Hand Sanding

I'd be lying if I said I ever look forward to hand sanding but the results are worth it.

I've ordered custom knives where there was a $50 up-charge for a hand sanded blade.

Having done it a few times now, 50 bucks is a bargain!
 
Hand sanding is a love/hate situation..... some folks love it, and others hate it. :) I'm always interested to see how students who come through my classes will handle it.... older students tend to find it relaxing, and younger students often can't handle it..... they get really frustrated when I check their work, and make tiny circles with a sharpie that they need to work on further. :)
Personally, I get excited as hand sanding progresses..... and the various aspects of a blade are revealed and refined.
 
Agreed with all above comments. And, I will add one. If the maker is diligent at hand sanding it shows in the final product. If the maker is not diligent, it really shows in the final product. The better the sander, the better the knife.
 
If the maker is diligent at hand sanding it shows in the final product. If the maker is not diligent, it really shows in the final product. The better the sander, the better the knife.
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Absolutely! NOTHING adds more value and appeal to a custom knife then hand finishing..... you simply cannot achieve the results in any other manner! I remember an individual who came to me for help with his knives, and he didn't do any hand finishing. I sat him down and made him hand sand on an existing knife for about 20 mins..... and literally turned a $75 knife into a $150 knife. He now is a "Rockstar" in the tactical knife world, and hand finishes everything he produces.
 
I know it seems funny to talk about enjoying hand sanding..... but, I think I do enjoy it. It's the last thing before putting handle on blade. Even with a good grind from grinder, hand sanding just makes the blade look so good. After the first 320 (or 220) grit sanding to clean up, each of finer grits goes fast and boy does the blade look good.

Yea, I think I sorta enjoy hand sanding myself.
 
EdCaffreyMS said:
Hand sanding is a love/hate situation..... some folks love it, and others hate it. :) I'm always interested to see how students who come through my classes will handle it.... older students tend to find it relaxing, and younger students often can't handle it..... they get really frustrated when I check their work, and make tiny circles with a sharpie that they need to work on further. :)
Personally, I get excited as hand sanding progresses..... and the various aspects of a blade are revealed and refined.
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Totally agree Ed, I was actually shocked when a started out on the Facebook pages and see all of these Facebook hero's with blades that are left with grinder finishes .I grew up very old school .
 
Not one of my favorites but I will say it actually calms me down after a long day. Start sanding and next thing I know 4 hrs gone. Mellow and tired!
 
Not a fan of hand sanding as you can tell from most of my knives but when I do hand sand a blade it is well worth the effort to take the blade to the highest grit you can on the grinder. Works for me but maybe not for everyone.
 
You all are crazy...lol
Defanitely not my favorite part of knifemaking, sculpting the handle is by far my favorite.
Hand sanding has its place, some of my knives look great hand sanded...some of them are not worth my time and a belt finish suits them and my style or an etched and tumbled. I feel its only one look and style, some people turn there nose up to belt finsh knives or others which is fine...different sanding strokes for different folks :)
 
Justin Presson said:
You all are crazy...lol
Defanitely not my favorite part of knifemaking, sculpting the handle is by far my favorite.
Hand sanding has its place, some of my knives look great hand sanded...some of them are not worth my time and a belt finish suits them and my style or an etched and tumbled. I feel its only one look and style, some people turn there nose up to belt finsh knives or others which is fine...different sanding strokes for different folks :)
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This is my favorite part too!! Even if you have the idea in your head its gonna look like this! After you do the rough in on the contours that's when the "BLADE" takes its place and becomes a "KNIFE"!! IMO!!
 
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Hand rubbing blades is always something I have done but was forced to take a couple years off from making knives due to oldness. Finally got the desire back to be making again. I've always felt the first hand rub was the most difficult. I normally would start out with either 220 or 320 wet and dry but was out of both these grits. Not wanting to go purchase some of these grits I grabbed some 150 grit which was either 3-M or Norton alum oxide. I was just shocked at how well it cut. I went from that to 320 garnet and again it to surprised me at how well it also cut. After that I went to wet and dry but most the hard work was already done.
 

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