Thread: Observations and request for pointers on hand sanding

A little late to the party here, but I pretty much use the OP's method as given in the first post, although with a flat block for the flat faces and dowels for hollows. Silicon carbide powder on a rag and steel wool can help with the pitting. Looks like the blade as starting out had a lot of black rust. Those can take a long time. Good job in any case.

I find a cork and WD40 works best for me. Stiff enough to keep from blowing-out the pits.
I also find 400 seems more aggressive on a blade than 320 does due to more garnets on the blade.
There is a place for worn wet and dry in-between as well.

I never get in a hurry. I have been on this one for a few months. Sitting and sanding as I feel like it.



This blade is thick, so I have a ways to go. Still, it might be too wavy as-done and I will likely stop at 600 and leave it like that.
Sanding striations hide some sins, don't you know!

Originally Posted by bluesman7

Good on you Montgomery! That is the typical argument heard about Gold Dollars too, and while it is very true from a money spent vs value standpoint, looking at it in that way misses the point.

Ha! Missing which point? I guess the point that Euclid made holds very true for him, and all power to him. He knows his stuff, his advice is always very helpful, he is always willing to share, and I'm sure he has an amazing collection of wonderful razors in beautiful condition. Maybe one day I will also see it that way. But for now I get a lot of enjoyment out of seeing what I can do with a razor which does not cost too much, and will probably never be worth much, but still has a nice thing of good quality hiding in there somewhere and has every chance of giving a great shave. I did buy one Gold Dollar, I spent ages sorting out the geometry, I got something out of it in the end, learnt quite a lot, but I didn't feel the magic. On the other hand, a while ago I bought a cheap lot of old razors, three in total, minimal cost, one had a big chip in it, one was in really rough homemade scales that were catching the blade, and the third was a really worn down small blade. But when I got hold of them, I realised that all three were covered in long-dried out grease. I could still see the fingerprints on the blades, and I realised that they had probably all been greased and put away together a long time ago. Pondering that, I imagined that if someone had gone to the trouble of making new scales for a blade, he was probably fairly attached to it, or at least liked it. Now, the chipped one has had the edge restored; that blade in the homemade scales has inherited a nice pair of bone scales from another razor that was past the point of no return, and I even found a box for it from the right maker. Sometimes when I use that razor I wonder about that old boy, long long gone by now, taking his razors, one of which he could well have used day in day out, year in year out, and I imagine him for some reason covering them in a layer of grease and putting them away for the very last time all those years ago. That's where the magic is for me.

Originally Posted by RezDog

Badger makes a modeling, hobby, soda blasting rig. It will clean jimps very clean, and very fast.

Interesting! I'm not ready for that quite yet, but sounds like a good approach. If it works for jimps, how is it on the blade itself?

Originally Posted by Brontosaurus

... Silicon carbide powder on a rag and steel wool can help with the pitting...

That's the nugget right there, thank you!

Originally Posted by Brontosaurus

... Looks like the blade as starting out had a lot of black rust. Those can take a long time. Good job in any case.

Thanks, yes, it took forever. This was just a trial on an ordinary razor as a learning experience, and the result is reasonable. I believe I learnt something too!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

I find a cork and WD40 works best for me...

One of the big takeaways I have got from asking this question is the use of lubricant. Thanks.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Sanding striations hide some sins, don't you know!

For sure! The blade you are working on looks great, just the kind of project I'm going to look out for, something a bit older and heavier. And I love the idea of picking it up and sanding whenever the mood takes.

Monty I can appreciate your comments because I share many of the sentiments you convey. I very often work much harder on a piece than I know the work will return. Euclid does have a valid point... several actually from the fiscal responsibility side but if it is a labor of love then you don't necessarily have the same concerns.
I too very often wonder about the previous owner long ago. I imagine his feelings getting a new straight razor and wonder if he was excited or simply filling a need and checking it off a list. Maybe it was an heirloom from a family member or maybe he worked hard and saved for a long time for it. I wonder if he treasured it and treated it with care or was it like a tool that he took out of the shed when needed then threw it back in without regard. These are the things that make this fun for me.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

I find a cork and WD40 works best for me. !

Originally Posted by Montgomery

One of the big takeaways I have got from asking this question is the use of lubricant. Thanks.

I've tried different lubricants and have never felt like they improved the performance enough to make up for the hassle and mess of using them. I'm open to trying them again though and will experiment this morning with some WD40. One guy at a knife show was telling me that clove oil was the magic lube. I have not tried it.

Part of the problem with assessing progress is that it is a slow process and a big improvement in speed is still slow and can be unnoticed. Kind of like if your in a traffic jam and averaging 4 mph and then things improve to 5mph. That's 25% faster and a huge improvement, but you're still stuck in traffic at 5mph and don't really sense any improvement at all.

Originally Posted by Montgomery

Interesting! I'm not ready for that quite yet, but sounds like a good approach. If it works for jimps, how is it on the blade itself?

It will ruin a blade in a second. I have not tried it on a blade to be honest, but that is the warning that Richard gave me when he suggested that I use the soda blast on the jimps. I think if you had a very heavy blade it might be ok, but you will never keep the surface of the blade flat either. They are inexpensive and work really well on the jimps. I always tape the sides of the tang. The soda blast will leave a frosted finish on polished steel that is not nice to sand off.

Originally Posted by bluesman7

I've tried different lubricants and have never felt like they improved the performance enough to make up for the hassle and mess of using them. I'm open to trying them again though and will experiment this morning with some WD40. One guy at a knife show was telling me that clove oil was the magic lube. I have not tried it.

I'm just going to give it a go and see how I feel about it!