Thread: A few newbie questions...

Working on this

Hmm...it won't show the picture for me. But what's the question?

sorry hit submit befor i had typed my post by accident.

working pics..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/88476307@N00/307952666/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/88476307@N00/307952664/

this is the first blade ive tried to restore. got it for 4$ on ebay. I dont know its size but it is a wedge with no hollow. I pulled the scales off, they were total trash...will have to figure out how to make them eventually.

so... it didnt take me long messing around with hand sanding at 120/320/400 to realize i was doing a few things wrong... I had worked pretty quickly from 120 to 400 and noticed i still had alot of tarnishing and pitting and lines from the larger grit papers. So i started again with the 120 and worked it by hand till all the 'scratches' were going perpendicular to the blade with no lines showing going length wise. I still had some decent pitting and some dark areas so i decided to make my first sanding drum from 120 using toxic's guide. i went after dark areas on the tang, spine, and towards the end of the blade a bit more aggressively but tried to maintain even sanding along the whole thing so i didnt grind a dent into it. The 120 on a dremel leaves a very different effect then hand sanding with 120 so i worked the whole thing till it was evenly patterned. With almost all the dark areas out i moved on to 320 grit drums and worked the whole blade till i had removed the parrallel scratches i had made as vlad had indicated he does when hand sanding. repeated this with 400 and shes looking pretty good!! 400 is the highest grit paper i could find so im gonna have to order so higher grit stuff. There is still some uneven surface where the deepest pitting was on the end but i think it gives it a bit of character so i might leave it.

questions...
what speeds should i be sanding at with the dremel (been using 4 on the dremel, but i think my dremel is messed up cause i can feel it fluctuate up to something like 6 sometimes then it comes back down after a few seconds. wtf?)

can i sand the spine length wise?

do i need to follow the heavy grind patterns on the tang when sanding?

there is a very small nick in the blade, it looks like a perfect little half circle that a thick hair could fit in. When should i work this out and how?

Is it a bad idea to put a mirror finish on a wedge? Will it get scratched with honing?

All in all im really happy how its looking right now. I will try and get some pics up, tonight maybe.

thanks
Brendan

Brendan,

My $0.02:

I'm thinking that the blade might have a slight hollow to it, and might not be a 'true'wedge, so a mirror polish would not be an issue. If you lay that blade flat on a hone and gave it a few passes at 4 or 8K you will see where the 'working' surface is. On a blade like that, I have a feeling it will be at the edge and spine....(those are my favorite grinds, all the stiffness and heft of the wedge, but not the work of honing a wedge!!)

Don't worry about that nick until you are done sanding, and ready to hone.

If you have a Walmart(automotive section) or auto store nearby, you can find wet/dry paper up to 2000grit. What is odd is, I have trouble finding 600 and 800 grit paper (up to 400 no problem, but between that and 1000, nuttin'). There are a few online sites that sell them pretty cheap. However, if you do not feel like waiting for the shipping, go to the woodcraft web site and see if there is a store nearby (they also sell some great wood for scales).

Something that Vlad suggested and that works well is, us a lubricant while sanding. He used 'Steroil' by dovo, I used mineroil (I think the only difference, is Dovo's is 'Sterile'+'Mineroil'='Steroil'...but that's just a hunch). This will allow the 'slurry' to work with you as you sand, save the sand paper (make it last longer) and prevents a metal powder from getting everywhere. All in all, it helps all around.

As for the blade, it looks like it has a LOT of promise. Especially since most of the pitting is away from the edge.

Post pictures of the progression if you can!

Good Luck!
C utz

some new pics... the side with the pitting is at 400 grit, the side without has had a few passes with 1000 grit. these are from my cellphones camera, but they show pretty good detail. i should have some pics from a DSLR soon.

thanks
B