What grit sandpaper?

[Steven511]

I'm going to be hand-filing/sanding my first blade in a few days, and it got me thinking a lot about sandpaper grits. My question is: What grit is fine enough for you? How far do you sand a blade, how far do you sand a handle? What do you think is the minimum grit something needs to look decent? What do you think is the maximum grit something needs before it gets extraneous?

[VaughnT]

400g for the blade, wet sanded.  Similar for the handle.  I want knives I can use and not feel bad about scratching up.

You can get a very nice finish if you use a vibrating palm sander because it gives you almost a bead-blasted look to the blade.  Anything finer than 400 grit is wasted on me, but some folks do want that mirror shine and glass-smooth handle.  The latter is only important if the wood is really nice and you want to show off the grain.

[ThomasPowers]

How high is up?   What you sand you handle too depends a lot on what it is made from and what you want it to look like.  I've done everything from rough scraped with a knife blade to mirror polished with a serious number of tung oil applications.

I do know folks who only go to 400 on the blade and then buff with a sisal buff with black compound to get a "shiny" blade with evidence of the work on the blade.

[rhitee93]

Like they said, it varies.

I've seen people achieve a very nice brushed look at 220 grit.  I think that is harder to do and make look right than taking it up to 600 grit.  (Maybe that is just because I can't seem to do it well )

It's all about technique, and one of the biggest things is that the finishing strokes on the blade need to be one long pull from the guard to the tip.  As straight as you can go, and don't stop mid stroke.  Sanding back and forth like a sawzall leads to a muddy looking finish even if you go all the way up to 3000.

I use mostly oily woods, or stabilized woods for handles.  Generally I get them to about 800 grit, and wax them.

 

[Zrognak]

I start with 180g move to 400g then 800g then move to the polish wheel for a mirror finish if I want it to be polished that is, as for handles i sand with 180 then wet the handle with water so the fibers rise if im using wood that is then finish with 400g then use 0000 steel wool(not recommended for some wood types that have a lot of pores)

I like to add im not a professional knife maker, just a amature so take what I type as possible suggestion, you chose your own way of doing things.