i will need to fill with some CA. They are just about the size of a pin head, but I can see them so I have to fix them. They also fall nowhere near the tang so I can confidently touch the CA up afterward without harming my etch again.

I am calling it quits for the night and will attach the scales and fix the voids tomorrow, apply a light coat of tung oil then I will burnish the scales with leather and denim till I get the finish I am after. That is how I finished my last stabilized handle and I liked the way it looked.

The reason that I didn't use corbys is because I don't have any, not that I didn't want to use them. I picked up 12' of 3/16 brass pin stock along with 12' of 3/16 stainless pin stock a while back for $40, so I never think of buy corbys or loveless bolts till after the fact. I still have 10' of the brass and 9' of the stainless after giving some to a friend.

thanks everyone for the save, looks like I am back on track again:thumbup: