Finish and Polish for Knives

Hey guys so a couple weeks ago i had made a tanto style knife and tried to give it a mirror polish. It came out ok but not perfect you can still see small faint grind lines. So i did some more reading (actually LOTS of reading) and watching some vids. I did come across alot of good info but i do have 2 questions the best way for me to describe them is to first just tell you what i have to work with so...as far as the grinder goes and the higher grit belts i have 800 grit norton norax, 1200 and 2000 deerfos (the blue ones), 2500 3m trizact (regular not the gators), and 3000 norton norax. Then i have wet/dry sandpaper in 1000,1500, 2000. I also have those 3m pads (i dont kn…

I recently finished building my 2x72 belt grinder and wanted to share some pics. First off - this has to be the most rewarding tool I have ever built! The uses are endless - I wish I had made one numerous years ago. I used mainly scrap pieces of square tubing I had around in 3", 2 1/2", and 2" of various wall thickness to save on the cost. Due to that fact - The grinder is fairly stout and overbuilt a little - but it works like a dream. It uses a 1.5 hp motor wired for 110v. Four postions on the pulleys for various speeds. All of the wheels were purchased on Ebay - and although the price of everything did slowly sneak up on me - It was still way cheaper t…

Give me your thoughts on what size of contact wheel to buy for knifemaking. I'm running 2" and 4" on either side of my platen currently, but want to be able to make nice hollow grinds. And by the way... Holy cow those things are spendy! Also, what's your sources for them. I've just looked at them at Tru-Grit a minute ago. I've also seen them on one of the other knife supply websites. Any input would be appreciated, especially if you give me your reasons for one size over another.

hey guys so i got a new kmg grinder. i know this question has been asked before but i think maybe it might be a question with a evolving answer as people try new things and new products. i would like to know where every one weigh's in on grinding belts. the first set of belts i got was a mix of a couple different companies that was suggested to me so i just did what was suggested as i wanted the belts asap...however i was told these belts go fast using 1 or 2 of many different grits on one knife. i guess that changes on design and size of a knife. so i did some reading and i am torn am i better getting cheap belts and going though them like crazy or spending more and may…

Not sure how to go about this, hoping for an experienced tip. I'm making a knife to be used in the kitchen, for slicing. It's a hidden tang and I made a handle out of oak with a bit of walnut epoxied to the end. My hole for the tang, facing the blade, is less than perfect so I got a small piece of brass 1/8" thick and drilled a hole then filed it so it would fit on the tang closer and neater than the wood does. My plan was to epoxy the brass to the handle, matching the hole for the tang up, then sand down the excess brass and wood to size so it would be a perfect fit. Once the brass heated up though, the epoxy melted and stopped doing it's job. Is there a better…

Hey guys any one ever use kydex? I tried for the first time got the foam and kydex and holtex sheets from knifekits.com made my own lil press from wood with the foam in it and 4 clamps one on each side in the center. so i took a sheet, taped up the knife threw it in the press (folded over taco style) clamped it down and let it sit. now when i came back to it as i was opening the press and pulling the foam off it was stuck to the kydex it peeled off with a lil pressure but it left a slight imprint in the foam (you can see where the sheet was on the foam) i thought this might mean i got the kydex a lil to hot maybe or too much preesure on the clamps (i dont know if that is …

II made this Damascus ring with band saw blade and flat spring, now I can't keep it from rusting on my finger. I thought about etching and sealing with bee's wax and repolishing. Is there anything that you guys would suggest. I really like this ring and want to keep wearing it but not if its going to constantly rust.

so... I was given a delta 1 x 42 belt/disk sander...however I have no clue what type of belt I need to get for it... Any recommendations? I'm just starting as a smith but I want to make sure I'm not half way doing this... Making knives, and hawks primarily for gifts any advice?

My experience with this isn't really that great, so I'm looking for some input that will hopefully get me on track here. After I finish the heat treat process on a blade, I normally do a quick pass with sandpaper (usually 60-80 grit) to get rid of any excess gunk/missed oil/char, soak it in vinegar, lock it into a vice or onto a board (which is locked into the vice) and work with an angle grinder with progressively higher grits. Afterward, I do some sanding by hand (next highest grit I have) and move up to a point I like the shine. My first time making a blade, I didn't have to do much sanding by hand, and got away with few (if any) visible scratches, and my smaller knive…

Hey guys, I've just started blacksmithing and have made a few knives, though I've only sharpened them with my cheap and extremely weak belt grinder. I'm thinkin' about buying one of those "Japanese" knife grinding stones, but I don't know which one will work best for me. I've made a few razors that I intend to make really sharp, and a few kitchen knives that could use some sharpening aswell. What I am looking at right now is a combination stone, meaning one grit on the top and another on the bottom, and my options are 240/800, 400/1500, 600/2000, 1000/3000, 2000/5000, 3000/8000. I am only gonna buy one of the combination stones, cause I don't want to spend to much money o…

I've been reading up on patina for 5160, and I've seen several things suggested. I'm chopping up a partially finished 5160 greatsword to make a few hunting knives. I'm looking for a deep gray, almost black, that will stand up well to use for things like cutting brush, and even light chopping on a HT blade. Most often I've seen vinegar soak, PCB etchant, and gun bluing suggested for dark patinas. I've also found that gun blue won't work on some tougher steels and most stainless. Do you have any experience with a patina on 5160? What is your favorite? Why?

