Hand Sanding Guru Needed

R.Keith

German Shepherd Dog
Cut out and rough ground a blade today.

Started sanding and it looks worse than when I started.

I'm resigned to using alot of sandpaper, and I'm working on
my patience but it's a little frustrating when you're
excited about a project but the more you work on it
the more it looks like crap.:34:

Has anyone discovered a good way to do this.

I'll take any hints, tips, tricks or advice I can get.

Thanks for listening.

(now I'm gonna go do some deep breathing exercises)
 
well to keep the sand paper flat if you flat ground the blade i rap my paper around a file and go tip to plung then change derections then sideways/then edge to spine alternating sometimes if you use a little oil it helps.
 
a couple suggestions. Water is for sanding, oil is for polishing. Sand each grit at 45degrees to each other when stepping up to the next smaller grit so you can easily see the deeper scratches. Don't move on until all the last grit scratches are gone. You will at some time do that and regret it. It can't be helped. When you put your final sanding grit finish, lift the paper, set it down for each stroke one way along the length of the blade or you will get little fish hook scratches. Good sand paper is about a buck a sheet. It some of the best money you spend on a knife. It will save your sanity. Put some music on and relax. If you are in a big hurry to get something done, work on something else. Sanding isn't fast. Have fun..
 
a couple suggestions. Water is for sanding, oil is for polishing. Sand each grit at 45degrees to each other when stepping up to the next smaller grit so you can easily see the deeper scratches. Don't move on until all the last grit scratches are gone. You will at some time do that and regret it. It can't be helped. When you put your final sanding grit finish, lift the paper, set it down for each stroke one way along the length of the blade or you will get little fish hook scratches. Good sand paper is about a buck a sheet. It some of the best money you spend on a knife. It will save your sanity. Put some music on and relax. If you are in a big hurry to get something done, work on something else. Sanding isn't fast. Have fun..

BossDog,
Thanks for the info, I'll print this out and put it over my work bench.

Franklin,
Thanks also, using a file as a sanding block sounds good and flat.
I'll give it a try.
 
use a orbital sander with a mid grade paper , to remove the scratchs .then wrap sandpaper around a flat file to get the lettle swarlys out ,,
 
I am using Poly urathane blocks 3" x 1" x 1" (same material that is on the contact wheels of the grinders). Hard PU for flat sanding and softer for holow sanding. For holow sanding the block must have the same radius as the wheel used for the holow grind. Tracey is so right in saying remove all the scratches of the previous grit before moving on it will save you from crying later on especialy if you are going for a mirror finish and then as Tracey said patience, patience and then some more patience. There are no short cuts to this one.
 
Thanks guys,

I am using Poly urathane blocks 3" x 1" x 1" (same material that is on the contact wheels of the grinders). Hard PU for flat sanding and softer for holow sanding. For holow sanding the block must have the same radius as the wheel used for the holow grind. Tracey is so right in saying remove all the scratches of the previous grit before moving on it will save you from crying later on especialy if you are going for a mirror finish and then as Tracey said patience, patience and then some more patience. There are no short cuts to this one.

Pieter,
I'm not familiar with PU blocks, where in the States should I look for the hard & soft blocks?
Keeping with flat grinding for now so one less factor to deal with. In fact I won the Bubble Jig
GAW recently and hope it helps my grinding considerably when it gets here.
Now, if they only made a sanding jig ... Reminds me of an old bumper sticker,
Lord please grant me patience - and I want it NOW!!!
Any way, I'll work on it. Thanks
 
Go as fine as you can on the grinder, hand-sanding out 50 or even 120 grits will drive you bonkers. I take mine all the way to 600 grit... let the machine do the heavy work. Then I drop down to 400 and start hand-sanding. Sometimes even then, little deep scratches show up that were "hidden" before and I have to go down to 220 by hand.

The early steps are the most important! Don't rush through them, I promise you will regret it and have to go back. Once you get it looking nice and even at 400, all the following steps will go much more quickly.
 
Go as fine as you can on the grinder, hand-sanding out 50 or even 120 grits will drive you bonkers. I take mine all the way to 600 grit... let the machine do the heavy work. Then I drop down to 400 and start hand-sanding. Sometimes even then, little deep scratches show up that were "hidden" before and I have to go down to 220 by hand.

The early steps are the most important! Don't rush through them, I promise you will regret it and have to go back. Once you get it looking nice and even at 400, all the following steps will go much more quickly.

Ok James,
got it.
Thanks
 
Use damascus ... grind to 220 the etch the crap out of it!

I'me just sayin'

In all seriousness if you are flat grinding the orbital sander will get you ahead of the game, but you are still gonna have to use a file or block to finish it out
 
Use damascus ... grind to 220 the etch the crap out of it!

I'me just sayin'

In all seriousness if you are flat grinding the orbital sander will get you ahead of the game, but you are still gonna have to use a file or block to finish it out

Chad,
I hope to work up to damascus eventually but right now I can't even bring myself to use the one damascus knife I bought,
much less grind on one.

Graveyard also mentioned an orbital sander. I'll have to give that a try and get a good flat block to finish up with.

Thanks,
 
Learn it, live it, love it :D

P.S. my woman says I'm a cocky ba$tard but hey, when yer right yer right!

James,

Sometimes my humor comes across the wrong way so I've been going slow till I get
to know some people on the forum.

I'll loosen up a bit.

Thanks for your input.
 
No offense intended or taken, friend. I had a couple sips of shine last night and was feelin' frisky, that's all :)
 
I agree in grinding the blade upto minimum 400 or better befor sanding . It does make good sence if you think about it. If you have a deep scratch that you're looking to sand away , you are actually bringing down the whole blade ( sanding ) to reach the botom of the scratch . Spend some more time at your grinder, slow down , and work your way up in the grits . It will make a really BIG ! difference in your sanding .. My two scence.
 
Nobody asked if you heat treated the blade first? I imagine some folks hand sand before heat treat, but I do my finish work on hardened steel personally. Very sound advice from all the hand sanders! James is so right, take it as far as you can on the belt sander before doing the hand work. it will save a lot of grief and hard work. Not really a Guru, just a balding aging knife maker.
Clint
 
My hand sanding was reduced greatly and the final finish on my blades went up dramatically when I started using 3M Gator belts. I start at the A300 and go down to A30 then start my hand sanding at 400 using Rhynowet sanding paper. I pay about 50 cents a sheet for it. Works better than any other I've tried. If you want even less hand sanding, use a 'very fine' scotchbrite belt.
 
Great tips everybody. I have been doing quite a bit of hand sanding lately. I always seem to have trouble in plunge area. I took a small block of flat wood and glued a pc of the rubber cork gasket that i use on my 9" flat disc to the wood. A little spray adhesive and whatever grit your working at. Lets me get in tight with a little give. Spin the wood around to get a new edge.Mark the wood with grit designation as not to cross contaminate. Sometimes grit gets stuck in the cork edge as i found out at 800 on the disc.Arghhhh!
 
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