EdCaffreyMS
"The Montana Bladesmith"
I've been working on a 4 knife order, These are relativity simple knives, but one is exceptionally wide from edge to spine. This week I've been working on finish grinding, and hand finishing them, but once I got to the "wide" blade, it was just sheer frustration.
It seemed as if I was hand sanding forever, and not getting anywhere.
So, I started thinking back to when I had tried a small vibrating (1/4 sheet) electric sander. I pulled it out of a cabinet, clipped a new chunk of 600 grit into place and tried it. Shreds of sandpaper went everywhere, and I took a huge chunk out of the backing pad....more frustration.
Then I got to thinking about my disc sander....so I tore the vibrating sander down, taking off the rest of the rubber pad, and then pulling the screws and removing the metal backing plate. Then, using the metal backing plate I had removed as a template, I cut and fit a 1/8" piece of G10 to replace the metal backing plate. I scuffed up the G10 with 220 grit paper, cleaned it with acetone, and gave it a good spray with 3M-77, and applied a piece the same cork gasket material that I use on my disc grinder.
I then gave it shot of Duro spray glue, put on a new piece of 600 and tried it on that blade that was giving me fits.......WAHOOO!!! I now have a new tool for "hand" finishing!!:mod: After only about 2 mins per side with the 600, I jumped to 1200 grit, worked it over, and then in less than 3 mins per side, went back to 600 by hand, and quickly cleaned up all the tiny 1200 grit fish hooks on BOTH sides. (it took less than 5 mins total to clean up BOTH side by hand)
The reason I got so hyped is that many of us have tried to use these little vibratory finish sanders before, and not had much success...with the modifications I made, it now works like a charm for blade finishing! Which sander is it? Well, it's the $29.97 Ryobi from Home Depot: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xhf/R-100599174/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
Since I used 1/8" G10 to replace the factory metal backing plate, I of course had to drill and counterbore for the 6 screws that hold the plate in place on the sander. But because of the thin G10, I had to wind up lightly grinding the heads of the screws so they did not protrude above the surface....I think if I do it again, I would try to use a bit thicker G10.
But for now it's working great, and I was so cranked about it, that I had to call Steve Kelly and tell him about it.....and Steve mentioned he had one of the "mouse" sanders that he was gona rework in the same manner.....now there is another idea! I might just have to buy another "toy" and try it.
I just wanted to share this "discovery" with everyone...hopefully it will help make your "finishing" chores easier.
It seemed as if I was hand sanding forever, and not getting anywhere.
So, I started thinking back to when I had tried a small vibrating (1/4 sheet) electric sander. I pulled it out of a cabinet, clipped a new chunk of 600 grit into place and tried it. Shreds of sandpaper went everywhere, and I took a huge chunk out of the backing pad....more frustration.
Then I got to thinking about my disc sander....so I tore the vibrating sander down, taking off the rest of the rubber pad, and then pulling the screws and removing the metal backing plate. Then, using the metal backing plate I had removed as a template, I cut and fit a 1/8" piece of G10 to replace the metal backing plate. I scuffed up the G10 with 220 grit paper, cleaned it with acetone, and gave it a good spray with 3M-77, and applied a piece the same cork gasket material that I use on my disc grinder.
I then gave it shot of Duro spray glue, put on a new piece of 600 and tried it on that blade that was giving me fits.......WAHOOO!!! I now have a new tool for "hand" finishing!!:mod: After only about 2 mins per side with the 600, I jumped to 1200 grit, worked it over, and then in less than 3 mins per side, went back to 600 by hand, and quickly cleaned up all the tiny 1200 grit fish hooks on BOTH sides. (it took less than 5 mins total to clean up BOTH side by hand)
The reason I got so hyped is that many of us have tried to use these little vibratory finish sanders before, and not had much success...with the modifications I made, it now works like a charm for blade finishing! Which sander is it? Well, it's the $29.97 Ryobi from Home Depot: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xhf/R-100599174/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
Since I used 1/8" G10 to replace the factory metal backing plate, I of course had to drill and counterbore for the 6 screws that hold the plate in place on the sander. But because of the thin G10, I had to wind up lightly grinding the heads of the screws so they did not protrude above the surface....I think if I do it again, I would try to use a bit thicker G10.
But for now it's working great, and I was so cranked about it, that I had to call Steve Kelly and tell him about it.....and Steve mentioned he had one of the "mouse" sanders that he was gona rework in the same manner.....now there is another idea! I might just have to buy another "toy" and try it.
I just wanted to share this "discovery" with everyone...hopefully it will help make your "finishing" chores easier.