Sanding little spaces?

P

Pedro G.

Well-Known Member
What do you guys use to sand or finish the small gaps on the knife, specifically in between the blade and the handle? I've tried needle files but they are still pretty rough, i've also tried small bits of sandpaper but it's not even and it doesn't do much... What do you guys do?
 
I like to sand this area before I start grinding the blade, it's a lot easier that way for me.
 
You grind it with plain sand paper? Do you do it in any specifiic way or use a little stick or something to get into the small spaces?
 
Ahhh the bottom of the ricasso :)

I'm with Eric on this one and finish the entire perimeter of the blade including the spine and bottom of the ricasso before fitting my guard. I grind it with a 400x belt then hand finish with sandpaper and a small bronze sanding block that has a chisel edge on one side. Rarely takes more than a few minutes to go from 400 belt to 800 hand finished.

Getting a nice grind with the 400 grit belt is the key to efficiency IMHO

-Josh
 
Sand out and finish to your last grit of paper,
before you mount the handle and as Eric mention finish the blade first too!

Yes you can use a slightly rounded square stick if you wish to do it by hand. You never want to go back into the Choil area after the handle is mounted. You can't ever get it even in there with a file or paper.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com/
 
I don't understand very well yet. Whenever i try and use sandpaper in that very small area it tends to rip or i can't fit anything the right size to the point where it will actually sand anything. I don't think i have any belt sanding equiptment to get into that small area rather than my dremel. Also the blade i'm working on will be a fixed blade with full tang.
 
Pedro!
One more time our new knife making friend.
We are saying for you to do ALL of your Grinding and finish sanding on the entire knife Blade, Tang, & bottom of the Ricasso etc, Before you mount the handle scales.

That way you don't have to try to sand or polish in any little places.

Does that help?

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
Yes I understand that part. Which is very good advice, thank you. But maybe i'm saying this wrong or maybe the knife i'm making is a little different than average. I will try and post a picture of what i'm talking about and maybe we can get a bit of clarity. Sorry about not understanding well.
 
Alright, so this area right here is what i'm talking about, This is a very tight area where the only items i have that would feasibly enter would be my needle file set and maybe a toothpick wrapped with sand paper. What i'm trying to figure out is not when or where or what to sand, I want to know how to sand this area, because i've never been able to sand correctly from not knowing to to get into the little space.

IMAG0038.jpg
 
Pedro,
Are you fitting that area with a brass guard?
The way I get into a little half circle of appox 1/8" in size is to use my Foredom Flex shaft hand piece drill or a Dremel with a Carbide burr with a diamond cut pattern on it of 1/8 to 1/4" diameter.

Is that what you are talking about? I don't really see the need for the Vee notch on the spine and the square cut out with the round in it? I am not familiar with the need for these shapes behind the ricassio? Unless this is a some kind of a set for a fitted guard to be solder on?

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
Pedro,

I agree with Laurence in that I just wouldn't create that notch as a design feature of the knife to begin with but thankfully everyone's not just like me ;)

The pic is a big help in understanding what your talking about and as tight spaces for sanding go this one is a cavern you should be able to easily get to. Sandpaper wrapped around an appropriatly sized drill bit shank for the side with round bottom and anything thats hard and has a square edge and is thin enough to fit the square side. Something around 1/8" thick should get right in there like a piece of blade stock, brass, bronze, micarta scale, popcicle stick (craft stick) or cut a piece of wood to fit.

On a small area like that the paper will wear out in just a couple strokes. Thats the bad news, the good news is you can just move the paper ALOT and your always sanding with fresh aggressive paper.

Some aspects of knifemaking are a blast and others are just tedious. Put finishing that notch on the tedious list, LOL, then attack it with whatever necessary to accopmlish your goal !

GREAT looking grind you've got there too !

-Josh
 
Na there really is no guard, i'm going to attach 2 brass bolsters, it's just there because I thought it would look neat, not any real intended use for the odd shaped and what not. But i'm not at that point yet, I want to be able to sand that area well before HT, that dremel tip work like sandpaper to smooth out the area?
 
Oh ok, yeah I didn't think of using drill bits and popsicle sticks as a medium. That would probably work, and yeah the sand paper wears very quickly.

Thank you very much, It's the first time I haven't done a full flat grind on my 4"x36" sander.

:)
 
Pedro, you can wrap sandpaper round a bit of metal rod and hold it in place with wire then put the rod in your drill press and it makes a mini sanding drum. Just make sure it's wrapped in the right direction to push it tighter not open it back out.
 
Oh! That sounds like a neat idea to try. I'm going to have to try to use that too! Would that work in drilled holes also?
 
Try taking some pop-sickle sticks and placing them on sandpaper , the backside of which is covered in instant spray adhesive. Leave a little space between each stick and cut them apart after they are cured. You can then cut up these sticks to fit just about anywhere. If you leave enough around the sides, you can fold it over and get a good 45 angle. I have used this with grits from 220 up, wet or dry paper. Courser grit doesn't work as well.
 
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