More cable damascus...

[HEAP of JEEP]

So after I tried my hand at that last cable knife, a woman at work ordered a his and her set for herself and her husband.  For what I am charging, my goal is to get the whole process down to under 4 hours.  On this one, I was just over an hour and a half from starting to forge to where I was ready to hit the grinder.  Probably not the fastest, but I was pretty pleased with the speed in which I was able to turn it out.   I don't do any hand sanding on these.  The lightest grit belt I have for my sander is an 800 cork/carbide belt, so after some rough shaping and grinding with a 50 grit, I did a couple of passes with a 120 and then heat treat and temper.  That grinding took another hour and a half, so up to just over three hours so far.  Then the on the final grind, I cleaned it up form HT on the 120, then went to 400, then to the 800 cork belt with green compound.  Total time spent... 4 hours 22 minutes.  The last one took just under 5 hours, so shaved some more time off and getting closer to my goal.  

I'm not totally happy with the finish.  I probably should have spent a little more time with the 400 belt, because I can still see to many sanding lines.

I did make a video about how I went about the whole process.  If you want to see it, just PM me and I'll get you the link, but out of respect for the forum, I don't post links to other sites.

And any input on how to get a cleaner finish with just the belt grinder would be much appreciated.  I really want to avoid having to put any time in to hand these knives because I do sell them so cheap, and on my other knives I can easily spend many many more hours going through all the grits with hand sanding.  I'm not going for perfection with these, but getting a littl ebit cleaner finish would certainly be nice, if it doesn't add a whole lot of time to the overall process.

 

[Dogsoldat]

That's a darned nice looking knife!   Bet the customer is pleased, even if your not.

[HEAP of JEEP]

13 minutes ago, Dogsoldat said:

That's a darned nice looking knife!   Bet the customer is pleased, even if your not.

Its not that I'm not pleased... I just know it could be better.  I'm just not sure how to get it better without going through the whole hand sanding process that I'm already familiar with.

And yes, she does really love it.

[HEAP of JEEP]

Finished up the the other knife for the His/her set.  They couldn't be happier... well, he could be.  She didn't want to pay for a second sheath, so he's going to have to figure out a way to carry it in to the woods.  Ran in to the same issues with finishing on his, but I guess I can't complain.  I can get them whipped out quickly, and sell them for an appropriate price at this level of finishing. 

[7A749]

On May 28, 2016 at 10:03 PM, HEAP of JEEP said:

Its not that I'm not pleased... I just know it could be better.  I'm just not sure how to get it better without going through the whole hand sanding process that I'm already familiar with.

And yes, she does really love it.

I might be able to help you with your finishing problems. Now, I'm not familiar with the etching process you blade guys use on Damascus, but the part involving getting the metal to an acceptable level of surface finish is a different story.

The first thing you'll need to do is invest in a buffer, or a suitable grinder that you can use to mount wheels on. I used a Sears Craftsman 10" bench grinder to polish dozens and dozens of guns back in the early-mid 90's. Deals can be found at the pawn shop and CL if you look around. The point is, you want something with a little power behind it. A standard 6" grinder will do the job, but you'll wear it out fast using it for polishing.

Ask me how I know..

What you're going to want to do after that, is invest in some non woven abrasive wheels for your new polishing machine. These are more commonly known by the trade name Scotchbrite. Yes, the same stuff you scrub pots and pans with.. There are a number of companies that manufacture and sell them, as well as finding them on eBay once in awhile cheap. I order from a company in Utica NY called Divine Brothers. For smaller diameter discs, (6"-8") they can be purchased from most major tool retailers such as Production Tool, MSC and Grainger. I generally use coarse for prep and blend, medium for finishing before going to a sisal wheel for the major cut and color work. The non woven abrasive wheels will literally cut hours off your bench work and when used correctly, take you from a 120-240 finish to around 600-800 brushed finish that's practically ready for buff out. 

Im not suggesting that this process completely eliminates the need for hand sanding (it doesn't) but the coarse non woven wheel will take you from zero to sixty in light speed illustratively. Yes, you will have to invest a little in some kind of grinder or true buffer to do the work, but the benefits are very tangible and I think you would be extremely impressed with the results.

I took that stainless base I did from literally a 120ish 240 maximum finish to rough buff in under an hour with two grades of non woven abrasive wheels. I just placed an order with Divine for about 30 wheels for my 12" polisher. They were around $160 plus shipping. If you wanna make a trip down here at some point this summer, I can give you a hands on tutorial with them and show you first hand how useful they are. They are manufactured in several finer grades as well. I have some swatches of those here too.. If you decided you wanted some in the future, I would be willing to go in on an order with you to meet their minimum ($150) charge. They are much less expensive buying them this way, and once you use them you'll wonder how you ever lived without them. 

If you do not already own a buffer or suitable grinder that can be used as one, I would start looking. It will not replace hand sanding for some jobs, but will expand your capabilities and efficiency tenfold. A better quality buffer or grinder will cost a little more, but I'm telling you once you learn the basics about wheel finishing it will open up an entirely new perspective to you. You don't need to spend a fortune on a Baldor machine, just something fairly well built and preferably with a long of a reach as possible(length of the motor shafts). It will be worth every penny you spend on it.

We can chat about finishing stones too.  I think you may find them to be another useful tool to prep your knives after rough sanding. They're an excellent method for flat work and defined surfaces with edges and steps.

Thats another deal in itself tho.

Let me know if I can help.

Steve