Finishing Nickel/silver

C Craft

Well-Known Member
I am in the process of building my first knife using Nickel/Silver bolsters and a Nickel/Silver pommel. In fact this is my fist use of Nickel/Silver. I have been really surprised at how hard this material is too work.
I guess I shouldn’t have been because I know from my construction days that Nickel is used often too plate the teeth of heavy equipment. Nickel beads are laid down side by side on the teeth of equipment as a wear surface. I guess I figured there would be more silver than nickel in the bar I bought from the knife supply.

Anyway back to the subject at hand. I need to pick everyone’s brain for information about finishing N/S! I have used 80 grit to sand too shape, and strip of an old 80 grit belt to refine the shape. I have then polished with 180grit.

I am beginning to see this is going to need to be highly polished to look right. So what I am asking is what grit do you sand out N/S too? Do you buff out the final finished look?

My problem is the bolster is going to have to be in a finished state before it goes back onto the knife. However the Camel bone (jigged scales) I am using cannot be finish shaped till they go back onto the knife as they will have to be blended into the finished shape of the bolsters and pommel. Has anyone got any advice on this particular step?

Any advice on finishing N/S, as well as any advice on the blending of the Camel bone into the finished N/S pieces without screwing up the finished N/S would be greatly appreciated!
 
I have been really surprised at how hard this material is too work.

I suspect most would say that Nickel Silver is one of the easiest guard/fitting materials to work.
Nickel Silver is composed of 52% to 80% copper, 10 to 35% zinc, and 5 to 35% nickel, depending on the specific alloy type. It may also contain a small percent of lead and tin. Normally the type of nickel silver sold by the knifemaking supply outfits ranges 6 to 18% nickel. (although the 18% variety is becoming somewhat rare)

The stuff that you're talking about for wear edges on machinery parts is a totally different animal. It's a very low nickle alloy...just enough to inhibit rusting. (I retired from the military as the Superintendent of a Heavy equipment shop) Nickel itself is very soft and borders on what I would call "gummy".

When I finish Nickel silver, it gets ground to at least 400 grit, and then buffed on a sewn muslin wheel with Matchless green compound. Since Nickel silver is soft, you can normally take it to a mirror finish with the Matchless green from a 400 grit finish. Most other guard/fitting materials such as 300 or 400 series stainless require a much finer finish prior to buffing. I'm not a huge fan of mirror finishes, so I often will apply a satin finish after having buffed to a mirror with 1200 grit paper or a super fine scotchbrite pad for the final finish.

Your going to have a hard time taking down/blending nickel silver bolsters with camel bone....especially if the camel bone is white.....once you get into finer grits (320 or finer) you will get transfer of nickel silver dust into the bone, leaving it dingy/stained....and there is now way I know of to get it out. Likewise with buffing camel bone. The "pores" will usually "load" with buffing compound and looks just terrible.
Sometimes the "magic" of what we do is understanding how your chosen materials will interact with each other during the process....and in this case I think you've chosen a tough combination to work with. Don't get me wrong, it can be done, but it's gona take some work to figure it all out.
 
Thanks for the reply Ed. I will be forewarned!:biggrin: It just sounded like a good combo and now I know what I am up against!

Let me add this because I asked this same question on another forum and it came across like I was a raving loon. So let me head this off here on this forum!


OK let me try to explain myself better. Sometime pictures do a better job and I will say up front the pics are not that good ( in fact they are horrible, in a hurry and too much flash) but I hope they help to explain better what I was talking about!

This is my bass ackwards knife as my dad used to say and if you don't understand that just put the b on the ackwards and you will!:D

This is a fixed blade but it is build much like a folder. I think I figured out how to get the preliminary sanding done on the bolster and the pommel without screwing up the blade. I made a copy of the blade handle out of mild steel complete with drill holes to match what is on the knife.

knifebolsterpommel003.jpg


The bolsters and pommel are angled as well as the scales. The bolster especially has to be 100% finished when it is attached to the finished blade as there will be no way to sand the leading edge against the blade without messing up the blade!

knifebolsterpommel004.jpg


I realize now that the scales will not be as hard to fit against top and bottom of the bolster and the pommel as first thought!

knifebolsterpommel001.jpg


knifebolsterpommel007.jpg


So what I will do is finish the bolster (especially wherethe leading edge of it touches the blade) as well as the scales, and the pommel. That way when I pop it off of the mild steel copy of the blade and pin it to the real blade after HT and finish all I will have to do is a final sanding of the bolster, scales and pommel, to fit it too the real blade!

Oh by the way the reason the blades grind is not complete my file guide snapped while grinding the blade. I had made several passes when all of the sudden it just poped!

Fileguidefailure006.jpg


Fileguidefailure009.jpg


I suspect I had tightened it a little tight and the heat build up and cooling of the blade must have put to much pressure on it!
 
Let me add this because I asked this same question on another forum and it came across like I was a raving loon.

I understand. You didn't come across like a raving loon, those people just chose to see it that way so they could puff up their own egos. I no longer post on that forum because of all the arm chair experts, know it alls, and the egos.

That's a bummer about the file guide....those darn things are spendy! I once broke a fully hardened D2 file guide, and have since been using one made of mild steel with carbide "slips" on it. So far (knock on wood) it's held up wonderfully.

I think you've got the assembly figured out! That's really the main challenge in what we do....solving the puzzle of how best to make everything come out as we desire.
 
Ed, I really do appreciate the info, and the kind words! You know sometimes it really irritates me the way some folks do in this business.

Then there are the ones like you that have been in the business a while and like you, will be the first to offer advice that steers you into the right direction.

This is still new to me even though I have been doing it a while. I use to do construction I did construction from the time I was 14 yrs of age, I am 54 now, but I never thought I knew it all! There is always room for new information, new ideas, and the occasional dumb question! I always heard the only dumb question was the one you never asked!!!!!!!!!!:shush:

I am reminded of the quote, “You never stand so tall as when you stoop to help another knife maker"!:3:

OK so I took a few liberties with the original quote,:what!: but I think it get my point across!!!!!!:biggrin:
 
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