I'm wondering if there is any reason to buy a buffer in stead of using my bench grinder. I have been looking at both online and some buffers are slower at 1750 rpm and some are the same as my grinder 3450rpm. The bench grinder I have now is an 8" black bull from tractor supply that only cost $50 and it has held up very well for a few years now. I would like to have more than one so that I can have different compounds ready to use instead of having to change wheels.

I picked up a differentially clay masked bowie a couple of years ago at a blacksmithing club's auction. The blade was sold as a demonstration piece by a master knife maker but largely unfinished beyond sanding enough to show the hardening line after the heat treat. I thought I might finish the knife for the next time I visit the club. The question is: What is likely to be the best sequence of grits, materials, and techniques to bring out hardening line when polishing the blade? The line is clear but rather faint at present.

man I feel like I have two left hands, both full of thumbs, trying to grind blades. I can't believe how much I suck at it.

Man, I've been posting a lot for the last couple days. Hope no one's getting sick of me yet! Anyway, I'm making a little skinner from some 5160 for an American explorer themed set. Because the theme is 19th century (though the knives are of a more modern design), I'd like to use wood for all the handles. Here's the rub: I want the skinner's handle to be very aggressively textured to make it more slip-resistant when you've got your hands deep inside a deer or elk carcass... I'm thinking something along the lines of the popular wood texturing you see on the grip of a 1911--kind of a diamond-y pattern... Any ideas? I was thinking maybe one of those Dremel sandpaper disc…

Have a problem the bladesmiths may be able to answer. My blades made from file steel tend to rust after leaving them in a leather sheath for some time. The blades have a good coating of oil but no plastic coatings. Would the rust be forming from tanning compounds used in making the leather or what? I would think the oil coating on the blade would protect it but apparently not. Any suggestions?

I'm putting a handle on a seax I "made". The handle tapers from wide at the blade end, to narrow at the pommel end. Is that called a reverse taper? I'll gladly post pictures when I'm done. But here is what I'm making for anyone interested. 13cm blade, 13cm handle. Knife not forged! It's a cheap kitchen knife I cut in half to give it the looks of a Viking era broke back seax. I removed the plastic handle and cut the hollow tang down to a whittle tang. (I did use heat to straighten the tang, so I guess there was a little forging) Birch handle 3cm X 2cm at the blade, 2cm X 2cm at the pommel end. I'll be adding a plain bolster, because I drilled a large ugly hole for the t…

I can make a very good blade but my handles still come out meh. Right at the bolsters there is usually a very tiny gap there between them and the wood handle. My method is to take the wood block, mark it by placing my blade on the edge of the block and marking the spots to drill my block on a drill press. When I put the pins in there is always a small gap, nothing large. Do people leave extra wood in front and sand that down or is there a filler that people use?

Hi all, I recently forged my first ever piece of damascus, made from 1095 and some mild steel. Welded and lightly twisted, and will be made into a letter opener. It has gone through heat treating as I read somewhere that helps with contrast. After sanding down too ~600 grit I etched it in a mix of Ferric Cholride and White Vinegar, I did this for about 5 minutes then took it out and rubbed it down with 0000 steel wool before etching again, I repeated this several times. But the etch just seemed to rub off and be faded, so how do you manage to keep the high contrast without it rubbing off?! The photo below is of the blade straight out the etchent. It hadn't been etched v…

Ok, So I have completed 1 knife total that had a wooden handle, and a couple that were done in Paracord, Obviously working with paracord is much easier fit and finish wise then working with say Hickory and Brass. Right now on my bench, I have a blade that I decided to try something with, and I am not exactly happy with the results, but I suspect I would have gotten better results had I asked here first before just diving into the work. The knife(s) in question, are the top two in this image, Sorry I didn't get other pictures of them in their current state. The one that is already glued up, is the very top knife. What I had done, was take 2 separate pieces of Hick…

I am trying to find someone to stabilize a large slab of walnut. I need it very hard to cc machine out some scales. While we mostly make one off hand made customs, we have a special customer with a great project and a cc is the only way to make this one affordable. We usually work with P&G, they can't accommodate a piece of word larger than 6". The larger the better for my project. Anyone know someone that could tackle this project? I really appreciate any suggestions! EB

after reading a lot about stabilizing handles for knives, especially bone/antler, i have to ask what the ancients used to preserve what they used. by ancients i mean prior to the invention of polys and epoxies. as an example, none of my rifles have stabilized wood and none of them are newer than 60 years, and one of them has been through combat in WW2 . i don't baby them, and they seem ok with a regular application of linseed oil. i have soaked wood in hot melted bees wax and turpentine, hot oil, cold oil, and various other concoctions. i`m not looking for a super modern finish with the knives i make, and any knives i sell i recommend a regular treatment of boiled lin…

Basically, a friend has commissioned a knife, the catch is the wood he wants to use for the scales came from an unusual source. He was driving one day during a storm and a tree blew down on his car totalling it. He saved a crotch that broke off for this purpose. The tree I think is pecan and was dead (why it blew down) and is spalted. I do have some marine epoxy that designed for stabilizing dry rot. I'd rather have it stabilized to reach deeper in. If anybody can do it or know of a good way to stabilize this stuff let me know. Thanks.

This is an interesting picture on how blades were ground many years ago in Europe.

None of my regular sources still sell the LINEN in white or ivory... Dave