jmccustomknives Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Here's a little (or not so little) Bowie made from a Black Diamond file my wife and daughter found at a yard sale (they found 7). I'v been trying to get a better finish. I would have really loved to put a black diamond in the handle either by scrim or inlay but I'm not even close to trying that. The handle is stag, leather/brass spacers and mesquite burl with the pommel being the original stamped tang from the file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Anyone can do a blade with a really nice finish,,,one thing that helped me a lot is a simple concept. If you have a four foot square piece of metal or wood and it has a wonderfully nice perfect finish. But near the center is a scratch,that may be as deep as five thousands of an inch. To remove that bad spot is not as simple as sanding down into it and making it gone..Correctly you must remove the top layer of the entire piece by the depth of the scratch. In this case .005" Thinking that through, if there are scratches on a blade they usually show up when you work with finer grits. And they are from coarser grits. A 100 grit finish if done right may look good...if you go over it with 220 grit and do not remove all of the 100 marks,,it may show,,,if you move to 400 grit then everytime,,any of the 100 grit marks not removed ,,,will show. and so on. And you must work the entire area of the blade that needs it,,,if you just work on the area that has a couple of 100,,,or any grit marks,,,and remove them you will create a low spot in that area that shows up like a shallow valley in the finish. Sharp,clean files will start a nice finish,,,wet or dry sand paper with solid backing will bring up a nice finish. I finish with belts on a great machine. but the process is the same. If I see scratches when I am at 1000 grit,,,an 800 usually will not remove them...400 may or even step back to 220 may be called for...Add persistence to the mix if you wish. It is the difference between alright and really nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tantofolder Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Cool blade profile and I really like the pommel! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
windancer Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 Nice knife! Love the use of the file maker's mark. I used a couple of the tang cutoffs as droppers on sheaths, but this is a great idea, too! Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSW Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 , if there are scratches on a blade they usually show up when you work with finer grits. And they are from coarser grits. A 100 grit finish if done right may look good...if you go over it with 220 grit and do not remove all of the 100 marks,,it may show,,,if you move to 400 grit then everytime,,any of the 100 grit marks not removed ,,,will show. and so on. And you must work the entire area of the blade that needs it,,, I still remember that for doing castings in basic metals shop in Jr high. You need to remove all the scratches from the last grit before moving to the next one. If you don't, chances are you won't be able to remove those scratches when you are 3 or 4 grits down the scale. Way too many people get in a rush and want to jump grit sizes and expect to make do with power tools vs going with the basics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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