Low-Tech Tech

fulloflead · Post by **fulloflead** » Sun Nov 30, 2003 6:32 am

From what I've read on other forums, people who work on knives have rather elaborate workshops.

I've got one room in my apartment that's my gun/knife room that I use for reloading, simple gunsmithing, sharpening, and on occasion, working on knives. I've got a tiny workbench and vise and I just got a Black & Decker dremil tool. I occasionally do some cool jobs customizing my guns and knives with the simple tools that I have. It's fun to do some good (usually simple) work with regular home-grade tools.

Over Thanksgiving I took a shot at hand-polishing some blades with my new B&D dremmil. I first experimented with a CRKT AUS-6 bead-blast blade. I padded the jaws of my visegrips with electrical tape and then locked those in the jaws of my vise which I could then turn to what ever angle I wanted. I used the polishing wheels of my dremmil with some Craftsman white and then red polishing compound. The CRKT was pretty easy and I got near a mirror finish in about an hour. After that I took apart a '98 Microtech LUDT and tried that. It took much longer and I was only about to get sort of a satin finish that left the logo on the blade just barely visable. It looks about the same as the factory-polished Amphibian I have. The MT was harder work. I think I need a coarser abrasive than the white Craftsman stuff to start with.

I also polished the clip and the heads of all the screws. It has rayskin inserts and I'm really happy with the results. It was a bitch to put back together, though!

Anyway, if you've never tried polishing a blade yourself you should try it. It's not that big a deal and it's satisfying when you're done. (I can clearly see my reflection in the previously bead-blasted firing button that's high-polished now and that's satisfying!)

Now, if I can only find a source for a SMALL amount of ray-skin I might take a crack at doing my own handle inserts.

Vagrant · Post by **Vagrant** » Sun Nov 30, 2003 7:16 am

Always go slooow when polishing. If a blade gets too hot to touch [easy to do with a Dremel type tool] you have gotten very close to a temp that can hurt the temper. Assorted polishing compounds are available and a good rule is to start course and work your way to the finer stuff step by step. Polish with each finer one until ALL marks from the previous one are gone, then go to the next. Doing this by hand with sandpaper is prefered by some until you've used the finest you can find [usually 600x] then switch to power buffing. Always keep a jar of water [quench bucket] handy and dip the blade in it as soon as it is warm enough to be uncomfortable to the touch. Failure to do this can hurt it or destroy the blade competely by changing the temper. [If it changes at all it will be negatively once tempered it can not be retempered harder only softer].

fulloflead · Post by **fulloflead** » Sun Nov 30, 2003 7:31 am

Good advise. I was watching a documentary on TV at the time so I kept taking breaks and I don't think I ever got the blade very hot.

What's a good compound to start with when using a dremmil? The white Craftsman compound was a little too fine and made me work too hard. I have some White Diamond of different types but haven't tried it yet.

By the way, I kept hitting the edge and caused the dremmil to jump when ever it hit the edge or tip. I had to resharpen it when I was done.

The softer screw heads and button were MUCH easier to polish. Flitz did a really good job finishing the button, but it didn't do a thing to the blade or clip - too hard I assume.

I may go at the same blade again sometime and see if I can get an even better polish.

mrbigg · Post by **mrbigg** » Sun Nov 30, 2003 9:27 am

mr fulloflead - i've founf a dremel useless for a good buff job - they are great for cleanups a cause they get into hard to reach places, but a full size buffing wheel is the best - and i use it in a drill press - i've heard some guys use a regular drill...use what you got - but mr vagrant is right the dremel will get hotter faster...

Vagrant · Post by **Vagrant** » Sun Nov 30, 2003 9:32 am

For assorted compounds see Koval Knives. I'm sure others have more sources. For courser compound you may find at the local hardware store
black emery is pretty good. [www.kovalknives.com]

mrbigg · Post by **mrbigg** » Sun Nov 30, 2003 9:35 am

i got some 1200 grit from a paint supply place through work...stuff nearly polishes on it's own! super smooth with the 600 - then the 1200 makes it shine!

BennytheBlade · Post by **BennytheBlade** » Sun Nov 30, 2003 3:46 pm

This is a great topic-
Especially for us beginning manglers.
Ive used the craftsman stuff off and on, and they have all the grades, but I ordered some polish from Jantz and it makes quite a difference.

georgeg3 · Post by **georgeg3** » Mon Dec 01, 2003 2:50 am

I'm still learning, but I've got two grinders set up with buffing wheels. Each grinder has a hard and soft pad on it. Buffer #1 has a blue compound for stainless (marked Inox) on the hard pad and a blue compound marked for plastic on the soft pad. Both compounds came from the local Harbor Freight store.

Buffer #2 has a white compound on the hard pad and a white jeweler's rouge on the soft pad. Both compounds came from Home Depot.

I sanded some solid NS bolsters I made on the sander and then finished shaping them by hand with up to 400 grit paper. I got pretty good buffing results by starting with the blue compound on the hard pad, then the white compound on the hard pad, followed by the white jeweler's rouge on the soft pad, and finishing with the blue compound for plastic on a soft pad.

Got a really nice mirror finish on the NS, but I still would like to remove the very small scratches I can see. Maybe I'm being too anal.

fulloflead · Post by **fulloflead** » Mon Dec 01, 2003 4:52 pm

georgeg3 wrote:I'm still learning, but I've got two grinders set up with buffing wheels...

Yeah, but I was talking about those of us who don't have that kind of equip to work with. That's why I titled the thread "Low tech tech". My grinder is a dremil and a vise.

I ran out of blades that I want to polish, but next time I'll order better compound to start with.

Vagrant · Post by **Vagrant** » Mon Dec 01, 2003 5:54 pm

Any old motor [washer, frige, fan] can have an arbor put on for a buffing wheel. [Hardware stores usually have arbors for this purpose].

georgeg3 · Post by **georgeg3** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 1:48 am

fulloflead wrote:

Yeah, but I was talking about those of us who don't have that kind of equip to work with. That's why I titled the thread "Low tech tech". My grinder is a dremil and a vise.

The total for my two grinders was less than $50. One of them is from Homier and cost $9.99. That's low-tech as opposed to Baldor buffers costing in the hundreds of dollars.

Vagrant · Post by **Vagrant** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 5:45 am

A free motor from the dump and a $5 arbor and $2 buffing wheel from the local hardware store is low tech and about as "econo" as it gets.

fulloflead · Post by **fulloflead** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 6:04 am

Vagrant wrote:A free motor from the dump and a $5 arbor and $2 buffing wheel from the local hardware store is low tech and about as "econo" as it gets.

That actually sounds like a good project I could do and I think I could make a little fan motor setup fit into my tiny workshop.

It might be time to take a trip to storage to cannibalize a fan for a buffer wheel!

Vagrant · Post by **Vagrant** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 7:50 am

Fan motors are designed to run forever [almost] but are designed for a light load so don't "lean" on them, hold the piece lightly against the buff.