Thread: What are you working on?

I decided to try one of gssixgun's tricks and ground a layer of tape down to fill in low spots on the spine. Then I added a layer of kapton tape and started on checking the bevel. It's not fully set yet but looks pretty even to me. The tip has started getting a bit chippy again, so I'll keep at it a little longer.



Oh, and honing without scales is still weird. I know, I could do the Popsicle stick/tongue depressor scales, but I'm being lazy and I don't like dealing with the bolt sticking out. I'll probably finish the bevel tomorrow, kind of had my fill for tonight.

If you look straight down on the edge an the flat ares is upper even then it’s likely ok. I might call it good there and start progressing though the grits, as long as there were no fat or thins spots on the point of the bevel. If you go all the way you should dull I it before sanding.

Just playing with a leftover piece of zebrawood from a previous project
It's drilled with a 1" hole, 16mm deep, to leave a 49mm loft on a knot I've got here. Handle is 2" tall, 1 3/8" at the widest point

Didn't quite turn out the shape I intended, but it's not a bad shape I guess.
Not sure it's going to work out though, this stuff has crazy big pores, and some voids I wasn't expecting. Will have to look at it again over the weekend to decide what to do

I’m curious if you could fill the voids in a vacuum chamber with stabilizer and Make it more serviceable. It looks very nice.

Thanks Rez
The wood is pretty oily, I'm not sure that it would play too well with the stabilizer I have (cactus juice). And that stuff also requires baking to harden...i probably could've tried that on the blank, but i think the heat would just split the thing in its current shape.

If anything, i was thinking wipe it down with a bunch of DNA to strip the oils from the surface, then try to get some type of hardening, penetrating finish to soak into the wood a bit, before sealing with a thicker finish to fill the gaps...layer that up thick, then sand/polish smooth.

Happy to say I made some major improvements with the time spent on the grinders the last couple days though. Adjusted some bevel angles, tweaked some grinds....the cutting went WAY better on this than on that chisel handle I posted! I actually degraded the surface when I decided to sand it with 500 grit lol

Originally Posted by RezDog

If I have done heavy sanding on a razor, I try to remember to reset the bevel to make sure the grind is flat against the bevel. Nothing is quite as disappointing as putting a bunch of effort restoring the finish on a razor, only to set the bevel and have it wavy.

Hi Rezdog,
Do you mean to check that the top of the bezel is parallel to the edge and not wavy like a breadknife? Also, what would cause it to be wavy? Would that be thin spots near the edge of the blade?
Thanks.

Believe Rez is referring to the irregular thickness aggressive hand sanding can cause along the blade faces if you aren’t careful. They will show up as thicker or thinner width of bevel as you redefine it. The apex will still be straight, but the back of the bevel will wander as the blade thickness changes..

Awesome, thanks MikeB52 (pilot?). This is good to know.

Yup mike is correct. That’s is what I was talking about.

That is why I use a round sanding jig to wrap paper around. Lots of post earlier about that. A wood dowel works or a wine cork. I have one specifically made for sanding I like because it is longer than a cork but sometimes the shorter one is good for sanding stabilizer to tang and grind to stabilizer transition cracks where lots of gunk can hide. If I'm going to do very much sanding I try to even out the number of strokes heel to toe and side for side to keep the geometry even, unless of course I am trying to correct the geometry because of an uneven grind.